The internet is responsible for the assembly line I have in my livingroom, with rows of fabric, embroidery floss, sharpie extrafine markers, shrinky-dink paper.  The Pincushion Challenge has begun!  I figure this is the sewing equivalent of a knitted dishcloth.  A quick little project, useful, cute.  It feels good to practice my long-dormant sewing skills.  This month's theme being fruit,  I cut out some Strawberry Pincushions first.  They are currently on my coffee table:  sewn, stuffed, and gathered up top, but I messed up the sewing didn't like the template for the top leafy section.  I have decided that I want something more solidly round and simple. 

For the pincushions here, I followed the simple tutorial at Whip Up.  I was really determined to have some sort of strawberry action happening, though, and when I saw Hillary's Shrinky-Dink Pin tutorial, I sort of went out of my mind for a second with glee.  Then I bought some Shrinky-Dink paper.  A mellow Sunday later, my first Fruit Pincushion: 

Can you tell I like the strawberries better than the apples?  There are about 5 times as many! 

I had to play around with some other fun shapes, as well.  The little rainbow makes me smile.  I want to use these fabrics to make an orange pincushion (the fruit, not the color).  I made another batch of shrinky-dink pins tonight, while watching Texas Ranch House, including different fruits to use with my future orange-shaped pincushions.  And when I do, my pincushions will officially be more coordinated than any outfit I have ever worn.