Summer Produce

I am a hopeless gardener. I LOVE fresh off the plant produce but, aside from the odd tomato plant that I remember to put in a pot before it shrivels up and dies, I can't grow anything myself. (Oh, there is a lavender plant that seems to get bigger and stronger completely on it's own. That is probably because I stuck it someplace and left it to fend for itself though.) When I get a craving for good produce I stop someplace like this

and BUY stuff like this...

However, if you just want to look at it or stick pins into it I can help you.

These were for a Tomato Pincushion Swap. I got a little carried away. I used this tutorial. It took me longer to dig through my stash and choose fabric than it did to whip them up. I used carded wool to stuff them. I think it stuffs a little firmer than polyfill and with the little bit of lanolin still in it I'm guessing it is good for your pins and needles. Really though it's because I have more fleece than I can spin in my life time. (Well maybe not, if I started now and gave up all other crafts, but that's not going to happen. I thought I had better start getting creative with some of it.) On a side note: if you make the smaller size, I thought it was much easier to gather them with a hand sewn running stitch than it was on the machine.

I'm getting better at the needle books. I managed to get through this one with out ripping anything out and I definitely didn't have to make a (ehem) demo one first. I used this pattern by BigB for the strawberries. She has a lot of great embroidery patterns. I love the sparkle of the "seed" beads. (Go ahead and groan. I deserve it.) I still really need to get around to making one of these for myself, maybe I would stop losing my scissors.