First Friday Freebie #31 with Tutorial

This will be my last First Friday Freebie until the first Friday of December.

In case you missed my last post, I have decided to release my FFF's on a quarterly basis...December, March, June and December.  

Training a new puppy takes a lot of time and effort and I'm finding that I just don't have enough time to devote to both Ollie and designing and and you know who comes first.  He is progressing really well but it has been fifteen years since we last had a puppy and if the truth be known, we had forgotten just how time consuming training can be.  Once Ollie is fully trained and can be trusted to be left on his own, I am hoping to return to my monthly FFF's.  Thank you all for your support and understanding.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

They say a picture is worth a thousand words so this month I decided to take photos of each step as I progressed. 

Here is my Autumn Pincushion.

Cut a 12" x 12" square from your background fabric.  This might sound a little large but I cut mine to this size in order for it to fit easily into a hoop for stitching.

Transfer the design including the half circle surrounding the design to the fabric using using a light source such as a window during daylight hours or a light box.  Center and tape the fabric over the design and trace using a fine tip permanent black Pigma pen.

After tracing but before starting to stitch the design, you might want to adhere a lightweight fusible interfacing to the wrong side of the background fabric to add both stability and durability.

All the backstitching is done using two strands of #310 (black) DMC floss.  Upon completion, iron to remove the wrinkles.

Cut out around the half circle that was a part of your original tracing.

Fold the fabric in half, right sides together.

Then sew a 1/4" seam down the straight edge and iron the seam open.

Turn right side out.  With a doubled or stronger weight thread, run a basting stitch around the top edge about a 1/4" in.  

Stuff with polyester fiberfil then pull on both ends of the thread in order to gather the opening "almost" closed.  Knot to secure.  

Cut out the leaves and center circle from scrap felted wool.  Make sure that the circle is large enough to cover the opening.

Using a blanket stitch, sew the circle around the opening. 

Center the leaves on the circle and tack them down.  I back stitched a vein about two thirds the way up the center of the leaves and then sewed on a vintage button to hide the tacking stitches.

Embellish with decorative pins and anything else that suits your fancy.

To download the photos and line drawing for this month's design, please click HERE.

And if you'd like to win my sample, just leave me a comment to that effect at the end of this post...and I'll ship internationally!  I will announce the winner on Sunday, September 9th.  Remember, if your email address is not included in your profile, then you will show up as a "no-reply" blogger and will automatically be excluded from the draw.  If you are unsure, just leave a contact email address within the body of your post.

I'll leave you with this photo of Ollie cuddling with Mr.Painted Quilt after having his breakfast this morning.  

Isn't he precious?