I had hoped to get the pincushion for the Home Sweet Home workbox etui by Carolyn Pearce completed this week, but I’ve had a bit of a setback! This is how far I’ve got:
Not far, really!
I managed to stitch the embroidered half to the plain backing fabric, right sides facing, leaving a 1 1/2 inch gap for turning. I hand stitched it, and when I turned it right side out, I noticed that my stitching hadn’t been very neat, and that I had more of an octagon than a circle – part of the ‘circle’ is distinctly flat!
I tied strong thread around the pincushion, to divide it into 8 parts, and added the tiny buttons front and back. So far, so good.
I’ve started to stitch the beaded edging, too, but not got very far with it yet. I’ll try taking more detailed photos as I get further on.
The reason it hadn’t really worked out right was that my mind wasn’t on it completely. Ever since I’d done the actual embroidery, I’d been feeling ‘not quite right’ about this pincushion. Has that ever happened to you? While I’d been doing the embroidery, I’d been feeling in a very ‘flat’ mood, because I’d recently ended a relationship with someone who I’d thought of as a friend, but they turned out to be not what I’d thought at all. It seems that the emotions I was feeling at that time have got kind of ‘stitched in’ to the pincushion, and now, whenever I look at it, I feel fed up again. So, it’s hard to get motivated to finish this.
Maybe by next week I’ll have got this finished, and then I can move on to something more pleasant 🙂
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Janet Granger's Blog 
Or maybe you need to put that pincushion aside for a while, the same way you’ve put that person aside, and use a slightly different embroidery design? It would be too bad if you couldn’t use it someday; it’s a pretty design. But if it’s too closely associated with a sour memory, it may not be pretty to you.
Your flowers are beautiful and I think that once you have gone round the whole cushion with the beads/border, it will be very nice and you will be pleased with it. I am quite nervous about doing the tying you seem to have done very well. I have not looked at the size of the design for the pin cushion yet, but it looks like a very small and sweet pin cushion. I have found it quite fiddly to anchor threads without knots on the reverse due to the fact that the motifs are so small.
I managed to finish the anemones on the needle book today as well as the daisies. Like other people, I have been unable to find the flower beads in the UK. My kit comes with very transparent and soft-coloured bead flowers which I think might be too light. I am about to have a look now as I have just finished the daisies. I might order the same flowers from the USA, but in a deeper blue.
Janet, I do know how you feel. It is a very sad thing, to lose someone you thought of as a friend. But as with all grieving, you will find it easier in time and other friends will fill the space left.
I think the pincushion is looking very pretty. I would love to do this but just can’t take on something so time-hungry.
And Isabel: have a look at Mary Corbet’s blog http://www.needlenthread.com. She has a section called Tips and Techniques and in it there is another page on making isolated French knots, which gives you the best method for securing threads in cases like this. Good luck.
Chris
Thanks for link. I have just had a look and will certainly be reading it carefully later. I remember reading it when it first came out, but do not really remember what the method was. I have just had a quick look and it certainly is interesting for isolated knots. My knots are not isolated, so I have gone with the thread from one to the other. The problem has been that the design/motifs are small and the anemones in the needle book, in raised cross stitch, create a chunky bit of threads on the reverse. I have anchored quite a few bits behind these chunky bits which have made them more chunky. Hopefully, nothing will be noticeable once I make up the needle case. I am beginning to think that the sin of a small knot might be a better option since linings will cover all in this case. Thanks again.
maybe the pincushion could be cathartic then. You get to stick pins in it – sticking pins in the emotion. I know how you feel, I’ve had a recent incident with a “friend” and it’s a horrible feeling. I think your pincushion is beautiful though
Ha! That’s a good way of looking at it!
Good work. You are really creative. Hoping you can finish it.