Irish Lady Pillow Is Ready To Sew

My Crazy Quilt Irish Lady Pillow piece is complete and ready to sew together:

And here are close up photos of the seam stitching:

I also mentioned when I started on this, that I'm going to be experimenting with "fill in" patterns.  Here's a closeup of that:

I have to run to WalMart this morning and pick up a few things.  I may also pop into our new Hobby Lobby and check that out.  When I get back, I'll sew this piece up with some pretty lace.  I'll share a final photo of it soon!

Irish Lady Pillow Update

I'm still working on this Irish Lady Pillow:

I've been up since 2:30 and it's 4 am now.  Yes, sleepless in McHenry I guess!  I have a few hours before I have to go anywhere so I'll sit here and stitch on this.  If I finish the stitching today, then perhaps I can sew it together tomorrow.

Door Pillows for St Patricks Day

Mom's latest creations!  Door Pillows for St Patricks Day.  Mom made these from vintage handkerchiefs:

This one was made from a vintage image that I printed on fabric:

Check out that vintage tatted doily behind the image!  I picked up a few of those at the last Flea Market I was at.  I gave them all to mom thinking they would be perfect for her door pillows.

These are in our boutique now!

Kreinik Threads

I didn't have a lot of stitching time yesterday but some.  Here's an update on my Irish Lady Crazy Quilt Pillow:

And here's a closeup of the beading on my fill in work that I did with Kreinik metallic thread #4 Braid:

Linda B asked me if Kreinik threads are difficult to stitch with.  The answer is no, not really.  Kreinik #4 and #8 Braids are no more difficult to stitch with than embroidery floss or Perle cottons.

Blending Filaments, which I use to create my spider webs can be a bit challenging since it's so fine.  You can read an article I wrote last October on working with Kreinik threads here.

Marie Antoinette Crazy Quilt is Featured!

I'm absolutely thrilled today!  My Marie Antoinette Crazy Quilt was featured on Lauren's Marie Antoinette's Gossip Guide To The 18th Century blog today:

Lauren's blog is beautiful!  Here you'll find anything and everything related to Marie Antoinette, 18th century France, fashion of that era, auctions, historical references, art, music, poetry and so on.  I've been following Lauren's blog for quite some time.  If you have a fascination with Marie, France, Paris, History or anything related to the 18th century, you will love this blog!  Thank you Lauren!

St Patricks Day Cards With Glitter

I've been chattering a lot lately about St  Patricks Day.  It's the beginning of Spring and it's coming!  I know it's a little bit early but when doing handmade things to sell, working well in advance is a must. 

I'm used to that though.  When I worked with cross stitch and craft magazines, I had to work 6 months to a year in advance so making things a couple of months ahead of the the holiday or season is nothing new for me.

These are the pretty St Patricks Day Cards that I made for the shop:

Although needlework is my specialty, I have to make cards because I have to use glitter!  I love glitter!!!  And these are quite sparkly!  

Irish Lady Pillow continued

A quick update on my Irish Lady Pillow:

And this is something that I'm going to be experimenting with more on upcoming projects:

"Fill in" patterns using my waste canvas technique.  Basically, Blackwork but in this case, I used a single strand of Kreinik metallic #4 braid.  Just a sneak peek of things to come.

Victorian Irish Lady

My family thinks I'm goofy!  Okay, I really am!  But I love St. Patrick's Day!  My grandfather was Irish and I don't know if that has anything to do with it or not but I really think that I like it so much because it's the beginning of Spring.

The thing that gets me through the cold, dark, snowy months of Winter is the fact that Spring is the next season and Spring is my favorite!

So, I started another St. Patrick's Day Crazy Quilt piece:

I have always loved this pretty lady image in the green hat!  I don't think I've ever used that image on a crazy quilt piece before so here she is, in all her Irish glory!

This will be a pillow.  When I finish up on this project, I'll be putting together an online class and then starting on my 3rd Elegant Crazy Quilt Seam Treatments Ebook.

Although I no longer design or spend my stitching time doing counted cross stitch, the background that I have in that will probably never leave me. I like the perfection of working with charted patterns.  I like how I can apply charted patterns to crazy quilting.  And therefore, I will move forward in the direction of applying my charting skills to my beloved passion, crazy quilting.

So, stock up on 8.5 count and 10 count waste canvas!  There are loads of great new crazy quilt ideas and techniques coming this year to Kitty & Me Designs!

What Is A Door Pillow?

I've been asked this question several times recently.  What is a Door Pillow?  I've made 100's of them over the years.  Cross stitch, embroidery, crayon tinting and of course, my beloved Crazy Quilting.

I thought I would answer this question today and share my thoughts on it.

A Door Pillow is nothing more than a small pillow with ribbons or cording sewn into the top for hanging on a door knob or hook.  It's purely decorative and a lovely way to finish and display small needlework pieces without the cost of framing.  They can be changed for the holidays and seasons.

Door Pillows are wonderful for gifts because everyone has a door knob!  And they're sweet little home accent pieces.  Just a nice touch to make a home even more cozy.

They've also been called, door knob pillows, door hanging pillows, door hangers and door knockers.  My cousin Kim calls them door knockers!  LOL!

These are my latest Door Pillows for St. Patrick's Day:

Door Pillows can also be used to sit on a shelf.  The ribbons can be tucked behind the door pillow and displayed on shelf with other decorative items.

I love them and I have dozens of them for the different holidays and seasons.  They're easy to store because they're small and because they're made of fabric, they don't break!

Pink and Green Heart

My final heart shaped door pillow for St. Patrick's Day:

And here are close up photos of my embroidery:

All of these seam treatments, including the Feather Stitch are worked with my waste canvas technique.

I spent yesterday afternoon sewing all of these up.  They're all finished now so I'll post photos of them as soon as I can.

In the meantime, I thought I'd share my ORTS Jar with you:

ORTS stands for "old raggedy threads".  I use to save my bits of threads, ribbons, lace and scraps of sheer thin fabrics in a jar years ago.  Come Spring, I would chop them up teeny tiny and sprinkle them in my garden for the Robins to use in their nests.  I don't know why I stopped doing that but with everyone sharing their ORTS jars on their blogs, I thought I'd start doing it again.  With as much stitching as I do, I should have plenty of little bits by Spring for the birdies to use when it's time for their babies to come!

You can read more about ORTs Jars on Connie Eyberg's Blog.

And if you would like a pretty label for your ORTs Jar, visit my sweet friend, Pat Winter!

Traditional St. Patricks Day Heart

Here is another of my crazy quilt heart shaped door pillows for St. Patricks Day.  This one is quite traditional in color:

And here are closeups of my embroidered seams:

You can find more of my seam embroidery here.

I have one more that I started stitching on yesterday.  I'm going to finish that up now and I think I'll spend the afternoon putting them together.

It's cloudy and dreary here again today.  I sure could use some sunshine!  But I'm sure that putting a few miles on my sewing machine will help!

Little Heart Pillows

Another of my little St. Patrick's Day heart shaped door pillows is ready for assembly:

The pansy is a little brooch that I picked up a flea market awhile back:

And here are close ups of the stitching:

You can see more Crazy Quilt Seam Embroidery worked with my Waste Canvas technique on my Crazy Quilt Inspiration page.

I started another one of these little door pillows yesterday.  I'll finish it up today and have more photos tomorrow.  I expect to sew these up later this week and have them ready to add to our boutique this weekend.

Another Heart Shaped Door Pillow

After doing a bit more straightening up in my craft supply room, I started another St. Patrick's Day heart shaped door pillow:

I probably could have finished this yesterday but if you remember, my husband surprised me with a new 60 inch television for us for Christmas.  I've been having me a Harry Potter movie marathon this past week while I'm stitching but I'm so blown away by how beautiful these movies look on our new TV, I keep getting caught up in the movie!  It's like seeing these Harry Potter movies for the first time.  Anyway, I'm going to sit here and stitch for an hour before I do anything else.  And I'll save Goblet Of Fire for this afternoon!

St Patricks Day Hearts

I think we only got about 5 inches of snow yesterday.  More than I care to look at but better than 8 inches!  I made my soup, I put a Harry Potter movie on to listen to and I stitched a heart shaped, St. Patrick's Day door pillow:

The robin on the nest is a little brooch that I found at a flea market last Summer:

I guess you can see where my mind is right now!  I always say, Winter wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't cold and it didn't snow!  LOL!!!

Here are close ups of the seam embroidery on this piece:

Be sure to click on the photos to see them up close.  Both of these seams are worked with my waste canvas technique.

I have a few more of these little hearts sewn up so I'll start on another one today.

St Patricks Day Door Pillow

I was horribly restless yesterday.  But hey, my house is clean!  Nervous energy will definitely produce a clean house!  LOL!!!  But I couldn't sit still long enough to finish up on my St. Patrick's Day Door Pillow.  This is what I have so far:

And here are close up photos of my stitching:

These are both worked with my Waste Canvas technique.

I'm going to stitch on this for awhile now.  We're supposed to get a few inches of snow tomorrow.  Ewww.....I usually go to mom's on Fridays but decided to go today instead.  I don't like driving in snow and my car doesn't like it either!

So speaking of snow, isn't it Spring yet?  LOL!!!  No, I know we still have awhile to go yet.  I bought myself a new coat and it arrived yesterday:

This is a Dennis Basso faux fur mink coat.  I have a full length Dennis Basso faux mink that I bought last year and love it!  It's so gorgeous and luxurious!  But I wanted something that was a little more comfortable to wear while driving so I saved my money and bought this one as more of an every day coat.  Oh, it's so beautiful!  I bought this from QVC.

I have a weakness for beautiful clothes.  And my philosophy is, if I have to put up with Winter, I might as well put up with it in a beautiful coat with pretty accessories!

Have a great day everyone!

A Sewing Machine Day

I did absolutely nothing yesterday but what I wanted to do!  Sometimes, we need one of those days.  I don't mind in the least, doing laundry, dishes, the floors and so on but sometimes, I feel like a slave to my house.  So yesterday, I ran my sewing machine.  I finished up my little Mint Green Cat Doll:

This one is a gift for a friend so I'll be getting this packaged up and ready to mail over the weekend.  I also sewed some small blocks for St. Patrick's Day door hanging pillows.  That was fun!  I could have kept going but decided that 6 blocks were good for one day and that it was time to stitch.

I started on this little St. Patrick's Day door pillow:

I'm going to paint the edges of that lace piece with some purple.  That should make it stand out a bit more.

For today, I need to run uptown and pick up some groceries and when I get back, I plan to pull out my steam cleaner and do my hardwood floors.  I expect to finish up this block today.