and then it was may

where did april go? to work, with only three days off. it's like the little piggies, one went off to market, one stayed home, etc. except this one decided to work two jobs for a little bit. eh, not complaining, it was an interesting change of pace. but definitely one that would be hard to maintain.

well, in those three days off and over bits and pieces of evenings and mornings, i managed to create. i've been sewing, embroidering, stuffing, and pouring; those are the parts that were easy. deciding on which fabrics to put together was a little harder. the fruits of my enjoyable labor are two pincushions. they're from swatches i've been hoarding, along with hand and machine embroidery, bamboo and organic cotton batting, and glass beads. i wanted them to be as eco-friendly as i could.

the stuffing took a moment to decide on. would it be best to use something organic in nature such as walnut shells, rice, or sawdust? no. all i could think of is the time we got a family of field mice in the sewing machine drawers; they ate and destroyed everything that wasn't metal. what would look tastier to a mouse than rice? so organic materials was out. how about sand? too fine, plus what if there were buggies waiting to hatch? i know you're supposed to bake it first, but, eh, no. some websites suggested fabric scraps, wool (for the lanolin), or fiber fill, but there just wouldn't be enough weight to them then. i like a heavy, dense cushion that i can really sink my pins into. another material mention i came across was emery. nice and weighty, sharpens pins, and is a traditional material you find in that little strawberry cushion that partners the tomato. great for way back yonder when pins were expensive, rusted and needed to be sharpened frequently. but now with modern machining, needles have a plating that protects them from rusting, and because of the steel they're now made of they also don't dull like they used to. so using emery would be a guaranteed way to destroy your pin collection and cause them to rust; it's just way too abrasive.

so all this thinking led me to ponder the beanie baby. you know, that toy craze from the 90's? what is actually in those things? well, short of hunting down my mother's massive collection and doing a dissection on one of them (she would not be pleased by this i'm sure), i searched google for a little bit and came across glass beads that one would use as toy filling. glass is ecologically sound, non active, not abrasive, won't hurt the land when the cushion decays (i hope), and won't aggravate anyone who has allergies. yay, problem solved, and the pincushions finally have some body to them!