Dutch Tulip Luggage Tag & Crocheted Pincushions

Sometimes, a design grabs me because it is the perfect size for something I want to make.  That was the case with this Dutch Tulip design from Threadworks Primitives.  I saved the chart some time ago, earmarking it for a luggage tag.  I also saved the photo of Anne's rendition because I liked her modified color scheme.  She used hand-dyed floss, but I tried to come close to the look using DMC colors.. 356, 407, 433, 758 if you are interested.  I'm pretty happy with finish on a linen scrap I had.  I think the backing fabric and eyelet were good accompaniments as well.

While everyone else is showing their orts once a month as part of the TUSAL,  I just accumulate mine to be used for pin cushion stuffing.  The bag was full and my periodic urge to crochet some thread motifs kicked at the same time so I made three little mini-cushions.  Each is only 2-2.5".  They work up really fast and will make nice stitchy gifts. 

The first is from Margaret Hubert's Granny Square Book. This is called the  Dogwood Flower Granny Square.  It's  a perfect design for this type of pin cushion.  I think I picked it because the model was crocheted and blocked so perfectly.  I aspire to that kind of perfection, but I settle for much less.

The next two are both from various Japanese designs I've found on the web and saved.  They are presented as graphs with little text hints.  Of course, text in Japanese doesn't help me, but usually I can pretty much get along with the graph only.  Like reading sheet music and not understanding any Italian.

 

The round ones are a little harder to do, but not much.   

Three little cuties together: