After posting this picture on Twitter from when we had our carpet installed:

I decided to make it my mission to eliminate some of the junk in our house and organize some of the junk we keep. One of those junk areas is my craft dresser. Because all of the {very important} stuff is contained inside a dresser, I tend to ignore it. When I get something new or use something, I don’t put it back nicely; I shove it in a drawer and walk away.

Of course, that inevitably leads to things like this:

Pin storage is a ridiculous concept. How does one store pins? Pins poke through all of my normal storage solutions (read: ziplock bags). It took me a few minutes to remember that people invented pin cushions hundreds of years ago for a reason. Then I remembered the cute hedgehog pin cushion I had seen online somewhere. A quick google session lead me here. I *heart* google right down to my pretty little toes.

I raided my fabric stash and pulled out my sewing machine. This should explain to you how often I sew: It took me 10 minutes to clean the dust off my sewing machine before I could use it. I am not a seamstress. I pretty much suck at sewing. No- not pretty much. I suck at sewing. Hardcore, man.

I traced,

I cut,

I sewed right sides together.

Annnndd…

It looked like a possum. What?! A possum? Possums are not cute. Possums are not fun. Possums are ugly, blind animals that scare me by knocking over the trash cans in the middle of the night. Possums scare the living daylights out of me. See?

Possums are terrifying.

That’s when this project turned from being a cute “I can blog about this” project into a “Holy crap, I CAN sew a freakin’ hedgehog” project. I don’t like crafty failures. They make me very, very upset. And slightly crazy. I abandoned the possum but don’t worry, he was immediately adopted by Bright. I try not to shudder when she snuggles him against her cheek.

I tried again. This attempt was slightly more hedgehogish.

At the very least, it doesn’t look like a possum. He’s named Piney the Porcupine. I don’t know if porcupines and hedgehogs are related and I refuse to do the research required to find out, but I’m assuming they must be cousins. Possums are possibly related but are, without a doubt, shunned at family reunions.

Still… He wasn’t quite perfect. He still looked a bit… off. His nose was too long. His fabric bottom was inside out because of my awe inspiring sewing skills. His ears were hiding underneath his coat.I couldn’t let that stand. I knew I could do better. I knew if I tried one more time, I could make a hedgehog that was not only cute, but worthy of posting on the internets for the world to see.

Here she is:

The cutest little hedgehog I have ever seen in my house. Her ears are properly aligned on TOP of her coat. Her embroidered eyes and nose are acceptable. Plus, she has eyelashes. Eyelashes make everything better. Basically, she is the Rolls Royce of hedgehog pincushions.

And if you’d like to give her a good home, you can win her for your very own. Even if you don’t sew and have no use for an adorable, prickly pincushion, you can use her for cork board pin storage. Or you can just put her on your desk and stare at her adorableness. What ever works for you.

How to enter:

1. Comment here.

2. Tweet about this giveaway once a day. Please add #FTRHG to any tweets so I can keep track.

3. Blog about this giveaway.

If you tweet or blog about it, you can tell me by commenting here or emailing me  at Jen {at} Followingtheroad {dot} com. I will only count each commenter on my blog once. Each tweet or blog entry will count once.  This giveaway is open until next Wednesday, April 28th 2010 at which point I will draw a winner at random. Easy Peasy.

We’ll miss her, but there just isn’t room in this house for TWO pincushions. Remember? The whole point was to declutter.

Also? I’d like to remind the future winner that I am not a seamstress. At. All. If you win, you should keep that in mind. This little hedgehog is adorably imperfect.