Pincushion Exchange

One of the fun classes I took at American Quilting's Retreat was a Pincushion Exchange. I was surprised that not many people took the class. It was really fun and informative not to mention the fact that we all got a new pattern to make a darling pincushion.

Here are some of the examples that Melinda (teacher also Amy's oldest daughter) brought to inspire us. Each pincushion had a story. Notice the chicken in the top right hand corner of the picture, well, she's been around for 25+ years. Melinda remembers playing with the chicken when she and her sisters were younger. They especially loved poking her with pins. lol.


The strawberry wrist pincushion is made using a large covered button and has a magnet sewn inside to catch your pins and needles. This pattern is an ORIGINAL design that Amy gave to us at last years retreat (I think).


I'm pretty sure this is another original design by Amy but I didn't see a pattern on her website. I just love the cording around the outside edge and wool yarn that she used to sew the vines.


I really love this bunny pincushion and the pattern is called Cottontail by Under the Garden Moon (Amy's design) and can be found here.


For the Exchange we each had to make a pincushion. I just realized that I didn't take a picture of mine but you'll see it in the group shot below. I used a pattern called BABY CAKES by Cindy Taylor Oates. You can find the pattern here.

In the pictures below you will see all of the pincushions wrapped and ready to trade. We used a one die and each time you rolled a 1 or a 6 you could either pick a package or take a pincushion from someone that had already unwrapped it. It was crazy. I have to say that I was really happy to get the one I had my eye on. It was close and I was able to trade for it in the very last seconds of the game.


Here is a picture of the pincushions that everyone made and brought to trade. I ended up with the sweet turtle made by Amy (American Quilting). Isn't he sweet? You may recognize the pattern made by Heather Bailey called Henrietta Turtle.