Pin Keeps!

I'm so happy with how these little pincushions turned out. I've learned now to try to make pin cushions out of my new design ideas first, before making it into a candle mat so that I can make adjustments to sizes, colors and little tweaks to the design itself. This way, I'm not messing up a large piece of wool with sewing changes.

Seeing these now, I know the tweaks that have to be made for the candle mat. I'll make the little flowers on the hillside a little bigger and the leaves on the violet one, a little smaller. Oh, and I need to put a little tie aroud the sheep's neck ... perhaps a tiny bell would look cute too.

Last night I worked on cutting out all the tiny pieces that will make up both of the candle mats. All that needs done now is the best part ... the sewing.
I wish I had a little fairy that could be trained to cut out all the shapes so that all I'd have to do was draw the design, pick the colors, and sew. And no, I tried a long time ago to make my kids the fairies, but I found out quickly that #1. they hated it and #2 they don't cut like I cut. :)

Back when I first started making penny rugs and selling them on Ebay, sales were so good that things were literally grabbed up as soon as I listed them. I just couldn't make them fast enough. I noticed that one seller was very quickly selling her young daughter's penny rugs which were VERY primitive, with the crooked stitching ... basically very bad stitching but that's the appeal of the really primitive designs. I told my Rachel, who was like 10 at the time, that she could be making things to sell on Ebay too.
Haha, she attempted. I still have her one and only little wool applique mat that she designed and stitched completely on her own. I'm not sure where it is right now, but I'm going to have to get a picture of it to show. Let's just say, it was really primitive! She didn't enjoy doing it however, so that was the end of her stitching attempts.
Neither of my daughters have inherited that "need" to sew that I have. I would think if they had "it", it would have shown up by now.

Happy day everyone! I've some stitching to do!