I’ve always used polyester fill, but within my inheritance stash were two bags of Quilter’s Dream Cotton Stuffing.
Hmmm ...okay, I tried it in my pin cushions along with those little plastic pellets. (You need a certain amount of weight so when you pull the pin out of the cushion you aren't lifting the entire tomato.)
Okay, I ran out of stuffing….
“What do you mean I say to the Joanne Fabric saleswomen, you don’t carry cotton batting? But I’m ready to buy, I need some tout suite and I have coupons”.. "Sorry" she says, "only polyester"….. Okay Michaels…. No luck there…. Okay the pet store. I’ve heard ground walnut shells are great fillers….nope, they had ground coconut husks once, but they were out of them.
Okay Time to punt. Hey, I have a big plastic bag of cotton batting snivels….Why did I keep them? Who knows, maybe because I heard my mom talk about neighbors killing sparrows for Sunday dinner during the depression…. So I got out my scissors, shredded up the batting and voila….along with the plastic pellets it was a match made in heaven.
Okay I must confess I had practiced facial expressions of "innocence" for when my husband asked how his new paper shredder jammed. Yes, I was considering using it to cut up the batting, but decided I need all my ammo for convincing him that I need another old sewing machine as a “conversation piece” so I shredded it myself my hand.
So four more gift tomatoes completed.
The other thing I discovered about myself this week..."Dang... I can't make a lemon meringue pie to save my soul. "
About the antique machine.... I put it on the back burner because a Thanksgiving conversation gave me a bright idea for an ideal gift and it's going to involve burning a ton of midnight oil. Who has the energy to argue about another machine?.... not me...