Another Pincushion

I made a few pincushions/etuis that I really loved a while back. Three went on etsy and I still have the fourth up in the shop. I never really thought of myself as a maker of pincushions, but when I was researching different types just for fun, I came across a lot of uses of old jars and containers for the bases.

So one thing you might not know about me is that I like to hoard jars and containers. It's just really, really hard to throw a wonderfully shaped jar (big and round, or tall and slender, or pressed with designs) or a fantastic tin away. Sometimes I give gifts away in tins and then have this little pang of regret. Will the recipient hold on to it like I have? Will they appreciate it's utilitarian beauty? Will they notice if I distract them with another gift and quietly slip it into back my bag? Maybe it's more of an only child thing, maybe it's some serious pack-rat issues, but I now think that pin cushions may be my salvation.

When we were visiting our dear friends in San Francisco this summer, I picked up a tin of hard jasmine candies at of those fancy-shmancy cheese and cracker and hard candy shoppes. The shops that are always spelled with the extra p-e-s on the end, you know? The shops that are made of rustic wood on the inside, always have a bell announcing a customer's arrival and when you enter, the noises of the modern world disappear. Suddenly you think you hear horses pulling carriages outside but that might be due to the stupor you fall into when you realize that they're charging $40 for a half pound of swiss cheese. Anyway, this was one of those stores and by the checkout, I found a fantastic tin. It had a little pastoral scene of an old fashioned-looking couple playing out some intimate love scene (forbidden, perhaps?). Never mind that they had me sold on "jasmine candy," this tin needed to be mine.

So I've kept the tin by my side of the bed since this summer. Every once in a while, I eat a candy...but I've done so very slowly so that I could justify keeping the tin laying around. Many of my tins turn into boxes for my knitting trinkets, but those get dinged up and need to sturdily close. My jasmine couple had a lid that separated completely from a cheesy plastic bottom so I knew it wasn't going to continue its life as a holder of random things. And then one day it hit me! Pincushion! The idea has been rolling around in my head for a while but it came to fruition yesterday. It's made of wool and I put a good amount of strong magnets in the bottom so that it can be flipped over to collect pins easily.

Also, I finally tried out my kandi kane crystal applicator with it. It's a little tricky to figure out how to pick up the little crystals, but they really set in an instant and are stuck on there. The manufacturer says they can be washed and dry cleaned, so I think they're stuck for good:)

And just look at that little couple hiding beneath the pincushion.


I need to hold on to this one for a little while to determine if I can part with it. If I can, it'll be up in the shop in the next few days! It's in the shop!