Kitties and a Pillow

I love many of the 3-D printed puppies and kittens I'm seeing online, but they are very expensive, so I opted instead for a pair of cat 'marionettes' from Affordable Designs right here in Canada. 

After removing the strings and all the tiny screw-eyes, they make nice little cats. They may not be as poseable as the 3-D printed ones, but at just $20 for the two of them together, they work well enough for me - for now.

I also put together a new decorative pillow. I discovered a pin cushion amongst all the stuff in my Mom's old sewing basket. I thought it would make a perfect little decorative pillow for my doll furniture. I thought all I'd need to do was just pull out the pins, and it would be good to go. Wrong! After pulling out all the pins stuck in the outside, it became clear that there were pins deep inside as well. The only way to remove them was to open up the little cushion. So I removed the closing stitches, and out spilled the crushed cork, and one needle after another. Dozens and dozens of needles - I counted more than eighty - including several tapestry needles!

Well, I ended up totally picking the pin cushion apart, washing it, and sewing it back together with a strip of reasonably matching print on two of the edges, and then softly stuffed it. I think all the rust spots from the pins just add to the 'country' feel of the cow print.

So now I have a nice 'sentimental'  little pillow for my colonial bench....