Doll Quilt Press

Experimental Blocks

I pulled out a pile of experimental quilt blocks (many quilters use the term UFO's as in unfinished objects) while trying to clean up my Stitch Studio. I have a little grand daughter that loves her little dolls and really liked a doll quilt I made for her.

Unfinished Class Sample

 So, I decided to finish off as many as I could and fold them nicely into a little quilt press I made out of an old desk drawer.

Desk Drawer with Pink Legs

I bought the wooden legs at Lowe's and painted them pink. I painted the drawer with pale green satin finish trim paint. TANGENT ALERT! I like to buy clearance paints from Lowe's and keep it around. I only buy colors that I really like. The price is $5 a gallon for premium paint.

Doll Quilt Press

After painting the drawer light green, I used permanent marking pens to draw details.

Freehand Drawn Details

I finished 6 little blankets for Isabel's dolls! She loved this! Yay, Nana did good!

Needlepunched Pincushions

Making needlepunched pincushions is a good experiment in fibers and colors with a finished project at the end. I know that you know how much my friends liked these as little gifts.

Needle Punched Pincushions

Carpet Protector

 I started with some glass carpet protectors....the things we used to put under table legs to save our carpets from furniture marks. I bought a bunch of them at a flea market and brought them home with no idea as to what they would become. I knew that these glass pieces would become something new...upcycled!

I wanted to play with fibers and colors using my needle felting machine. So, out came my mixed fibers and felt. I used the golden yellow felt as a base and added red wool roving and this cotton yarn called Colourscape (which is a Rowan yarn designed by Kaffe Fassett).

Wool Roving and Cotton Yarn

 I began by needling the red roving into the yellow felt, leaving some yellow showing through. Then, I scrunched the orange/pink yarn on one side. The light green yarn on top keeps its yarn shape.

Needle Punch Layers

 

Needle Punched Design

Here is the finished design. I measured the design space ahead of time so that no needle punched area would be lost in the sides of the pincushion.

Wool Felt Pieces

I cut several sizes of wool felt that fit into the glass piece. I wrapped the design around the wool pieces and then glued them into the glass piece. I used a glue recommended for glass and fabric...E-6000. There are so many good glues to use, I always want to use a glue which is recommended for the materials I'm using.

Glue Felt to Base

The next thing is to cut and glue a piece of felt to the base of the glass piece.

Adding pins with beads and sequins added a little pretty detail to the pincushion.

Add Beads to Pins for Embellishment

Pretty Pincushion

I decided to use the same process to make a pincushion out of an old shoe brush. The brush was inside of a cool shoeshine box I bought at a flea market. I pulled the old bristles out and cleaned it up to create a different form for the pincushion. The bottom is the wooden handle of the brush. I wrapped and glued artisan handmade yarn around the edges of the felt piece.