Hedgehog Pincushion

Her little black nose went sniffle, sniffle, snuffle, and her eyes went twinkle, twinkle; and underneath her cap—where Lucie had yellow curls—that little person had Prickles!

–The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle by Beatrix Potter

The other week, I decided it would be nice to have a second pincushion so I could have one for my work basket and one by my sewing machine. The one I already had was perfectly serviceable, but just the plain red tomato and strawberry. A hedgehog immediately came to mind. Fortunately, a few others had already had the idea so I had a pattern and some instructions to get me started. Here is the link to the tutorial I mostly followed. http://maker-land.blogspot.com/2012/07/hedgehog-pincushion-tutorial.html I also referenced this kit for sale as I liked their color and material choices a little better. https://www.nevernotknitting.com/sewing/hedgehog-pin-cushion-kit

It was so fun to be able to pull out my fabric stash and put to use some of the tools I recently picked up. I was able to use scraps of materials I had left over from other projects. I really liked the wool herringbone pattern to imitate prickles.

When stuffing her, I went ahead and tossed in the little scraps from cutting out the pieces, Polyfill stuffing, and also some steel wool. The steel wool lends some weight to the pincushion and I’ve heard it will also help sharpen the pins and needles.

I think she likes her new home. I thought my vintage pins with thinner heads looked best for the effect of prickles. If I make this again (I’ll probably find some excuse to), I’ll try to make the ears a little smaller and embroider the eyes a bit bigger.