Pin Pals by Carrie Nelson - 40 patchwork pincushions with detailed instructions

Don’t you love a patchwork book with cute little projects to make in a couple of hours? I for sure do and I love the pincushion book of Carrie Nelson with 40 cute little pinnies to sew in just one afternoon. When I was at Quilt Market she had a book signing and I had the chance to get an own signed copy of her newest book.

You might think I’m crazy, but when I came home from a 24 hour trip, 14 hours in an airplane from Houston to Frankfurt, the first thing was greeting my son and having a lunch with him. The second was sewing one of Carries pincushions. Weird, I know.

Then I became addicted.

I knew that I would have a quilt retreat fourteen days ahead with the Cologne Modern Quilters, so I planned to sew each of my buddies (seven to be exact) their own little pinnie.

After the first approach with the Kaleidoscope pincushion in grey prints with grey linen, I made a second one: Onpoint half-square-triangles.

It quickly became clear, that I couldn’t schedule in seven of the more time consuming pincushions, so my third attempt was the fast lane: a simple striped one in a rectangle shape.

This one was a quick result, so I went forward with the simpler ones and found a genius sample: It is made from 9 fabrics, 2 1/2” square. Means from 1 mini charm pack I could get 4 pincushions: What a frugal use of all the little fabric pieces. So I used one mini charm pack of my new collection DAY IN PARIS and made a couple of pincushions out of it.

At the end I had enough for my quilt retreat buddies. And I hope they enjoyed that little treat.

Carrie’s book made me want to start sewing - it made me even finishing 7 pincushions in one week! So I think she somehow nailed it.

Pin Pals is filled with clear instructions, Carrie gives you tips on avoiding bulk in the seam allowance, talks about batting, filling and how she quilted her pincushions. She used e.g. 80wt thin thread, I in contrast embellished some of mine with an extra thick thread to make the stitches really visible.

If you want to treat yourself or look for a nice Christmas present for a friend - get your copy. You will love it!