A Needleworker's Pincushion

From Chardin's 18thC painting - a pincushion for the table made from Rouenneries scraps from French General fabrics. The top of the pincushion is stuffed with wool threads for ease in adding pins--the bottom is stuffed with buckwheat hulls for stability.

Disappearing Nine Patch

Loving «Rouenneries» as I do, I fell in love with Kim Quiltz's use of them in the Disappearing Nine Patch so I recreated four of them. I will be adding sashing and using them to back the four placemats I've been working on.

Ort Containers - The Ort Port or Ort Bag

Here is an Ort Port for all those little bits of thread that seem to multiply in a sewing room. I have used 1 1/2" strips for the outside of the bag to match the pinks and greens in my sewing nook under the eaves. A 5" cardboard square from the underside of a Charm Pack is the perfect size to interface the fabric sewing cabinet square under the sand-filled weight. Velcro patches attach the strips that drape over the cabinet edge linking the ort bag.

I've chosen 1 1/2" Honey Bun strips from the Rouenneries line from French General for another ort container for my office, which also goes well in the living room. In the background is a market bag using 2 1/2" Jelly Roll strips, also from the Rouenneries fabrics by Moda.

Kit Bag

Making this kit bag, p.96, Home Sewn by Kaari Meng at French General, was a piece of cake, IF you follow the directions exactly. Absolutely nothing wrong with following directions exactly. Hint: Kaari says to sew the vinyl backing to the fabric of each piece with an eigth-inch seam prior to assembling bag. This is the key to this bag's success. I like its generous proportions--it's big enough to hold all of my toiletry items--not just sample sizes. This is essential for me because this bag is my only storage in my bath. The «old» house I live in only has room in the wall for a straight razor and a shaving mug! Now my bag sits proudly on the top of the tank. Fabric is Block Print Multi, Rouenneries, by Moda, and some striped linen from my stash.

Here is a link a another little kit bag. Enjoy!

Summer - Topper in Progess …

Here is the center of the table topper, Summer, from On the Run, by Heather Mulder Peterson of Anka's Treasures. Now it's time for some appliqué … Fabrics are Rouenneries by French General.

Placemats in Progress …

Reversible placemats in progress … just waiting for the fabric to arrive for the binding. Quilting is next.

I plan to hemstitch some natural linen for napkins and monogram them with scarlet thread. Can't decide whether to use silver napkins rings or make some from scraps of Rouenneries by Moda for French General.