Gina's Peacock Completed

I completed this peacock last night including the addition of some Swarovski Crystals and some cut glass beads. You know, I have the embellishment bug in me!



The entire design is worked in DMC Rayon Floss which I'll honestly admit, is a challenge to work with! But there are some tips to using it:

-Use short lengths, about 12 inches long
-Separate strands before threading needle
-Dangle your needle every few minutes to avoid twisting
-Thread Heaven does help to control it
-DO NOT wet it! Some stitchers say that if you wet it, it's easier to work with. Actually, it's more difficult to work with when it's wet as it won't budge!
-When pressing your finished pieces with rayon threads, always place your piece face down on a terrycloth towel. This helps to pad the stitches so they don't flatten out.

I really love the shiny look of rayon threads and I thought they were perfect for this project. Patience is necessary though. It took me a little longer to stitch up then it would have with cotton floss but the results are so beautiful that it was worth the extra stitching time.

I'll be making this piece into a handbag for myself. I'll post photos when I get to the finishing.

If you would like to have the pattern, you can find it here.

100 Details In 100 Days - Day 72

There's quite a focus around the blogs right now on Paisley designs. So, today's detail is for a charted Paisley.



Click on the photo to go to my Flickr site where you can download a larger version of the pattern.

Halloween Finishes

I did the finishing on these little Halloween crazyquilts last week. All are available for purchase now in my Etsy shop:

100 Details In 100 Days - Day 71

Today's detail is a charted Blackwork Reindeer design.

Yes, this design is a twinge large for a crazyquilt motif, but imagine it in the center of a quilt with pink, green and gold crazypatch around it!

I would stitch this on x stitch fabric and then work it into a quilt.

100 Details In 100 Days - Day 70

Fractal 8
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.

The last of the Fractal designs for awhile, I just wanted to give you a little something different to work with for a few days.

The fractal in this one is a bit obscure. It's there, but it takes a backseat to the other filters that I used on this piece.

Print this up on a fabric sheet or transfer to fabric using another medium and work it into crazyquilts, scrapbooking or altered art.

Stop back tomorrow for a charted Christmas design!

Several Finishes

I completed several projects last week.

First is this little Basket doorknocker pillow. The basket is crayon tinted and embroidered with a rayon thread about the same size as a #5 perle cotton. The flowers are worked with overdyed floss from Needle Necessities. I added some beads for sparkle and dimension.



Next is this pretty little Flower Cart doorknocker pillow. I believe this is a Vogart pattern. Again, I crayon tinted the tulips, embroidered it using overdyed threads from Needle Necessities and then added beads for some sparkle.



Last but not least, is my Rose Garden Handbag. I added some vintage lace to the bottom and a vintage button. I'm going to try coming up with a different pattern for finishing these. The finishing on these handbags takes forever!



I've added these to my Etsy Boutique. If you would like to see larger photos, just click on one of the pictures to go to my Flickr site.

100 Details In 100 Days - Day 69

Fractal 6
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.

I'm a bit surprised but judging by my Flickr stats, these Fractal designs are a bit more popular than I had anticipated.

So here's another one that you can print on fabric sheets and work into your crazyquilts or other art quilts. You can also use them for cards, scrapbooking and altered art.

Enjoy!

100 Details In 100 Days - Day 68

Fractal 7
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.

This one is so beautiful, isn't it? I'm still amazed at what computers can do! Print this up on a fabric sheet and work into your crazyquilt projects.

I have some yard work to do and then I'll get back to working on my peacock!

One Of Gina's Peacocks

Peacock
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.

I finally was able to start stitching on one of Gina's Peacock designs. I love the primative look of this little one so decided to do him first!

Call me crazy (it's ok, really!) I'm stitching the entire design with Rayon floss! I'm sure many of you know how challenging rayon threads are to work with but isn't the shine amazing?

If I have the right colors, I want to use some crystals in the centers of the tail feathers. And because I "must embellish" I'll probably find a place for a few seed beads. If they look good!

I want to make this into a handbag for myself.

100 Details In 100 Days - Day 67

Fractal 4
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.

Today's detail is another of my Fractal designs which you can print on commercial inkjet fabric sheets and work them into your crazyquilt projects.

The New Issue Of At Home With Needlework

Zweigart Magazine
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.

The new Zweigart magazine is out! Here's a list of my designs which appear in this issue:

Scarecrows In The Pumpkin Patch (cover design on page 6)
4 Apple Towels (page 16)
Autumn Blue Jay Tabletopper (page 20)
Welcome Autumn Tabletopper and Border design (Page 24)
Silk Ribbon Heart and Floral Spray (page 29)
Autumn Walk (page 36)
Autumn Next Afghan (page 47)
Boo (page48)

Happy Stitching everyone!

Fish Under The Sea Block - Complete!

I completed this project yesterday afternoon and I must say, I absolutely love it and want to do another Fish Under The Sea quilt now!



What a change of pace from traditional crazyquilting! I use some broken jewelry that I got in a bag of misc. pieces at a flea market last Summer. Lot's of sequins, real seashells, pretty little fish charms, dyed freshwater pearls, semi-precious stone chips and of course, some beads.

And speaking of handbags, that's probably what I'll do with this piece.

I Have A Confession To Make.....

I'm a handbag junkie! You know how many women just love shoes? Well, I love shoes too, I just don't like them on my feet! No, my thing is cute little handbags!

I found a wonderful shop over at Etsy. Louise of Scarf It Up makes beautiful knitted handbags with those gorgeous fancy yarns that we see in craft stores now.

I've been drooling all over her shop for months now! I finally sent Louise a message telling her how much I loved her bags but couldn't decide on which one I wanted. She offered to do a custom bag for me! I wanted something for Winter that would go with my black coat so I decided on a black bag with pink foo-foos!

Isn't this gorgeous?!!! Because it's handmade, I wanted to share it here.



I'll be needing another one very soon!

100 Details In 100 Days - Day 66

Fractal 5
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.

Today's detail is another fractal design that you can print on inkjet fabric sheets and work into your quilts.

I hope someone can use these. I've tried to think of all sorts of different things that can be used in or on crazyquilts. I've always loved fractals. Like crazyquilts, they're just so interesting to look at! This one reminds me of bubblegum.

Fish Under The Sea - Continued

Fish Under The Sea
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.

Well this block has been challenging. When I started on it, I had no idea where I was going to with it. All I knew was that I had that beautiful pink Mother Of Pearl fish and I wanted to use it on this piece.

I did not think this out at all. I started by adding the fancy yarns (which by the way, are a pain to work with) and then I did the tatted do-dads to the left. Yes, they were supposed to be the cast-on stitch but despite Sharon's help and instructions, all I ended up with was a great big fat kanoodle! So I resorted again to my tatting needle which worked out well because I remembered that if you do just a single stitch, instead of the double stitch, you get those wonderful twisted strands. So I'm going to add a few more of those.

My husband was kind enough to drill holes in some of my little seashells for me so I added them and the dyed pearls.

I'm not done with this yet. I still have more little fishy charms to add and some other beads and sequins. Believe it or not, my husband doesn't care for crazyquilting too much but he really likes this piece. I guess it's going in the right direction!

100 Details In 100 Days - Day 65

Fractal 2
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.

Another of my Fractal designs for printing your own fabric sheets. I love Fractals as they're so interesting to look at not mention colorful!

100 Details In 100 Days - Day 64

Fractal 3
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.

Does this remind you of peacock feathers or what!

Today's crazyquilt detail is another of my Fractal designs for the purpose of creating your own fabric sheets.

Again, you can use these not only for crazyquilting but also for greeting cards, memory albums, scrapbooking and altered art.

Fish Under The Sea Block

Fish Under The Sea
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.

I just started on this block which will have a "Fish Under The Sea" theme.
I have absolutely no clue where I'm going with this piece and am feeling quite challenged at the moment. I have a ton of pretty little fish beads and charms, i have all sorts of small sea shells (I'll need Scott to drill some holes in them for me) and that's all I know about what I'm doing!

I wanted to cover the seams but only did a simple feather stitch on each seam using a thread color as close to the fabric as I could. The blue fabric at the top is one of my painted dryer sheets.

I'm off to figure out where I want to go with this. I should have more to share tomorrow.

100 Details In 100 Days - Day 63

Fractal 1
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.

I thought I would give you a little something different to work with for a few days. Today's crazyquilt detail is for the purpose of making your own fabric.

You'll need commercial inkjet fabric sheets, transfer sheets or another method of transferring images to fabric. I use inkjet fabric sheets. They're quick and easy.

The designs I'll be offering over the next few days are called Fractals. I have special software to do these and I add other special effects filters to give them alot of depth and dimension.

Once you've transferred these to fabric, you can work them into your crazyquilts with other fabrics.

They can also be used for greeting cards, scrapbooking, memory albums, altered books and other altered art. The possibilities are endless!

Have fun with these! I'd love to see photos of any of my designs if and when you use them.

Halloween Block 3 Complete!

Halloween 3
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.

I finished this block yesterday evening. Today I plan to do the finishing on the Rose Garden Handbag and all 3 Halloween doorknockers.

I'll post photos of my completed pieces soon!

100 Details In 100 Days - Day 62

Strawberry Border
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.

Today's crazyquilt details is a strawberry border. You can stitch this as a seam treatment or stitch it on x stitch fabric and sew it into your foundation.

Halloween Block 3

I started this little project yesterday. This is the last of my Halloween Doorknockers. I plan to sew these up when I complete this one and add them to my Etsy Shop.

100 Details In 100 Days - Day 61

Motif Pink Angel Fish
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.

I've been planning on a doing a "Fish Under The Sea" block for quite some time now. I have my block sewn and I think it'll be my next project.

It occured to me that sea scenes are very popular for crazyquilts so today's motif is a little Pink Angel Fish. Use 2 strands for x stitch and 1 strand for backstitch. Feel free to add some Kreinik blending filament for sparkle!

Quick Question For Crazy Quilters

How many of you use commercial inkjet fabric sheets or other fabric transfer methods? I need some feedback on this because I'd like to offer a new "detail" idea but I need to make sure that it's something do-able for everyone.

Please leave a comment for me here or at my Flickr site or you could send me an email if you like.
Anyone can post to my blog now so please let me know.

Mailart And Counted Cross Stitch

Robin sent me a photo of this piece that she did last week. It seems that Mailart has been noticed by counted cross stitchers and they want in on the fun too!



This is one of my retired designs that Robin stitched and adapted for Mailart. Mailart as most of us know by now is artwork, sent through the Postal System.

I Googled "cross stitch mailart" and didn't find much in the way of interesting websites. But I did find this one, the website of Lynne Nicoletti with charted patterns specifically designed for Mailart.

I was thinking, that you could use many of my 100 Days patterns to make MailArt. Stitch one of the borders down the left-hand side of your piece or stitch one of the motifs in the corner. Then embroider the address and you've got Mailart!

Now...I tried to find instructions for making a Mailart piece out of cross stitch fabric but no luck. This is where my creativity sets in! "Necessity is the mother of invention"! When I can't find what I'm looking for, I just make it up as I go along! Well, I don't have time at the moment to figure out how to do this but thanks to Fabric Follies blog, I found a site with all sorts of interesting templates for making envelopes, boxes and so on. Visit Mirkwood Designs and click on "Templates". I'm sure these will give you some really great ideas for making art with fabric and threads! And please be sure to drop Ruth an email and thank her for her complimentary patterns. I'm a firm believer in showing gratitude even for free things.

And while on the subject of Mailart, visit Beates Fabric Art Blog to see some wonderful Fabric Postcards!

100 Details In 100 Days - Day 60

Snowflake Border
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.

Can you believe we've gone through 60 days already! This project has been so much fun!

Today's detail is a charted design for a snowflake border. Guess I'm thinking Christmas again!

The dots represent beads. You could scatter these where you want them or use them as a border as I've designed it.

For those you who are interested in taking one of Sharon's online classes in Encrusted Crazyquilting or Creating A Personal Stitch Library, click here for more information. You'll never find a better a crazyquilter to learn from than Sharon.

Directions For Crayon Tinting

I've been asked many times about Crayon Tinting and how to do it so I thought I'd give you a quick tutorial on it.

It's actually quite easy and the results are beautiful!

I recommend using 100% cotton fabric such as Muslin, Quilter's Cotton or Kona Cotton. The fabric should be washed beforehand to remove the sizing.

Trace or transfer your pattern onto your fabric.

Before coloring, make a pad of several layers of extra muslin. Lay the piece that you want to color on top of the pad. This will give that soft tinted look that you see in my pieces.

Then simply color as desired. I usually start out very light and then build up my color closer to the edges. I also use several shades of the same color in my pieces. This gives it a little more dimension.

When you're satisfied with your tinting, place your piece between 2 sheets of paper or paper towels and heat set with your iron.

Then stitch as desired.

If you have any questions about Crayon Tinting or anything that I've discussed here at my blog, please don't hesitate to leave a message for me here or you're welcome to send me an email.

Please visit our Etsy shop for Cottage Style Comforts & Adornments

100 Details In 100 Days - Day 59

I was sitting on my front porch this morning, trying to decide what detail to offer today when one of my little female hummingbirds came to my feeder. Funny where inspiration comes from!

So today's crazyquilt detail is a Hummingbird Motif!



If you've never seen a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, you can see photos here. This should give you a good idea of what colors to use when stitching him.

If you have graphic software, you can size this to fit your space or your needs.

Enjoy!

Finishes

As I promised earlier today, here are several photos of projects that I managed to finish last week.

First, my Fruit Doorknocker. This design is from one of my vintage transfer patterns. In this photo, I've shown what to do with a doorknocker. You simply hang them on a hook or a knob!



This is my Crinoline Lady Doorknocker. Everyone seems to love this one!



Last but not least, I call this my "Reflections Of 1940" Handbag. I'm sure you all remember this piece from a few weeks back. I've lined it and added an inside snap for closure.



I've added these items to my Etsy Boutique. I'm going to try to do some more finishing tomorrow so I'll post photos as soon as things are ready.

100 Details In 100 Days - Day 58

Today's crazyquilt detail is another peacock from Gina's amazing vintage embroidered linen collection. Wouldn't it be great to see her collection is person? Thank goodness for the internet and blogging! How else would get to see her beautiful pieces?



Click on the photo to go to my Flickr site where you can download a larger version of the pattern. And please hop over to Gina's blog to thank her.

Later, I'll have some "finishes" to share with you. For now, I have design work to finish up.

Huge Fabric Store In Paducah Kentucky

We left Louisville on Sunday afternoon and drove 4 hours southwest to Paducah Kentucky. I wanted to see "Hancock's Of Paducah" an absolutely, unbelievably huge fabric store. And boy, was it ever huge! Imagine a store the size of WalMart filled with row after row of fabric bolts!



You can see me in the back wearing my beloved Chicago Cubs shirt!



I stood in the doorway and felt like I was in fabric heaven! It was so wonderful and overwhelming, I had to walk the store once just to see everything before deciding on what goodies I needed to bring home.



Actually, I didn't need to bring any goodies home as I have more fabric than I know what to do with! But for obvious reasons, I couldn't leave without something fun! So I bought these pieces:



Click on any of the pictures to see larger versions at my Flickr page.

As I said yesterday, Kentucky is so incredibly beautiful and the people are just as nice as pie! I agreed to go back next Summer for the 2007 Streetrod Nationals.

Thank you to everyone who told me that the seedpods I posted yesterday were Buckeyes. We were facinated with them! Thank you everyone!

100 Details In 100 Days - Day 57

Motif Christmas Tree
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.

I don't know why but I was thinking of Christmas this morning! So I worked up a simple Christmas Tree motif for today's crazyquilt detail. Try stitching it with varigated, overdyed or metallic thread. The dots represent beads.

Enjoy!

Trip To Kentucky

I mentioned the other day that my husband and I made a trip to Kentucky for the 2006 Streetrod Nationals held at the Kentucky State Fairgrounds just outside of the Louisville Airport. My father-in-law has been to this show every year since it started with his beautiful 1931 Ford Model A Roadster. He was receiving an award for "every year" attendance and wanted Scott and I to be there.



You can see him standing behind his car.

At this show, with the exception of a few specialty vehicles, all cars had to be 1948 and older so I wasn't stuck looking at Cameros and Corvettes! These were all really old, beautifully restored cars.





I won't bore you with the 50 car photos that Scott took but if you're interested in seeing some of the car pictures, you can visit my Flickr site to see more of them.

Kentucky is one of the most beautiful states I've been to! While there, we did a bit of sightseeing. This is the result of one of my navigating errors! Abraham Lincoln's Birthplace, just outside of Bardstown. No, Pam doesn't know North from South! But this mistake turned out to be a good one!





We also visited the "My Old Kentucky Home" state park, also in Bardstown. This house belonged to the cousin of 1800's American composer, Stephen Foster. While visiting his cousin, he wrote the American classic song, "My Old Kentucky Home" which is now the state song of Kentucky.



We arrived here a bit late and found that the buildings were closed for the day but we were able to walk the grounds and see the house up close.

This a very rare photo of me standing by the front door. I usually avoid having my picture taken but Scott wanted me there to show how large the front door is.



I'm wondering if I have any readers from Kentucky or anywhere in the southern states who can tell me what this is. It's some sort of fruit or nut growing on a tree at the "My Old Kentucky Home" state park. Being that we're from northern Illinois, we don't recognize it and Scott and I are just beside ourselves trying to find out what this is:



As I said, Kentucky is beautiful! The people are wonderful and just as friendly as can be! I really loved it there!

Tomorrow, I'll share photos of the unbelieveably huge fabric store that we stopped in down in Paducah, Kentucky! In the meantime, there's alot more photos over at my Flickr site including another photo of me if you'd like to see them.

100 Details In 100 Days - Day 56

Ellas Floral And Lattice
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.

Today's detail is another of Ella's original patterns. If you're wondering who Ella is, see my post from yesterday (Day 55).

I'll have some of my Kentucky photos for you later today. I'm having a terrible time getting into my blogger account today. Am doing this post through Flickr so I hope it goes through.

New Projects

I started this little project last night. The design is from one of my vintage transfers. I think it's from a Superior Transfer design. Anyway, I'm using Overdyed Floss from Needle Necessitities. I have so many threads, I forget sometimes what I have! These are beautiful hand dyed varigated threads.

I did just a bit of crayon tinting on the basket.



And this will be my Halloween #3 block. Another 5 inch block which I'll make into a doorknocker for my Etsy Boutique.



Tomorrow, I'll have some photos from our trip to Kentucky!