I’m just making a few little last minute gifts.

I did try to knit with the pins but found it absolutely impossible. So I cheated a bit & just slipped the pins in after I’d knitted the teeny rows.

In around 15 minutes from Go to Wo.

I made another video & timed myself but the whole thing was such a disaster – it was axed before it even made it to air.

I’ve been making lots of these pincushions lately. They came about from the fortune teller folding & then the fat quarter folding.

Nothing remarkable in the construction of this super quick pincushion but I think that they finish up as something quite beautiful for very little effort.

Once all this was finished I had a vague memory of my grandmother having a pincushion constructed in the same way out of a Bargello sampler.

I think that these would look excellent as samples for the seam-along.

You can see variations on the theme in felt with a pinked seam & in a heavy cotton with a frayed seam.

The PDF tutorial for How to make a square pincushion can be downloaded here.

See my other pincushion projects.

the popcorn.

I think this looks cuter. Don’t eat the popcorn though…the last thing you want is a mouth full of Tarzan’s Grip.

And now for the gifting part…

I fashioned this gift from tin cans I’d saved but it would work just as well using a milk carton (in fact, now I think of it that would probably work even better…darn it). Then I embroidered the popcorn piece & the red stripe once. Next, I scanned & mucked around with it in publisher until I was happy with the placement.

Anyway…if you’d like to make a cute gift box for a movie ticket & popcorn gift then head over & pick up the jpegs sized & ready to print:

surround
& lid (if you don’t want to go with the real popcorn like I did).

Then adhere to your chosen recycled container.

…I had to have a go with the milk carton – I’m happy.

Absolutely basic “present wrapping” construction – no words required…

The popcorn plans are complete.

The original idea for this came from yoghurt tubs. We eat quite a bit of yoghurt & consequently I’ve collected a good number of the 1kg tubs. I thought that they would make good popcorn buckets & set about preparing the embroidery.

It didn’t work out as I’d planned because the tub was considerably narrower at the base than at the top. So I’ve gone back to the old faithful tin can & I’m pretty happy with the result.

I’ve been nodding along with Lara, Jodie & Stacey as they’ve been struggling with their crafts being suitable/cool enough for boys & teenagers.

I reckon this ticks all the boxes & will make a really cute Christmas gift. I’ll be packing a sealed bag of popcorn & a movie ticket into each tin. The large (800g?) can of tinned tomatoes is perfect for the job. It doesn’t look like it fits in the pic but it does – I promise.

Best of all … it’s cheater craft!