Here's something I have been working on for a while. I actually made the first of these teacup pincushions at the same time as I made my hanging patchwork fishes.
I made the 5 teacups first from old pattern book scraps and my own pattern. It would look a bit more like a teacup if I didn't keep putting the handle on the wrong way up the cup! (I will get this right next time, sigh). If I can work out how to make it into a downloadable PDF I will share the pattern with you and do a quick tutorial (I know I have said this a few times before but I will do it soon I promise!)
The reason for the hold-up is that it has taken me a while to decide which 'animal' I should feature popping out of the teacup. I actually did the mouse first. He turned out a bit tall and has been mistaken for a rabbit.The problem is that though you can just about imagine a real mouse in a real teacup, it is hard to find another animal to fit the bill. So I made the chicken (which if you imagine him as a baby chick (yes I know he wouldn't have a coxcomb if he was a chick but just go with it!) you can just about see him in a real teacup.
I would have liked to do an elephant but that seemed to stretch the laws of physics a bit too far!
Weirdly though, an owl and a pig seem to work in a whimsical, surreal sort of way (in my crazy world anyway...)
The pig is my current favourite which is why he is at the top of the page. I always like to start with my best photo.
When I was making my latest batch of mini owls I made this really tiny mini owl to pop put of this teacup.
Here they all are together ready to go on sale in the shop. Bye bye animal teacups (hopefully)!
I have one teacup left waiting for its creature. Any ideas readers? I am toying with a duck or a cat but you lot might come up with something better!
I also managed to solve a design problem with me 'little tree pincushions' which has been really bothering me. They were just too likely to topple over despite the pebble in their base. If I put anymore hard weights in the base you would not be able to get any pins in, so I was stumped. And then I came up with this brilliant idea of a saucer! (must have been the teacups in my subconscious).
Here is a close-up. Just 2 circles of felt sewn around a circle of card and one of wadding and then stitched to the flowerpot. And it really works! I have only the 3 left above out of the original 6 and have been put off making anymore by the design flaw, so I am really pleased to have worked out a solution.That's all for now, my posts are less frequent at the moment as I am so busy quilting my sister's birthday quilt (with only a couple of weeks to go!!). I will speed up again once that is out the way.
Remember to let me have any 'animal in a teacup' suggestions please!
