National Quilting Day

Apparently today is National Quilting Day. I like to do things on those kind of days. Last year, I had a grand ol' time with National Sewing Month (September). I wasn't really prepared, per say, for today. Tomorrow is Norooz, or Persian New Year, which is the first day of Spring. It's a holiday for my DH, so today was devoted to getting the house ready for the party. I did, however, manage to sneak in a small project. Little micro-mini one.

There's no way I could quilt something today (though my Amelia quilt top comes to mind as being something ready for it). I opted to make something quilting related instead. I've been doing without a pincushion for over a year. I need one. Perfect project, right? I started with some scraps. I should have known it was doomed when none of the scraps screamed out to me. I have so much fabric, but not many scraps. And the scraps I have, I tend to use and use until they're done--but by that time I'm bored of them. Needless to say, my first pincushion attempt was a dud. The fabrics I wanted to be in the block plainly REFUSED to be worked in. It's like they had a mind of their own.

You know, sometimes you just have to throw out the lemons and pass on the lemonade. I started over from scratch and made something simple; a 'just-for-now' kind of thing. I fished two charm squares out from Hopscotch by Chloe's Closet for Moda. I started with 4 packs, but I opened one to look at all the prints, and while I was doing that...my daughter decided to open another one to do the same thing. With 2 opened charm packs, I know I will eventually make something with at least part of that stash. This was the perfect opportunity! I took 2 of the more spring-feeling prints (one of my favorites that I actually have yardage of) and went to town.
I ended up using a little bit of Willow-colored felt from National Nonwoven. It matched the green in the prints nicely (the underside is the pink, yellow, green plaid from the range). I also used some yellow dnc floss. I wish I'd stuffed it more, but I always have that problem. Even when I think it's overstuffed, it could still use more! Overall, I am very happy with it. I think later I will add some decorative stitching to the green flower, like a blanket stitch in pink or something.

To all you other quilters: Happy Quilting Day! I hope you get a chance to make something beautiful, too :)