Spring Hanging Pillows

I finished up my last 3 projects the other day and have photos to share!  Yeah!  One of my favorite things to make is door pillows aka hanging pillows.  I've made 100's of these over the years.  Some for myself, some for gifts and some to sell.  I have my little door pillows hanging on every door knob in the house and I change them for the holidays and seasons.  I love them!  They add color and a nice homey feel without taking up any space!  So here are my latest:

Also in our Boutique are another pair of earrings that Kathi made:

Her St Patrick's Day Earrings have sold out but a little birdie told me that there might be some Easter earrings coming!  These items and more can also be found at Etsy.

I'll be finishing up the stitching on my little pink purse today and then I have another custom order to do.  A pre-sewn block that I was asked to stitch and embellish so be sure to stop by tomorrow for updates!

Pink Cat

My pink cat crazy quilt hanging pillow is done and ready to be sewn up:

I think I'll spend the afternoon putting my last 3 projects together.  I have several custom orders to do and I like to stay on top of things.

I was asked to do a small purse on a frame so I started on this project last night:

I'll have to pull out one of my books that shows how to actually put the purse on the frame.  I've never done that before.  But first I have to finished stitching this so I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

I won't be taking on anymore custom orders this year. At the moment I have 4.  I'm going to be focusing on following my own muse, putting some new books together and working on some online classes for Maureen at Maureen's Vintage Acquisitions.  Of course, I'll be making things for the shop because I have to stitch.  It's just what I do.

Cat In Hat

A little progress on my pink Cat In Hat block:

The next thing I'll do is bead that lace applique at the bottom.

I also added 2 new pairs of St Patricks Day earrings by Kathi to the shop:

Look closely!  The crystals are shamrocks!  The prettiest St Patricks Day Earrings I've ever seen!  They're in the shop!

White Cat and Pink Cat

The stitching on my White Cat crazy quilt piece is done:

It was nice to work with this color palette.  You may have noticed that I've been doing a lot with pink, green and purple lately.  I guess those colors are my favorites but I really like all colors and want to do more with the others.

I ended up shoveling my driveway myself yesterday.  I haven't had to do it in years so I shouldn't complain.  The worst part is that it was very wet, heavy snow.  And may I say that Direct TV needs to put windshield wipers on their satellite dishes!  LOL!

You may remember that we upgraded to a high def. TV so we of course, had to upgrade to high def. Direct TV.  Well, it's a bigger dish so instead of putting the new one on the side of the house where I could reach it with a broom to brush the snow off, now it's on the roof where I can barely see it!  When there's snow on the dish, there's no TV reception!

Yes, I had to stand on a chair with a broom, taped to another broomstick and try to brush the snow off the dish without falling on my 50 year old butt!  Ha, ha, ha!  So, this message is for Direct TV!  I need windshield wipers on my satellite dish! 

Okay, now that I've amused you with my snow story, here's my next project:

It's not really a pink cat, but he's dressed in pink and I love images of cats in hats!

Dover Clip Art

Well, I've been watching for Robins and instead I get snow!  EWWWW.......I won't bore you with photos of that but I need to find someone to clean up my driveway and clean off my car for me before I can go over to mom's.  The man who usually does it for me just had eye surgery.  Maybe my neighbor boy will do it for me. 

Anyway, I did a little stitching on my white cat crazy quilt piece last night:

I added the spider and spiderweb and some bugle beads to the daisy lace at the bottom.  Just a few more flowers and this one will be done!

I was asked where I got my images for the bunny and this white cat.  I have just about every Victorian Clip Art book that Dover Publications make.  And those are where I get most of my images.  If you haven't been to their website, do pay them a visit.  They have loads of great books that you won't find anywhere else!

White Cat Crazy Quilt

Here's an update on my White Cat Crazy Quilt project:

The yellow flowers on the vine to the left are little gathered Picot Edge Satin Ribbon flowers.  Picot edge ribbons are approx. 1/4 of an inch wide and available at any craft store.  They come in tons of colors but I like to dye my own so that they're slightly shaded.  Satin ribbons take to dyeing very well and I use Rit dye for these so it's very affordable to do.  To gather, just cute the ribbon into 5 inch lengths and do a running stitch along one edge.  Gather it up, tie it off and sew it on.  Easy as pie!

In other news, the Spring 2012 issue of Pat Winter's Gatherings magazine is now available:

Pat's magazine is a must have for Crazy Quilters, Embroiderer's and textile artists!  And it's a must for anyone who just likes to look at pretty pictures of needlework!  Gorgeous! 

Finally for today, my latest YouTube video on my Crazy Quilt Purses.  Enjoy!

Easter Bunny and White Cat

I finished up another work in progress.  The stitching on my Easter Bunny hanging pillow is done:

I love the colors on this one.  The purples and violets and soft pinks are so Spring like!

And this is my current work in progress:

A little white cat, very Victorian, with yellow and blue flowers.

Not much else going on here at the moment.  Just some stitching and some Spring cleaning.  Have a great day everyone!

Spring Purse and Home Decor

Finally, I have some finishes to share today!  My Spring Lady Crazy Quilt Purse is done and in the shop:

As you can see, I found a gorgeous purple and green cotton print in my stash for the lining.  I used a Spring green suede fabric on the back and purchased handles.  I crocheted the fringe for the botton using 2 different funky yarns and some large sequins for sparkle.  The lace pieces on this purse are all vintage!

My next finishes are these sweet little cottage style, heart shaped crazy quilt hanging pillows with matching wall plaques.  First, the pink one:

 And here is the green one:

Perfect for a narrow little wall that needs a little something!

In other news, I finished up my little Victorian Easter Bunny hanging pillow and will have a photo of that tomorrow.  I'm also getting ready to start on another little project. 

Easter Bunny Pillow

As planned, I did the finishing on my Spring Lady purse yesterday.  I must say, it's gorgeous!  My little Spring Hanging Pillows are done too so I'll add all 3 things to the shop later today.

When I finished the purse, I did a little more stitching on my Easter Bunny Hanging Pillow:

Today is a "I don't have to go anywhere day" so I'll be sitting here, drinking coffee and stitching on this for awhile.

Stitching A Bunny

After running errands yesterday morning, and running up to WalMart for the 3rd time this week to finally get Nightmare's medication (Walmart's Pharmacy system is a big time problem), I was able to do some sewing and I finished up on my little crazy quilt hanging heart pillows.  I'll have photos of those this coming week.

Today, I'll be finishing  up my Spring Lady Purse and again, photos are coming soon.

But I finally did get to do some stitching on my Bunny piece:

Not a lot of progress but it is ready for beading and embellishing now.

As always, I'm experimenting with new border designs and many of the seam treatments you've been seeing here will be in Volume 3 of my Elegant Crazy Quilt Seam Treatments Ebook.  I'll be starting on this new book this week.

Thinking of Spring, it occurred to me yesterday that the Robin's will be coming back in another week or two!  That's always a special day for me, when I see the first Robin of Spring!

If you're thinking Spring thoughts, here's a little pattern you can enjoy.  It's from my collection of vintage iron-on embroidery patterns:

If you download this pattern, please leave a comment for me.  I love to hear from my readers!

Spring Embroidery

Spring!  By the time I reach mid-February, Spring is the only thing I can think about!  Bunnies, chicks, pastel colored eggs and flowers!  Oh, and Robins!  Like most of us, I've now reached my point of having had enough cold, cloudy, dreary, grey days and I'm ready for sunshine and warmer temperatures.  I can't wait to see tulips and daffodils!

My stitching of course, is an example of where my thoughts are.  My current project is definitely Spring related:

I hand painted the lace flower applique which I had to cut apart into pieces to make it work where I wanted it.  This goes back to the "layering" effect that I was talking about last week.  Layering lace on top of fabric, and then more lace on top of lace and then embroidery and embellishments layered on top of that, adds texture, color and interest to any type of collage work.

The tatting lace on the bottom right hand corner is vintage.  I find vintage tatting and other lace pieces at flea markets and antique shops.  Thankfully, those places are in abundance where I live in northern Illinois!  And flea market season starts in April!

This sweet little Easter Bunny piece is now ready for embroidery!

More Crazy Quilt Hearts

I spent most of yesterday morning stitching and completed this little green Crazy Quilt Heart:

I'll spend some time over the weekend getting my last few projects sewn up and finished.

Here are close up photos of the embroidered seams worked with my Waste Canvas Technique:

And speaking of Elegant Crazy Quilt Seam Treatments, I will be starting on Volume 3 of my EBook next week!  Many of the borders that you've been seeing here on my blog will be included in this upcoming book!

Our 1929 Ford Model A Tudor Sedan

I'm putting together an online class for Maureen at Maureens Vintage Acquisitions.  I spent most of yesterday afternoon working on it and didn't have much time for stitching.

So, for today, I thought you would enjoy seeing some new photos of our 1929 Ford Model A Tudor Sedan.  We had to take new pics for our insurance company so here they are:

This car started out as a rusty, crusty, ugly mass of moldy oldie metal:

This thing had bullet holes in it from someone using it as target practice.  But now, it's a gorgeous streetrod!  We still need the side windows but the windshield and visor is on!

Scott did the majority of the work himself with just a little bit of help from me.  He works at Friendly Ford in Roselle, Illinois and Friendly Ford now does Classic Car restorations!  If you live in the Chicago area, be sure to stop in at Friendly Ford.  It's a beautiful Ford dealership!  If you need a car restored, Friendly Ford is the place to go!

Crazy Quilt Hearts

It's so nice to wake up and not be freezing!  The new furnace is working great.

I finished stitching up my little pink Crazy Quilt heart yesterday:

I'll sew this into a hanging pillow that will go with this:

Basically, this wall plaque get hung on the wall and the pillow hangs on the knob.  I made a couple of these last year and then forgot about them.

Here's my next little project:

And this hanging pillow will go with this wall plaque:

Very cottage style huh?  I love pink and green together!

Pink Heart

I'm sitting here, all toasty warm, drinking coffee.  My new furnace is in and other than the bill, I'm a happy camper!

I did a lot of baking yesterday just to have the oven on.  A double batch of Chocolate Chip Muffins and a double batch of Cornbread Muffins.  My laundry is done too!  I did anything I could think of to get a little heat in house.  The installer had it running by 6 pm so I slept good last night.  No waking up at midnight, freezing and shivering! 

Oh and my poor little kitties.  They kept looking at me like, "MOM!  What's up with this no heat thing?!!"  I had Nightmare and Simba wrapped up in quilts on the bed and I had Lucy out here with me on the heating pad with my stitching lamp shining on her.

I felt so bad for them.  They're all older and have some health problems.  Nightmare is has a heart condition, Simba has Colitis and Lucy had that stroke just before Christmas.  And I hate that I can't explain things to them.  But I managed to keep them warm as best as I could and they're no worse for the wear today.

In between baking, I did do some stitching.  This will be a little heart shaped door hanging pillow:

I used the corner of a vintage hankie for the center.  I think it needs some vintage Mother Of Pearl buttons now!

In other news, the Spring issue of Pat Winter's Gatherings magazine is now available for purchase:

Is that a gorgeous cover or what?!!!  Preview and order from Magcloud.

Have a Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Getting A New Furnace

Our heating company recommended a new furnace.  At the moment, my heat is out again.  I just called and told them that I need it replaced today.  Okay, that's all I'll say about that for right now.

I finished up my purple cat doll yesterday and sewed up both the purple and the green one:

They're so Springy, aren't they?  Here are closeups of the seam treatments:

Both are worked with my waste canvas technique. 

Well, I don't know how much stitching I'll get done today.  It's hard to stitch when you're shivering!  But we'll see what happens.