It sounds better than “freehanding it”.

Basically it’s this: I use 9×12 sheets of felt. I start by dividing them in half, either horizontally or vertically and then start dividing from there. Cut it that way get six 3″ circles (small pincushon tops or bottlecap balls), another and you get two 6″ circles (larger pincusion tops) and more 3″ circles. Fold that half again in half longwise and cut along it and you get two strips, use one for a small pincushion side, or two for a large side (just stitch together) or  you have six 3″ circles for balls.

See what I’m getting at? No? These pics might help explain.

Below are representations of 9×12 sheets of felt.

The thick straight lines is the line is the first cut to cut it in half
My shelves are fronted with these half sheets, since most everything I do is based off these 9×6 sheets I call tem my “working stacks”

The fine straight lines are the second cuts to divide it up into 3″x3″  or 6″x6″squares
I keep these in special boxes organized by color so any sheet I cut ges immediately dispatched into various sizes depending what I need. I never ever have any sheets in my stacks that have chunks cut out, it annoys me.

So here are the three most common ways I cut up my sheets, and if you look at these as two half sheets, you will pretty much see every way I cut them up, click to enlarge!

The little rectangular piece in the lower right (of pic 3) I will usually keep as is, these are perfect for bottle cap sides, bottoms and  to make buttonballs. I cut bottlecap bottoms and sides as I go, some designs use taller sides than others. If in a pinch I use these 3″ squares and rectangles for my punch cut pieces too if I run out of scraps to use.

I also quarter the 3″ squares to make violet and poinsettia leaves as well as flowers – so it all works out on various levels.

Now the last picture (pic 4)-  this is my mega  size. You will see this used on my Americana or Large Cherry blossom  ones. A big 12″ circle. This is the only time I ever usually grab a full sheet.

And yes I free hand cut the rounded corners, it’s easy enough to do and this larger design  doesn’t need exact.

Anyway, i hope these have helped you explain my process, and why I don’t use patterns!

After 224 (100%) feedback, and 334 sales, I’m shut down. I can’t even have an account now, even to buy. They are turned me off on Tuesday completely but I had a chance to save off my customer data.

Reason? Good Question. The standard form letter cited no reason, just that they were evicting me. Since I can’t use the forums or Storque so I’m not sure what they can find to complain about me with, other than I work for Artfire and exist.

I cant say I’m surprised. I’ve been expecting this since September when I joined on at Artfire and announced it here on my blog, so this is just the other shoe dropping. I’ve more or less stayed on out of pure spite.

You can of course find me on Artfire for all your pincushiony needs.

This is the same size as my Girly Tomatos and pumpkins. 3.5″ or so wide, and is my only design that I have in threes sizes. (I have it as a bottlecap too!)

Just made a batch of these up in 7 colors, wanted to share! You can of course order these up in any colors you like, These are headed to Kunin for a trade show.

Several years ago I was sewing at the machine and got up to try on a piece in progress and in my way back to sit down my garment caught a pin in the magnetic cushion and CRASH!

Pins all over the carpet. Under the table too. So I bent over and picked up a section then got on my knees and started scooping them off the carpet and under the table.

When it looked all clear I pivoted on my knees to get a good handhold to get up and OW!

Something stuck me in the top of the foot. I had a tiny red dot on the skin, and I found a pin nearby so I figured I’d just been stuck.

The next day, my foot was a little tender on top, but nothing out of the ordinary I thought since it was punctured by a pin where it was. While at work I was increasingly in more and more pain as the day went on. My foot was swelling up inside my shoe to the point it was incredibly painful. I started the tough 1.5 hour drive home. I called for a friend a neighbor to come drive me over to the hospital and we promptly arrived at the ER with me crying from pain (I’m not a cryer). We managed to get my shoe off, and the pain was a tiny bit better, but my foot looked awful. Like a bloated sausage.

They xrayed it. You could clearly see the shape of HALF a straight pin lodged horizontally in the flesh of the top of my foot on the films. It had broken off inside. Great.

They set my up in a corner of the triage and after a half hour in comes this giant machine. It had a Horsehoe type section, and what it seemed to be was a live xray imager with a computer screen. The “viewing” part was a horseshoe shaped attachment about 3 foot wide. They sat my foot in the center of the thing and gave me a couple numbing shots. (And took some pictures with the machine for me, which I would include but I can’t find them at this time)

It was like a video game version of the old board game Operation. They could see the pin live inside my foot, but they didn’t have a good angle on it, just one side. They were poking tools into my foot blind basically. The pin was hidden deep in flesh of my foot. Little by little they had to increase the incision to try to get at it. Occasionally they’d bump it and I’d wince or moan as it hurt! You could see the pliers coming close to it and when it was close you would see the pin move. The problem was all they could get at was the snapped off end, a virtual dot in a small opening of blood and fatty tissue. It was small and slippery, so the pliers kept loosing it.

Finally, two hours of poking and missing and a two sided incision later they finally managed to get a pair of pliers on it and gave a stiff tug. It came free. It had stuck into one of the metatarsal bones in my foot, which is why it was so hard to remove, and probably why it snapped off.

Most of my pain lessened immediately. I actually walked into the car which was something not easily done on arrival. Took three days for the swelling to go down, but they have poked and prodded in there so much I have a small bulge of scar tissue there now and a V shaped scar 10 years later.

This is why I stuff my pincushions so firmly that they actually sound as if they crunch when you poke a pin in them. I stuff in so much polyfil that I almost can’t put in even a little more… I want to make sure that if you drop it, the pins stay in! Because I know what can happen if they don’t.

I don’t use magnetics anymore either. Not only do I not miss it, I don’t stick my fingers trying to get a pin like I used to.

Sometimes the old way is the best way.