Elizabeth Bennett bites back

So I was stuck with one of life's eternal problems tonight- I can't sleep, my husband can and wants to do so for the duration of the night (selfish I know) which means that although I'm allowed to craft it has to be silently. I'm a big fan of noise. I like to have music playing, hit things with hammers to shape them in the way I want, and I have to admit the novelty has not worn off my industrial staple gun. I told you my mum gets me the best presents. 

So... What to do!

I started by glueing some fabric that I've been meaning to do for a while, but that took 30 seconds. I then sat in my craft room with hundreds of ideas but they all made noise. 

Then it came to me, the pinwheel magnet. This is also something I've been meaning to do for a while, in case you haven't noticed I'm a class A procrastinator. So I undid my fabric jars picked out relevantly sized pieces and set to work. For those who don't have time to read my drivel, this is the outcome:

As the novelty hasn't worn off my glue gun either and the tutorial said that I could use one, I plugged it in and waited.

I'm not a good waiter.

Usually if I have to wait I get distracted and start something else. But for the glue gun to be most effective you have to wait. So I did. For not very long. Because the tutorial also said that you could sew the centre pieces. 

Now I am a modern girl, I like my stapler and my glue gun but I also think I could give Elizabeth Bennett a run for her moor walking peticoat (if you don't know who Elizabeth Bennett is, shame on you(!), and please read Pride and Prejudice immediately if not sooner.) This led me to wonder if modern tools are really what they are cracked up to be and if sewing by candlelight is still just as good. For all the optomologists in the room - don't fear I did use electrical lighting.

I threaded my needle in seconds- take that EB! And methodically worked the corners of the pin wheel into the centre before adding a button. The magnets I used already had sticky backs so I was done in 4 minutes flat. By this point the glue gun had reached the appropriate temperature, so taking the next fabric piece I followed the same process using glue instead. Oh my word! First there was no glue, then too much glue, then more glue on me than the fabric, then I was stuck to the fabric! I'm not a thimble wearer so I pricked my finger a couple of times with the needle but nothing had me singing the 'no' song like the hot glue did. 

Don't pretend you don't know the song, it's the one where you repeat 'no' getting progressively quicker that culminates in one long 'nooooooo' when things have gotten really bad. Or a joyous air punch if you've overcome the adversity that started the song.

Both the pin wheels look really good, and although I thought the glue would be quicker, when you consider how long it takes for it to warm up and how long it takes to pull the dry glue from your fingers - although I quite like that- sewing is definitely quicker. I also liked that you can see the thread on the button. It gives it a more authentic feel I think, less that there has been a conveyor belt of asbestos'd hands adding embellishments to my new favourite type of magnet. So although my glue gun will not be taking early retirement, I think the classics still have a role to play.