Batting, batting, everywhere!

Hi everyone:

Recently I was spending some quilty time with my buddy, Lee of Lala's Lovelys, and she was commenting that she had lots of batting scraps left over from quilting projects. Like me, Lee had bags of small bits and strips of batting that were hanging around not being very productive. Now, that may be okay in my studio (I have lots of bags and boxes of various items not being productive), but Lee uses up just about everything, so a use for these battings bits had to be found!

So, I put my thinking cap on (had to readjust it a time or two) and tried to come up with some uses for these batting leftovers. Here's what I created:

Yup, 30 seconds of thinking came up with these little bunny pincushions/ornaments. Here's how I did it:

Take one sock - I used a small child's sock - you know, the kind that have the little rubber bits on the bottom so they won't slip. Any size would do, you just might need to fill it with more batting. 

One baby or small sock

Go through your leftover batting pieces until you find a strip that is approximately 3" wide by 20" long. You're actually looking for a strip of batting that will fit inside the sock, so the size isn't really crucial, but try to find a continuous strip, if possible. 

Batting strip

Once you've got your strip, roll it up into a ball. 

Roll 'er up

Take the ball and stuff it up into the sock until the batting ball is completely inside the sock with the bottom of it even with the sock opening (this will eventually be the bottom of the bunny, but it is really the top of the sock). 

Batting roll going into sock

Batting roll all in sock

 Pull up the excess sock toe and tie a knot in it. 

Twist sock toe over ...

and pull through to form knot

Pull out the toe of the sock as this will be the bunny ears. 

Bunny ear from knot

You can now squeeze and pull the batting ball and ears until they are just right. 

Tweaking the ears

If you like, you can add a button for an eye or even embroider a small eye. 

This little bunny can be used as a pincushion or just as a cute ornament in your sewing room. This is a great way to use up those gently used socks and extra batting bits. 

Charlie and new sock friends

If bunny starts to get a bit thin, just add more batting to him or change out the batting strip for a new one - I'm sure you will have accumulated more by then!

What do you do with your excess batting bits and strips? I'd love to hear your suggestions.