The Button Quilt - A Pictoral Guide To Button Clusters

I have a new book available:

The Button Quilt - A Pictoral Guide To Button Clusters

Buttons are an easy and inexpensive way to embellish crazy quilts! This is a pictorial guide to creating lovely button clusters! 25 close-up photos of the blocks on The Button Quilt will give you a lot of ideas and inspiration for your very own Button Quilt! A brief description of each block is included.

28 pages - $10.99 + shipping

 

Available at both Magcloud -  http://www.magcloud.com/user/kitty-and-me

 

And at Etsy - http://www.kittyandme.etsy.com/

 

 

Crazy Quilt Quarterly Magazine - Spring 2017 - Sneak Peek!!!

Every year, once the holidays are behind us, my mind immediately turns to thoughts of Spring.  Sorry, I'm just not a Winter person!

I'm thinking now of warmer weather, flowers, shamrocks and Robins.  Oh, the beautiful Robins!  Last year, I saw my 1st Robin of Spring at the end of January.  I'm praying that they come back the same time this year!!!

Speaking of Robins, I thought for today, I would share a sneak peek of the Spring 2017 issue of Crazy Quilt Quarterly Magazine:

Yes, our cover artist for the Spring 2017 issue is the one and only, crazy quilter extraordinaire, Allison Aller!  Thank you Allie for this beautiful cover design!!!

This issue will be released on February 1, 2017!

In other news, I'll be starting on the Summer issue shortly.  I'm still looking for articles, tutorials and eye candy photos of buttons, button clusters and unique uses for buttons.  If you have anything you would like me to include the in the upcoming "button issue", please email me.

Theme for Summer 2017 Issue Of Crazy Quilt Quarterly Magazine

The theme for the Summer 2017 issue of Crazy Quilt Quarterly magazine will be "Buttons". We're looking for photos of button clusters, button collections, vintage and antique buttons and clever ways to use buttons on crazy quilt pieces. Articles and tutorials are also welcome! Please email  me if you would like to contribute content for the Summer 2017 issue. I will be starting on the Summer issue in January.  Thanks!

Update on Scott's Cancer Treatment:  Chemo started today.  I'll let everyone know how he does with it.  Thank you again to my dear friends and blog readers for your love, support, help and prayers.  It means so much to me!

Crazy Memento Quilt Block #13

Block #13 features a little Avon Scarecrow Pin from the 1970's.  As I mentioned in a previous post, my mom sold Avon for many years so I have quite a few of these cute little pieces.

The daisy pin is vintage too.  Mom found it in her jewelry box and gave it to me.  The little rooster button near the bottom is new.  The rainbow button at the top right was from my friend Lula.  I guess with the scarecrow on here, I was kind of thinking Wizard Of Oz!

Tutorial - How To Make Button Clusters

Now that you've all seen my Crazy Button Quilt:

I thought I would share a tutorial on how to create Button Clusters.

Button Clusters are not only for Crazy Quilting.  They can be added to fabric bracelets, art quilts, art dolls, really anything that buttons can be sewn onto!

Step 1:  Gather some buttons!

I store my buttons in old mason jars.  They're separated by color and the jars look so pretty on a shelf in my craft storage room!

Step 2:  Determine where you want your button cluster on your piece.  In this case, I want my buttons to cascade down from the dark green patch on this Cat Doll:

Step 3:  Choose some buttons:

I like to start with a few larger buttons and buttons that are "interesting" to look at.  They will be the "focal point" buttons.

Step 4:  After choosing those "focal point" buttons, sew them down with bead thread or dental floss.  I use dental floss to attach all of my beads, buttons, charms and vintage jewelry pieces.

Once those focal point buttons are attached, start adding smaller buttons.  Overlap the buttons and be sure to use a variety of color shades.  If all the buttons are dark pink, it'll just look like a dark pink blob.  By varying the shades of pink, the buttons look more like a little flower garden.

 Step 5:  Once the buttons are attached, I like to add seed beads to cover up the threads in buttons:

3, 4 or 5 seed beads in the center of each button will add sparkle, dimension, interest and it'll cover up the thread holding the buttons on.

For the flower petals on the big purple 4 hole button, I picked up 12 seed beads for each hole and brought the thread back down in the same hole.  I added a large pink bead to the center.

Step 6:  Once you have all the buttons attached and the seed beads in the center, you can add a few little do-dads here and there like leaf charms, crystals, large beads and so on.

There's no rules here!  Just a few basics to add interest to your stitching!

You can see more of my Crazy Quilt pieces at my Boutique!

And be sure to check out my other tutorials!

Buttons

I've been stitching on my little crazy quilt blocks.  My intention for these are to play with my buttons!  Pure & simple, I just love my old buttons!

This is my newest finish:

 

The Marie Antoinette colors on this one are just so pretty!  Anyway, this can be found here.

And this is my current button block:



This of course will have buttons too!

I mentioned yesterday that I did some sewing and worked up a couple of art quilt pieces.  Again yes!  Buttons!  One of these days, I'll have to really show you my button collection!

In other news, I'm planning on having a drawing when I reach 150 Followers.  The prize will be something that I make.  I'm still thinking about that and will have more details soon.  In the meantime, if you enjoy my blog, please click on the "Follow" button in my sidebar.

For now, I was wondering if any of my Facebookers would be willing to hop over to the Top Etsy Shop Facebook Fan Page and vote for Kitty & Me Designs Etsy Shop.  I would really appreciate it!

I think it's time for me to go stitch now.  My mind is feeling a bit scattered.  Well, it's feeling quite scattered so I'll get away from my computer for now.

Embroidered Poodle

I finished up on this little project this morning:



As I mentioned yesterday, I'll work this up as the focal point on a purse. Ya'll know I have this thing for purses!

I didn't stitch the flowers on the hat because I intend to use beads. I'll do that while stitching on the purse.

In the meantime, I thought I would do up another Button Block. This will be Button Block #32:



As I mentioned last week, I'm wanting to put a few of these together into a small quilt. I had all of my blocks laid out on the floor awhile back and I can see that I need some more pastel colors. I enjoy making these so much, I may work some into various projects such as doorhangers, bellpulls and whatever else I can come up with. These little 6 inch blocks are perfect for using buttons and other odds & ends in my stash. Stay tuned to see where this one goes.

And speaking of buttons, I found the most awesome button themed blog today courtesy of the girls at 123Stitch Message Board. Button Floozies blog is all about buttons! New buttons, old buttons, handmade buttons and what to do with buttons including needlework and other craft applications. Please do check it out.

More Buttons & More Blocks

Well, ya'll knew a cat had show up on this quilt somewhere:



As you can see, I turned the block. I liked the way the lace looked at the top. It also accommodated the cat button. He was the right color for this one so I went with it.

This will be my next block:



I will be using my absolute most favorite button on here:



This came in a jar of buttons that I bought years ago. At the time, I had no idea it was collectible and worth a few dollars. Of course my mom always says, "nothing is worth anything if you aren't willing to sell it!" How true is that!

Anyway, I love buttons (apparently) and bought this book on Antique & Collectible Buttons by Debra Wisniewski a few years ago:



My button is not in mint condition. It's a bit tarnished but I don't care. It's called Pierrot And Pierrette. It reminds me of the opera Carmen which was the first opera I ever saw in person. My mom and grandmother took me to see Carmen at the Opera House in downtown Chicago when I was about 8 years old. Since it reminds me of Carmen, I thought this button would work well on this black & red block.

Here is the button as it is pictured in the book:



If you like buttons like I like buttons, you might want to check out that book. Even if you just like to look at pictures of buttons, this book is loaded with visual gems!

Button Clusters

If you look closely at this block before I started stitching on it, there were some very sharp corners on it:



I find harsh corners like this to be distracting and quite less than attractive. Button clusters are an excellent way to soften those areas:



I used a mixture of new plastic buttons and a few antique glass buttons. I kept it simple. I didn't want the buttons to compete with the umbrella pin so I used white and cream colored buttons. They show up, but blend into the block.

Groups of 3 or 5 buttons work well together for small blocks like this. Choose buttons similiar in size, color and shape. Pick one to sew down first and then sew the remaining buttons down close to the first one. Overlapping them gives the impression of flowers in a garden. You can add a few tiny leaf beads or some crystals to give them the flower effect.

My next project will be this little cat doll. A gift for my mom for Valentine's Day:



Stay tuned to see more seam treatments from my upcoming book.

A Gift From Gina

I don't know what it is about opening my mailbox and seeing a surprise package in there from one of my online friends. It's just so exciting to know that someone thought of me!

Yesterday, I received a package from Gina. Oooh, there's really something neat about about a package arriving all the way from Australia! Probably because I know that Australia is so far away! (No, I don't get out much!)

Anyway, Gina sent me a goody pack filled with gorgeous laces and buttons:



Are these amazing or what? Such lovely things to embellish crazy quilts with. I just can't wait to work them into new projects. Gina, thank you so very much for your gift! I love everything!

BTW - did you know that you can take the binding off of gathered lace? I just use a seam ripper or my embroidery scissors and clip the stitches. Once the binding is off, you can press it with your iron and you then have flat lace!

My mom also gave me a goody bag with all sorts of new fabrics and trims but the battery in my camera was about to run out so I'll save that photo for another day.

For now, I'm thrilled to tell you that my design work is complete! I did 28 designs in 3 days! They were mini designs but that's still a lot of work and I really pushed myself to get them done. I'm certainly happy for having the work but my true love is the hands-on stitching so now I'll be getting back to working on Maxine's quilt, my antique quilt and several other projects.

Coming later this week will be the completed Dragonfly Cellphone Pouch. That one is spoken for so I plan to get that assembled and ready to ship to it's new owner.

Also this week, I have a custom order for a Red Hat Society Lady Cellphone Pouch so I'll be piecing that block and stitching on that.

Be sure to stop by tomorrow for a new complimentary charted design. It's a pretty little design, perfect for a small gift or as a focal point on a crazy quilt!

The Mozart Journey Begins

First, since "loose ends" make me crazy, I decided to take today and do the finishing on my 3 most recent crazy quilt projects.

My Little Brown Bird purse is all together now. I just have to do the hand-finishing:



Next is my Heart Shaped Peacock piece. I have no clue on what to do with this. I want to make it into a cellphone pouch and I have several ideas for accomplishing this. First, I could sew it up into the heart shape with a backing and then do the same with another heart and then top stitch the two together. This will automatically give it a lining and I would only have a little bit of hand-sewing to do then. But my top stitching is not always perfect so I'm think my best option would be to sew it into a heart shape with a backing, then sew my regular cellphone pouch and attach the heart to the front of it. My mind is telling me that this is my best option so that's probably what I will go with.



Finally, I want to finish my Button Flowers into a cellphone pouch:



This one will be finished just like all my other pouches. I was asked how big this was. The stitched/beaded area is approx. 4 inches. This pouch will be just a twinge bigger then what my CQ pouches are. I'll have to go 5 inches X 5 or 6 inches. No big deal. More room for more money and hands-free shopping!

The Mozart Journey began last night! But it was a slow start. I think I put way too much thought into this and when I looked at it, I had no idea what to do with it. I decided that I didn't need to see the whole staircase, I only needed to take one step at a time so I started with auditioning some lace pieces:



The lace isn't sewn down yet. I need to look at it for a bit and see if this works. I'm pleased with the antique metallic gold lace to the left and the cream colored lace to the right but I'm not sure about the rose appliqué yet. If I do go with it, I'll give a hint of a salmon pink color and then antique it.

So what do you all think? Does the rose appliqué work? Or do you think it's too large?

Flea Market Finds & More!

You may remember me mentioning this awhile back. I've never been big on doing Silk Ribbon Embroidery but I love the way it looks so I've been adding more of it to my crazy quilting. Well, I never seem to have the colors that I want so I bought some plain white 7mm silk ribbon and hand-painted it myself:



I did these yesterday afternoon. Aren't they pretty! I can't wait to stitch with them.

Today, Scott had to work so I did my usual errands. I picked up my drycleaning and stopped at the bank. There was a flea market at the park so I thought it would be fun to look around there for an hour and see if I could find some goodies. And did I find goodies!



Look at that metallic lame fabric! Gobs of it in every color imagineable. And I found some vintage rhinestone buttons, some dyed Mother Of Pearl buttons in aqua, some vintage jewelry pieces, lace... Oh and ironically, my 12 inch quilters hoop that I use for my 9 inch blocks broke on me the other day. Scott glued it but we don't know if it'll hold. Well, I found another one at the flea market. An older and much better made one. And only for $1.00! I am in heaven!

Of course you know, it's not like I don't have anything to play with here. I've never had any trouble justifying my supplies. But I got all of that stuff for about $15.00!

My real prize though, is this white wicker rocking chair:



Now that the majority of the Living Room remodel is done, Scott brought my bentwood rocker down for the corner by the window and guess what? It just didn't work there anymore. It looked heavy and out of place. I decided that I need a white wicker rocking chair there.

My old furniture, which is pretty much hand-me-down stuff because I never could figure out what I wanted, does not work with my Cottage Victorian theme that I'm going for now. I've decided that I want all white wicker furniture. It's light, airy and easy to clean (remember, I have 4 cats). Anyway, I do like the mis-matched look and when I saw this chair, I knew it was mine! I'll probably put a fresh coat of paint on the runners but the rest, I'll leave as is. I'm sure you can tell that Lucy has already claimed it as hers! And can you believe, I only paid $35.00 for this chair? I have no idea how old it is but it's in really good shape and I love it.

So next, to find a white wicker sofa, chair and side table!

Spontaneous Designing Challenge

It was a beautiful sunny and warm weekend here in Northern Illinois. Scott and I spent the entire weekend outside getting our yard ready for plants. We still have a few little things to do and we need to clean and reseal our deck but by the end of this coming weekend, we expect to have everything completed and ready for planting.

Despite so much time outside, I did manage a bit of stitching time. Rather than starting another crazy quilting project, I decided to do something completely spontaneous, a sort "design as you go" project:



If you're interested in increasing your artistic abilities, this would be a good Challenge exercise for you, an excellent starting point!

Gather a piece of fabric, some buttons, some beads and some threads. To make a circle, I used a drinking glass and traced it onto my fabric. I then sewed on some vintage glass buttons and beaded around them. I drew on some leaves and beaded those. Next, I will add some embroidery.

Give this a try! Use what you have on hand and start the same way I did, with the intention of creating 3 flowers. And then expand on it. What sort of fancy stitches do you know how to do? Use them! And don't confine yourself to the inside of the circle. Once you fill in the circle with beading and stitching, think about what you can do beyond the circle. You can create an entire garden if you want to!

I have no idea where my piece is going to go. I can finish stitching within the circle and then stitch or bead around it and leave it at that, but I really want to see where spontaneity takes me. This may remain as a small piece or it may expand into a larger piece. The point is to design as you go.

Many times, some one will look at one of my crazy quilt pieces and tell me that it's beautiful but they could never do anything like that. They're not creative or artistic. Do you know what they're really saying to me? They're telling me that they don't want to. For whatever reason, they're telling me that they don't want to try.

We are all creative! And we all have the ability to be artistic. So if you're interested in getting your artistic juices moving, start with my suggestion and add your ideas to it. You don't have to see the whole staircase. Just take one step at a time and have fun with it. There's no right or wrong way. Many times, I have no idea what a design will look like until it's complete. That's where the fun is!

If you decide to give this a try and have a blog or Flickr album, post the link in the comments section of this post so everyone can see your what your doing. That will inspire others and then you'll see how inspiration is everywhere and you will see that you do have the ability to be artistic!