Pin Cushions with Dogs

Yesterday I was fooling around in my sewing room, trying to decide what to make for my upcoming quilt group meeting.  Every month I raffle off an item that I have made.  This time I decided to make a collection of pin cushions.

It all started with the little dog panel that I found at one of the stops on my NY Shop Hop last week.  I framed them with some new fabric that I had bought that matches them just perfectly!  Honestly, they are just so cute!

The theme for this month's raffle is Blue.  So next I cut some 1 1/2" strips from some blue fabrics and sewed them into rows for the blue patchwork pin cushions.  The squares and strips finish at 1".  

For the half-square triangle cushion, I cut 1 1/2" squares and then sewed on the diagonal, removing the extra fabric.  The squares also finished up at 1".  There are 16 blocks in this little pin cushion.

And lastly, I wanted a different shape, so I chose to make the half-square triangle circle cushion.  I cut the fabric squares 3" and then drew a line down the diagonal of the top square.  I sewed 1/4" on both sides of the triangles, cut them down through the center and sewed them into a four-patch block.  Instead of making it square, I just drew a circle and sewed on that to create a circular cushion.

Each cushion is layered with a piece of batting and then quilted.  After I turned and stuffed them, I added some buttons to embellish them.  What do you think?  Which one do you like the best?

Have you ever made pin cushions just for fun?  I could make them every day. Oh, wait, but then I wouldn't get anything else done!