Crazy Garden Quilt Assembly Continues.....

Just a quick post for today everyone.

I've sewn the trim down the seam lines on my Crazy Garden Quilt:



The next step in the process will be to put the borders on.  I won't be doing that today but we'll see what tomorrow brings.

For now, I'd like to let you know that my friend Cathy S. at Treasured Heirlooms blog is have a Contest Give Away.  Please do check out her blog.  It's beautiful and Cathy creates the loveliest cottage style adornments!  Be sure to scroll down to Cathy's March 20th post!

Crazy Garden Quilt Assembly In Progress

I know so many of my readers have been eagerly awaiting the completion of my Crazy Garden Quilt.  I started the process!  First, I had to trim off the excess fabric:



Some may think I waste a lot of fabric.  Well, I do but I have my reasons.  First, I like to stitch in a hoop so I make sure that my ground fabric will fit in a 12 inch Quilting hoop.  I use a vintage one.  I feel it's more sturdy and better made than the new ones.

If you look close in the first photo, you should be able to see that I mark my sewing line and add a 1 inch border around that.  I do this for several reasons.  I have a tendency to push the envelope when it comes to beading!  I mark that line and then run a basting stitch so I know how far I can put beads.  I leave the extra inch around that for "squaring up" the block.  With the stitching, the beading and the weight of it all, CQ blocks can get "out of shape".

So, the first thing I do is remove the basting stitch and then trim the block 1 inch from the sewing line.

Next, I square it up leaving a 1/2 inch seam allowance.  Again, the 1/2 seam allowance helps to support the extra weight of a CQ:



Once I had the blocks all trimmed up, I laid them out on the floor to be sure I was happy with my arrangement:



Next, I started sewing!  I first sewed them into vertical strips:



Generally, crazy quilts do not have a batting layer inside.  Again, my crazy quilts weigh a ton so I need the batting layer to help support them.  To this, I sewed vertical strips together horizontally but directly onto the quilt batting:



In the next photo, you can see where the quilt is sewn onto the batting.  Once I had that done, I top stitched along the outside edge to keep everything in place.



I can't go any further on the machine now until I hand-sew the trim on the seams.  I'll do that while watching TV.  You can see the pink satin fabric that I chose to border the quilt with.  It's such a pretty shade of cottage pink!  Anyway, the excess quilt batting is there for when I get to the borders.  Once I have the borders on, I can trim the excess batting away.


And all the while, I had my little supervisor overseeing my work:



That would be my Simba!

Anyway, once I get the trim sewn on the seams, I'll post another photo.  In the meantime, mom and I have completed a few more projects so I thought I'd share them:

First, is mom's little Swan Trinket Box:



Seems like I have a lot of bird items today!  This is my "trash to treasure" Dove In A Basket:



The basket was a broken vintage candle holder.  Now, it's a dove in a basket of flowers!

Last but not least, I just had to do another Birdbath:



I just love doing these!  A vintage candy dish turned birdbath!

I'm also thrilled beyond words that one of my Etsy items was featured on Paper*Cakes Finds.



How exciting huh?  Thank you so much!!!  Do visit the Paper*Cakes Blog.  Lots of pretty handmade eye candy there!

Ok, in other news, I'm tweeting now!  Ha, ha, ha!  Makes me laugh!!!  If you tweet, please look me up!  I could use some more followers.

I guess that's my news for today.  I just pulled some Banana Chocolate Chip bread out of the oven.  Oh, does that smell good.  Now to put some salad together for dinner!

Widgets, Gagets and Do-Dads!

As you can see, I've been playing around with all sorts of Widgets and so on.  This is all way more fun than it should be!  I also set up a Twitter account but I'm having some troubles with it.  I tried adding it to my Facebook page.  It asks for my Username & Password which I type in and then it tells me something went wrong and it can't log me in.  After fooling around with that for about 10 minutes, I said enough for now!

I don't have anything terribly exciting to share today.  My sister came yesterday to update some things on my computer.  I'm not always comfortable updating certain things myself so she came and we got some of that taken care of. 

I also put out a few of my Easter do-dads:



You may remember the shabby basket that I bought at the junk store awhile back.  I said I was going to fix it up for Easter with my glittery bunny and metallic eggs.  Well, that's what I did!  I think I'll dig around in my fancy ribbon stash and add a bow to it.

I didn't put out a lot of Easter things.  Just a few as it's only a week away.  I really prefer it when Easter is in the middle of April.

Today, I'll be heading over to mom's to play with some projects there.  And later this week, I'll be working on putting my Crazy Garden Quilt together.

Kitty & Me!

I've been trying to get to blogging all day!  I was at my mom's and was going to blog from dad's computer but I couldn't remember my Flickr password.  Arggggg.....

Well, I'm here now.  I have bread mixing in the Kitchenaid and I'll be starting on a pot of Italian Tortellini Soup momentarily.  In the meantime, I have a few new things to share today.

First are some sweet little Trinket Boxes by mom:



Aren't those just the cutest little Ragdolls?  And mom made the little quilts too.  I don't know if I'd ever attempt to sew up 1 inch squares!

I did finally finish up my little Cat Dolls yesterday:







It's been awhile since I made some.  I designed the pattern a few years back when Pat started The Comfort Doll Project.  I made quite a few for the project and then got a little burned out on them.  I was going through some of my "ready to stitch" projects and found that I  had 3 cat dolls all ready to stitch so I pulled them out, stitched them and put them together.  As you know, my little black cat is my signature and these dolls are based on that.

In other news, last week when I was in Hobby Lobby, I found some beautiful pink satin fabric.  It's the perfect shade of pink for my Crazy Garden Quilt.  I started the process of getting the blocks ready to put together.  No photos yet but stay tuned.
I have quite a few "works in progress" going on right now.  There are about 3 in various stages at my mom's house and at least 5 here!  I have to pace myself but it's good to have a few different things in the works.  That way I have options depending on how I feel at any given moment.  And I'm feeling the need for a new purse!  I pulled my Easter purse out this morning and will use this for the next week or so:



As for a new purse, I haven't been able to decide on what theme to do.  Again, I have quite a few purse blocks sewn up.  It's been awhile since I did something with a Seascape theme.  I have one ready to stitch with a beautiful vintage hankie that belonged to my grandmother.  I have a pink & green one with a cutsy pink butterfly and I've also been thinking about another peacock purse.  Oh, too many choices!!!!  What do you all think?

Well, finally for today, I'm going to share something with you that I don't usually do.  My dad gave me my Freshman School year photo today.  He suggested that I blog it.  I suggested that he put it on the firepit!  Ha, ha, ha.  Ok, I'm a fun person so here it is:

This was 1976 and I was 14 years old here.  Oh, those braces!!!!  Ick!!!!  I don't look that young anymore but who does!  Like I always say, it's not the years, it's the miles.  And not the physical miles but the mental and emotional miles!

Just for the record, this what I look like now:



This was taken about 4 years ago.

Have a good evening everyone.  I'm off to make soup!

Marie Antoinette Mixed Media Art Quilt Is Now Complete!

I've kept myself quite busy today.  First, I finished up on Marie:



And here is a closeup of the center portion:



I'm so please with this!  I must do more!  I have Mozart playing around in my head now!

When I finished that, I made some Polyclay faces.  One will be used on my next Marie Antoinette project!  Wait until you see that one.  Still thinking through the "how to's".

While doing laundry (again) I posted several new items by Mom and I. First, Mom sewed up another pretty gift bag.  I think this one is my favorite:



And I added my little Hat Ornaments:



If you would like to see larger versions of the images, just click on them to go to my Flickr site.

Well, that's the news for today everyone!  I'm off to deliver a new litter of kittens!  Crazy Quilt Cats Dolls are coming soon!

Altered Purse, Baking & More

I think I mentioned a week or so ago, that I was playing with a vintage purse that I purchased at a Flea Market back in November.  Well, I finally finished that up today.  Here is the before photo:



And here is the after photo:



It's really not THAT altered.  I sewed some fringy beaded trim at the top then added the trim with the roses to that.  Once I had that on, I sewed the ribbon on, gathering it and sewing it down as I went along.  Yes, the alterations are done completely by hand!  Quite a challenge to keep the thread from getting tangled in the sequins!

Anyway, I then made the bows for the sides and sewed them on.  My dilemma was with the handle.  It was in good shape but quite dirty.  I wanted to do something that was removable in case I ever wanted to change it or in case it got dirty from my use.  Mom suggested that I take some wide grosgrain ribbon and blanket stitch it over the handle.  Voila!  Perfect.  It's pretty, it's changeable and it's pink!

So that's my altered purse.  I really just plan on using it for my Flea Market trips.  My Crazy Quilt purses aren't big enough to put my purchases in and when I saw this, I thought it would be perfect as there are pockets for my wallet, my keys, my cellphone and then lots of empty space for my junkin' finds!  It just needed some pink girl-y stuff on it!

In Friday's post, I mentioned that I had made some Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding.  Yum!  I took a photo of it:



I used my own homemade bread that I had made a week ago and wanted to use up.  Here is my recipe:

Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding

4 Eggs
2 cups Milk
1/3 cup Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon Salt
2 1/2 cups Dried Bread Cubes
1 cup Chocolate Chips

Beat together eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and salt.  Spread bread cubes out in a rectangle casserole dish (mine is about 2 inches high).  Sprinkle Chocolate Chips over the bread cubes.  Pour egg mixture over the bread & chips.  Bake at 325 for 40 - 45 minutes.

I was never that big on bread pudding but with chocolate, oh yum!  If you try this, please let me know how you like it!

I guess the baking bee was still in me today.  I made Chocolate Chip cookies:



And a Cinnamon Raisin Bread with Chocolate Chips:



Ok, so I like Chocolate!  I had one slice of bread and one cookie and they were so good!  I like to bake things for my dad.  He loves Chocolate too and has been complaining that I haven't made him any cookies lately.  Spoiled?!!!!  I mean really, mom bakes all the time!

Anyway, I also made a big pot of Chicken Soup today and some Taco Meat for salad during the week.  Now I can play all week and know that I have lunch and dinner taken care of.

While I was doing all that (along with 4 loads of laundry), I added some new things to my shop.  First are my sweet little Glittered Birdhouses:



Do they look like ice cream cones or what?!!!  Sprinkles and all!  I wanted them to look Summery.

These little cuties were made by Mom:



I don't know where she found those tiny clay pots!  These are so sweet and I believe the last of our Easter items for this year.

Last but not least, mom made 3 Gift Bags:







These are so pretty!  Mom did some hand-beading on each of these.  Remember, my mom is legally blind and only has a small amount of vision.  You would never know it by the quality of her work.  She's always had a great amount of determination in her.  She has said many times that it wasn't going to keep her from doing the things she loves. 

Well, that's my post for today.  I had wanted to put my Marie Antoinette quilt on the quilt rod today but I ran out of steam.  Yes, yes, I know.  I did plenty and I shouldn't push myself so much.  Not to worry, I've already taken a shower, had some soup for dinner and will be heading off to bed in a moment.  I'll worry about finishing up my Marie quilt tomorrow!

Marie Antoinette Quilt And Some New Cat Dolls

Kind of a quick update today ladies.  My mom isn't feeling well and although I didn't plan on going to my parent's house today, I decided it would help mom for me to be there.  She has many of the same issues that I have and then some.  Yes, it is hereditary isn't it?!

Anyway, just before mom called me, I put a Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding in the oven.  I thought I'd share some photos with you while it's baking.  I'll take that with me when I head over to mom's.  A little chocolate always helps!

My pretty Marie Antoinette quilt is almost done.  The quilt itself is done, I just have to put it on the hanger.  I painted that at mom's yesterday so I'll bring that home and finish it up over the weekend.  Here's the quilt:



Be sure to click on the photo to go to my Flickr site where you see the large version.  I glittered the flowers and added some glittered paper butterflies.  I just love this!!!

Next on my agenda are a few new Cat dolls.  My little cat is my signature and it's been awhile since I made some of these:



They don't look like much of anything now.  Once they're stitched, they'll look like these:



I'm going to take my sewing basket over to mom's with me and stitch there:



When my new little cats are done, I'll make them available in the shop.

That's it for today.  My bread pudding is done.  I'll let it cool down for a few moments and then I'll head over to mom's.  I'll have more eye candy to share with you over the weekend!

Update On Marie Quilt

I haven't felt great today.  My husband took vacations days yesterday and today and asked this morning if I would like to go junkin' at the antique mall.  He thought it would take my mind off of how I feel.  What a sweetie-pie!

I of course, could not say no to junkin'!  I found a couple of nice things to add to my stash:

A vintage Tatting booklet, an old book of music, some vintage millinery flowers and a small package of old crocheted lace.

We stopped at Wendy's for a little tiny cheeseburger and then came home.  I put my Corned Beef in the Nesco (I don't cook!  Really I don't!) and now it's ready for some salad for tonight and tomorrow night.

While that was cooking, I played some more with my Marie Antoinette Mixed Media Art Quilt:

I added some do-dads to it and put the back on.  Traditionally, I would have put a "proper" binding on it but this is an art quilt so I cut the back larger than I needed, folded it over the top and topped stitched it down.  I'm quite pleased with it!

It isn't done yet though.  I added some glitter to the flowers and it's drying now.  I have a few more embellishments for it which I'll add tomorrow and hopefully, I can get it on the hanger.  I still have to paint that so we'll see.

Marie Antoinette Mixed Media Art Quilt

First, I'd like to say thank you to everyone who complimented my projects in yesterday's post.  If your email address is public, I can reply to each comment via email.  The only reason someone wouldn't get an email reply from me is because I don't have access to your address.  Please know that I truly appreciate each and every comment.  I know it takes time and it's just so nice to hear from everyone!

My head was sort of crazy today.  What a surprise!  I had a lot of trouble concentrating and focusing.  I somehow managed to finish up the tax stuff and when I was done, I said, "enough!  I'm going to play with my Marie quilt!"  And that's what I did.

I absolutely love Mixed Media Art Quilts.  I love how the creative energy goes into the design rather than the technical worries of perfect placement and finishing such as with sane quilts and even with Crazy Quilting, which certainly offers more freedom than sane quilts but for me, I still stress over skill & technique.

I think I can honestly say though, that I've got the Crazy Quilting thing down!  Mixed Media Art Quilts though, are another story.  I struggle big time with my perfectionism and doing things "the proper way".  I was taught not to mix paper & fabric, not to use glue on fabric, all sewing & stitching must be perfect and always, bind the edges!  Some of that is my ADD.  Some it is just what I was taught.

Well, I decided to just go with the flow on this one and not worry about all rules.  This is a challenge for me but here is what I have so far:



This is sewed, stitched, glued and I will be adding some glitter to it!  It isn't done yet, but I'm quite pleased so far.  I have some fun little elements that I plan to add to it.  One thing at a time though.  The next step is to finish up around the Marie photo.

Stayed tuned!

Crazy Garden Quilt Blocks And More!

Grab a cup of tea and a snack, sit back, relax and enjoy!  I have loads of things to share today with lots of eye-candy pictures!

First, I finished up the stitching on Block #9 of my Crazy Garden Quilt:

I added the second Hummingbird a vintage bee pin that I bought at a flea market awhile back.

And here are all 9 blocks together:

I just have to find some elegant pink fabric that I like and I can put it together.  I'm really looking forward to hanging this in my Living Room.  As much as I love my Lucky quilt, it's time to look at something new for awhile.

I'll let you know when I find the perfect pink fabric.  Ya'll know, the border has to be pink!  I must say, this project certainly helped me to get through the Winter months.  Now that it's Spring, I'm looking forward to making a few new purses and some other fun projects.  And since this project helped to get through this past Winter, I already have a project picked out to help me get through next Winter.  But I'll share that one when we get to October.

For now, I thought I'd share today's Flea Market treasures with you.  Scott and I picked Mom up at 8:00 am and we headed out to Grayslake for the Flea Market & Antique Show.  Dad isn't into junkin' like we are.  He's usually bored there but Mom loves it and always seems to have a good time.

Anyway, first I found this big chunky tassels:

Wait until you see what I'm going to do with these!  And yes, glitter will be involved!

Next, I found this great glittery dress piece:

I'm not sure yet if I'm going to use as is or if I'm going to take the beads and rhinestones off and just use them.  I have to think about it some more yet.  It was so sparkly I just couldn't pass it by.

I also found a doll head & hands, 2 embroidered napkins and a really pretty and unusual applique.  I'm sure you know those napkins will be cut up and used in something.  They were only $1 each and I thought they were so pretty!

Then I found 2 really pretty vintage hankies.  One has roses on it (I love pink) and the other one has flowers on it that made me think of the 4th of July:

I haven't decided on what I'll do with these yet.  Just add them to my stash for now.  I have a beautiful collection of vintage hankies but it just doesn't stop me from buying more when I see ones that I like.

I also found a beautiful vintage crocheted doily that I only paid 25 cents for but it needed a good washing so it's currently drying and needs to be pressed.  I think I'll just use that somewhere in my house.  It has those little roses crocheted on it but they're not quite pink.  More of a salmon color.  Quite antique looking and I couldn't pass that by for only 25 cents!

A now, for the latest creations from Mom and I!

These beautiful floral boxes, based on those little Victorian images of gift boxes, filled with flowers and doves sitting on top were lovingly made by Mom:

I just think these are so pretty!  And of course they have glitter on them!

Next, my Cherub Trinket Box:

I love making these!  What a lovely gift this would make along with a pretty piece of jewelry.  

I also did some gift tags yesterday at Mom's:

These are fun to make too.  The flowers came from a vintage greeting card.  The gold mesh is vintage too.  Scott's step mom found it for me at a garage sale.  She also picked up a roll of silver vintage mesh.

Last but not least, my Piece De Resistance:

A birdbath made from a vintage green glass candy dish!  It's one of a kind.  I picked up the candy dish awhile back and have been looking at it for a few weeks.  Suddenly, it looked like a birdbath to me so that's what I created with it.  

I can't tell you much fun it is to play with vintage items, thrift shop finds and yard sale do-dads.  I love to transform ordinary objects into new things and I love to re-purpose items.

For so many years, I wanted to work more with my hands.  I've always said, give me a pile of craft supplies and I will make something incredible with it.  Sitting behind the computer for so many hours a day didn't leave me with much time for doing crafts or art.  I was lucky to have time to stitch for myself.  Well, this past year has kind of taught me that you really have to do what you love and this is what I love doing.

These creations and more can be found here.

Have a great evening everyone!