Monday, October 26, 2015

About that Emery

Last month, I shared a Sunday Stash post where I showed you an unusual purchase I'd made - that being a bottle of ground emery. What is emery? "The mineral emery is a hard rock. When pulverized into sand, it is used in many kinds of products, like emery boards and sand paper. Long ago it was discovered that emery makes a great pin cushion filling and has been symbolized by the old-fashioned emery-filled strawberry attached to a tomato pin cushion." [PlumEasy Patterns] The pattern for a sweet little PlumBerry "Sharpen and Shine" Pin Cushion is available on the PlumEasy website by the way.


I opted to make a small patchwork pincushion to fill with the emery. You know, the rummage-through-the-scrap-basket-for-scraps-that-make-you-smile kind of patchwork.
ETA: I forgot to mention that Trisch/hadleystreetquilts let me know that emery will leak through cotton, so it's best to line it with lycra. Trisch kindly sent me some scraps she had, and I basted a piece to each section of my pincushion before constructing. 


I confirmed that patchwork is one thing, but constructing teeny-tiny 3-D objects is not my forte. Imperfect as it is, I'm happy with my little emery pincushion, and I think my needles will be too.

9 comments:

  1. I think it is sweet! i love those little scrappy things. So what is the cost for the emery and where did you find it easily?

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  2. Thanks for the background info. By the way, I love your pincushion.

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  3. sweet! I have yet to see this for sale, would love to try it too

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  4. I love your little pin cushion! Where did you buy the emery?

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  5. In answer to the above questions, I purchased the emery at Cloth Carousel in Winters CA (link in my Sunday Stash post), but the emery is also available directly from PlusEasy Patterns: http://www.plumeasypatterns.com/shop/ground-turkish-emery-sand.

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  6. I also love emery for pin cushions and have made several. Emery Rocks and so does your sweet homemade pin cushion.

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  7. Very cute! I'm going google emery now :)

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  8. I remember 7th grade Home Ec and being taught what the little strawberry was for. Cute project.

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  9. I need to make one of these too. It is both a way to play with those tiny scraps and have a needle sharpener, I wonder if any of the shops here sell emery?

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