Storts Market

by Lesley Storts

Category Archives: Fabric Companies


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Sharon Holland Kismet Fabric Pincushions

Chance. Destiny. Karma. All synonyms for the word kismet. This was a new word for me that I learned when Sharon Holland released her Kismet line, by Art Gallery Fabrics in November 2020. This fabric has been on my radar for some time, but my busy life kept me from completing a pincushion batch until last month.

Kismet fabric by Sharon Holland, Art Gallery Fabrics

As I continue to make pincushions, I’ve created a system that makes the process easier. One of the steps, which helps me organize and streamline, is matching fabric and glass before I sit down to create. Matching requires thought and reflection when auditioning pieces. Because of this, I feel like I really become acquainted with the fabric. I enjoy this process so much!

Matching glass and vessels for pincushions.
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Salt Cellar Spotlight – Cut Glass Salt Cellar with Sharon Holland Fabric

I am starting a new series called “Salt Cellar Spotlight”. There are so many different salt cellars with seemingly endless opportunities for creating. I thought it would be interesting to highlight the salt cellars and a few details. I hope you find it interesting too!

SALT CELLAR SPOTLIGHT

Name of Salt Cellar: Tapered shape prism cut1
Size: 1 3/4″
Manufacturer: Unknown and difficult to pinpoint due to cut glass being made by the artist with slight alterations creating thousands of different patterns1.
Year Produced: Unable to pinpoint since manufacturer is not identified but consensus dates production between 1880-1920 and most likely around the turn of the 20th century1.
Interesting Salt Fact: Sodium and chloride are the chemicals combined together that we refer to as table salt. Sodium is required for human bodies to adequately function2.
Interesting Historical Fact (turn of 20th century): Scott Joplin wrote The Entertainer. I learned to play this iconic piece of piano music in my youth. NPR has an interesting article about Scott Joplin.

Cut glass salt cellar pincushion made with Sharon Holland fabric set on hand painted Royal Winton Grimwades china.
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Giucy Giuce Nonna and Pietra Pincushions

This batch of pincushions started with Nonna and Pietra fabrics sent to me by artist and fabric designer Giucy Giuce (AKA Giuseppe Ribaudo). The fabrics were manufactured by Andover Fabrics.

Fabric designed by Giucy Giuce – Nonna and Pietra, manufactured by Andover Fabrics.
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Lorraine Turner’s Calico Horses Fabric and Pincushions

Last fall, I drove out west with my daughter Lucy for her return back to college. While visiting in Utah, I made a trip to the The Quilter’s Lodge. Have you been there? It is a beautiful store as well as a venue to provide retreats for quilters. While browsing through all of the fabric, I found an interesting and colorful line. The fabric artist, Lorraine Turner, was new to me, and for good reason – she’s a new artist for Free Spirit Fabrics. Her first line, Calico Horses, had several prints that I felt would work well as pincushions.

The art throughout the fabric required planning for various cuts and matching up with different sizes of glass. I was originally going to use the large white milk glass hobnail ashtray, but the glass is so shallow that I didn’t really like the way the pincushion looked in that glass. So I found another large ashtray. I really like the finished product and feel like the glass complements the print.

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Anna Maria Horner + Amber Lace Indiana Glass

A few months ago I made a quick stop after work at the Volunteers of America Thrift Store in Pickerington, Ohio. I found many pieces of glass that day including this one…

It can be challenging to make deep dish pincushions so I left this piece at the store. Fast forward one week later at a different thrift store and I found…

In my years of glass hunting, this is the first time I remember finding this Indiana lace glass and then finding it twice in a short period of time! The red one was half the price so I figured I would take a chance on it and see if I could make a pincushion out of it. Upon closer inspection of the glass, I noticed that the red coloring was peeling off in various places and I remembered the other one I found was amber. I decided to see if I could clean off the red film.

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»Rifle Paper Co. Fabric by Anna Bond and Pincushions«

  • Pincushions with Rifle Paper Co. Fabric

Anna Bond of Rifle Paper Co. creates beautiful art! The combination of salt cellars, antique glass and other unique vessels combined with Anna’s fabric created a colorful batch of pincushions to enjoy while sewing.

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»Robin Pickens Fabric and Pincushions«

Fabric designer and quilt pattern maker Robin Pickens has created several lines of fabric with Moda Fabrics. I used fabric from Painted Meadow, Dandi Annie, and Dear Mum to create this batch of pincushions.

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»Sharon Holland Floral Print in Reclaimed Glass Pincushion«

Reclaim – to retrieve or recover

When Lucy and I first started making pincushions, we frequented many antique shops hunting for just the right salt cellars. Over time, we started noticing other small dishes and finally ventured into different pieces to test if they would work. Ashtrays are a very common find. Some of the ashtrays we have found are made in beautiful patterns with interesting glass. Reclaiming and repurposing the glass spurs our imaginations and provides inspiration for creating.

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»Pike Quilt – Flower Child Fabric«

Maureen Cracknell, a fabric designer for Art Gallery Fabrics, has a new fabric line available. You can view the Lookbook for pretty pictures and inspiration including this version of the Pike quilt. I fell in love with this fabric!

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Maureen’s fabric was perfect for pincushions too.
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Quilting this was fun! I enjoyed changing the quilting motif in the different fabrics. I knew I wanted to have a wavy crosshatch in each of the block centers plus a lot of soft swirling lines in this quilt.  The design evolved as I quilted.

If you are interested in making the Pike Quilt, the pattern is FREE! You can find it on Craftsy by clicking HERE. There are a couple of colorways for this quilt and you can choose which you download. Additionally, I’ve created a coloring page for this quilt so you can play.

Pike Quilt Coloring Page
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Happy Quilting! ▶︎ ▶︎ ▶︎