Working In The Yard

We finally had a nice weekend so I was able to get out in the yard and finish cleaning it up.  I picked up sticks, pinecones and trash that blew in over the Winter months.  I pulled the first of the weeds, swept the sidewalk and am waiting now for Bubba to clean and reseal the deck.  It really feels good to get outside!

I have a few finishes to share today before I get back to stitching on my 2nd Watermelon purse.  First is this door hanger that I made for my aunt for Mother's Day.  I don't think she reads my blog:

And then I have a friend who needs a hug.  Seems there's a lot of people who need hugs these days.  I made her this little cat doll:

I'll pack up this cat tomorrow so I can get it to the Post Office next time I go into town.  I don't think I've ever done one in black with yellow stitch before.  I love the contrast!

I'm also working on putting together some good links on "How To Take Good Photos".  I thought it might be helpful to anyone who wants to submit work to Crazy Quilt Gatherings magazine or other upcoming publications.  I learned lot from reading articles at Etsy so when I have a few free minutes, I'll post those links.

Marathon Sewing Day

I spent all day yesterday piecing new projects to stitch on.  I must have put a good couple of miles on my Treadle Machine because I ran it from 9 am to 7:30 pm.  I pieced everything from purses, to hearts, dolls and pillows.  I like to have a pile of things to choose from and I like a few extra things in my stash drawer, all ready to stitch on in case I don't have time to pull everything out and sew.  I don't have a sewing room (at this moment, I hope to change that) so when I pull things out, I have to put everything away when I'm done.

Before I share a few of my pieced blocks, I finished up this little cat doll for a friend:

I just packaged this up and will mail it tomorrow.

I've also been working on my Happy Birthday Hanging Pillow:

I'll be stitching on this some more later today.

Okay, now for my pieced blocks.  Well, some of them:

This is just a small sampling of pieced blocks from my marathon sewing day yesterday.  I may take another day next week and sew up some more things.  I love running that antique Singer machine!

Sharing Finishes

After picking up some groceries and collecting some of the trash that blew into the yard this past Winter, I spent the afternoon photographing some new finishes by Kathi, mom and myself.  I better remember to charge the camera battery now!

Kathi made these sweet little Cat Earrings:

And mom made some more little Easter Bunny Dolls from vintage quilts:

And I finally have photos of my latest Crazy Quilt Purses:

I crocheted the trim at the top of each purse.  I though it would be fun to make these a little differently than I've done my purses in the past!

Last but not least, I finished up this little blue cat doll:

I have a friend who needs a hug so I'm going to send this one to her.

I'm off to make some salad and cut up some strawberries.  I just made a meatloaf and Scott is cooking it on the grill.  I have no idea how that's going to taste but I guess we'll find out.  He's as bad as me.  He just can't wait to get outside!

Stitching Beading and More

It was a hot one yesterday!  I watered my plants and changed my hummingbird feeders early so I could spend the rest of the day in the house.  I did some stitching on my purple crazy quilt piece:

We have another hot one coming today so I expect to spend most of the day inside.  I'll stitch on this some more after I run for some groceries.

I also finished up my last crazy quilt Cat Doll:

I love the colors on this one.  Reminds me of Valentine's Day.

I'll leave you with yet another picture of Lucy:

Give a cat a box and they're a happy little camper!

Heres Lucy

I've been working on a few things but still kind of in slow motion.  Here's an update on my latest little cat doll:

I'll have this finished up today.  I also worked on the finishing of the last 2 purses that I made.  All I have left to do on them is to sew the snaps on.  Watch for photos over the weekend.

Here are a couple of pictures of Lucy:

Isn't she just the prettiest little thing?  She only weighs 7 1/2 pounds.  She's actually 1 pound of Lucy and
6 1/2 pounds of fur!  LOL!

My Latest Cat Doll

Just a quick little update on my stitching.  I started on another of my little cat dolls yesterday:

I also cut all the pieces of fabric for the last 2 purses that I made:

We'll see if I can get these sewn up this afternoon.

Wedding Mystery Revealed

Despite aimlessly wandering around this house, lost without my Simba, I managed to finish my Wedding project yesterday.  Are ya'll ready?  This was a 2 part project.  A dress and a heart:

This is an angel shaped votive holder.  I meant to take a picture of the frame before I assembled it but with my little Simba being sick when I started the assembly process, I just forgot.

Here is the angel without the heart and without the glass candle holder:

The heart is just tied on so it's removable:

Here's the back:

Once I got the dress and the back on, I stuffed it with tissue paper so the dress didn't "crush" or cave in.  It also needed some weight so the tissue paper helped with that too.  I cute a piece of cardboard for the bottom, glued that on and then added felt.

I glued the vintage lace on to wings and halo and trimmed everything out with cream colored braided gimp.  It took quite awhile to assemble this because I could only do a little gluing at a time.  I used E6000 Jewelry glue to assemble the entire project.

This project was quite a challenge but I'm very pleased with out it came out!

In other news, I stopped at the dollar store yesterday for a few things and found these pretty little butterfly beads:

They're just little plastic butterflies but they're pretty.  If you have a Dollar Tree near you, stop in and pick up a pack.

Finally, I finished up on my little pink cat doll:

These never look like much of anything until I get them put together.  I don't feel like sewing at the moment but maybe later this week I can get my last couple of stitched pieces put together.

Green Cat Doll

I'm only doing 1 Cat Doll for St. Patricks Day this year.  This one will be a gift for a friend who loves my Crazy Quilt Cat Dolls:

I'm still experimenting with Blackwork style fill-in patterns and waste canvas.  Here's a closeup photo:

Blackwork embroidery is a beautiful way to show off the sparkle of Kreinik metallic threads.  Here, I used a #4 Braid.

This fill-work came from me wanting to put more embroidery on my crazy quilts but also wanting to use lots of lace and trims.  I truly feel that variety is the spice of life when it comes to crazy quilting.

Stitching On Green

Despite not being home most of the day yesterday, I did manage to finish stitching on my little Mint Green Cat Doll:

And here is a closeup of the seam stitching:

I'll add this photo to my  Crazy Quilt Seam Treatment Inspiration page.

And here is my next little project:

This little green block will be a St. Patrick's Day door pillow.  In case you weren't able to figure that out!  LOL!!!

If my day goes as planned, and I'm not holding my breath, I'll have a sewing machine day today.  I want to piece a few new blocks.  I like having a pile of ready to stitch on blocks just sitting here waiting for pretties!  It feels like it's been forever and day since I've had time to play with my treadle machine!  I also plan on sewing up that little green cat doll so stop back tomorrow to see him!

Mint Green Cat Doll

I didn't have much stitching time yesterday.  Just a little bit.  Here's what I have so far on my Mint Green Cat Doll:

I spent much of my day yesterday, organizing my fabric stash.  I still have to go through my dresser where I store my lace stash.  I'll do that later this week.  I do feel like accomplished something and now, when I get to my sewing machine, it'll be easier to choose fabrics and just play.

At the moment, it's 5:30 am and I plan to sit here and stitch for the next 1 1/2 hours before I do anything else!

Yellow Crazy Quilt Cat Doll

Well, we made it 1/2 way through Winter without snow.  Today, they're calling for 3 - 6 inches.  I'll spare you my complaints!  You may be thinking, "Winter just started on 12/21.  What's she thinking?"  You see, I have my own system of determining the seasons.

According to my calender, Spring always starts on March 1st. It has to! Therefore, Summer starts on June 1st, Fall on September 1st and then Winter starts on December 1st.  It has to be that way.  It's the only way I can get through the dark, cold days of Winter.  Ha, ha, ha!

Okay, so I hope I've amused ya'll with my odd way of dealing with the cold and snowy months of the year.  Mom always asks me how I got to be so weird.  I tell her, I'm not weird, I'm eccentric!  LOL!!!  Now that I'm 50, it's ok for me to be eccentric!  Besides, you know the reputation we artistic people have!

Anyway, I somehow managed to finish up my little yellow cat doll that I started last week:

This one is a gift for a friend who recently lost her little fur baby.  When I can, I like to make a cat doll for my friends when they lose a kitty.  It gives them something pretty to look at and something to hold when the emptiness gets to be too much to handle.  Our fuzzy babies give us so much while they're here with us and when it's time for them to go, the empty space that they leave in our hearts is almost unbearable.  My cat dolls truly are, still Comfort Dolls.

Anyway, here is a close up of the stitched seam that I did with my Waste Canvas Technique:

Since I'm planning to put a few miles on my sewing machine today, I'll sew this one up so I can get it mailed to my friend either tomorrow or Saturday.

I'm going to stitch up one more cat doll and then I'm going to move on to some other things.  I want to sew up some new blocks but haven't decided yet what to make.  I'll guess I'll wait and see where my muse takes me!

Handmade Valentines

Busy day yesterday!  I went through some old paperwork and weeded out a ton of stuff.  I had tax stuff going back to 1997!  Needless to say, I sat with my shredder for over an hour and got rid of what was no longer necessary to keep.  That felt good!

I also finished up on my little pink Valentine Cat Doll:

It's very pink, isn't it?  And here is the seam treatment close up:

Be sure to see my Crazy Quilt Seam Treatment Inspiration photos here.

I'll get this litter of Valentine Cat Dolls sewn up in the next day or so.  They never look like much until they're all put together!

I also added some new Valentine Door Pillows to the shop.  Mom made these from vintage linens:

I still have a bunch of our Glitter Cards to list.  We made them before Christmas but I just didn't have time to add them until now.  I'll do that this afternoon.

For today, I have some errands to run.  I'll stop over at mom's and have some coffee with her and then go from there! 

Another Valentine Cat Doll

I spent yesterday shopping in Crystal Lake with my cousin Kim. I had a very nice time with her as I always do.  Before she picked me up, I had a little stitching time and finished up my red and white Valentine Cat Doll:

Very traditional, isn't it?  And here's a photo of the next cat in Hot Pink:

It easy to see the outline of the cat on this one.  As you can see, I run a basting stitch on the sewing line.  This way, I can see how far I can go with beads and other embellishments.  When I complete the stitching, I just pull out that basting stitch.

Today is my annual New Years Eve shopping spree at JoAnn Fabrics.  I really don't need a thing.  I picked up some of my favorite Watercolour threads by The Caron Collection yesterday along with another yard of waste canvas.  I received some nice CQ supplies for my birthday and Christmas too so today, I'll try to be selective about my purchases.  Wish me luck!

Collectible Cat Dolls

I did a lot of sewing yesterday.  I have both pillows sewn up but still have a bit of handwork to do on them before they're ready for photos.  I'll share those tomorrow.

I also finished up my little Green and Pink Cat Doll:

And speaking of my Cat Dolls, I have a few ladies who like to collect them.  I thought it would be fun to start dating and numbering them so starting in 2012, my little art doll cats will be dated and numbered on the back.

I will also start a page here on my blog for dating purposes.  It'll take me awhile to put this together since I've made so many of these cats over the years.  I'll start on that in the next few days and if nothing else, it'll be fun for everyone to see all the pretty little cats that I've made.

Blue Crazy Quilt Cat Doll

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.  Ours was very nice.  A traditional turkey dinner at mom's with my aunt and uncle.  Good food (mom is an awesome cook) and quiet conversation.

I'm almost done with the stitching on this crazy quilt cat doll:

I just need to add a few little do-dads.  Perhaps a butterfly or 2.

And here is the seam embroidery:

I'll be sewing these up and finishing them today so stop back to see photos over the weekend.

Don't forget, we're offering 10% off at both Kitty And Me Designs website and Kitty And Me Designs on Etsy.  Use coupon code:  BlackFriday.

Large Pink Cat Doll

Yesterday, at 2 am, I somehow managed to bump my electric wax tart melter that I keep on my stove.  I keep it there so it's away from the cats and I can't burn candles because I forget to put them out.  What can I say?  ADD. So I use a little wax tart melter and Yankee tarts to make my house smell like I'm always baking.  Well, I bumped it while making coffee so I had wax all over my stove and all over the wall behind my stove.  It took me over an hour to clean it all up!

After all that, I said AMEN!  I'm stitching!!!  And I did.  I finished up my Pink Cat Doll:

If you look closely at the photo at the top, you can see his little ears!  I have one more large cat doll to stitch up.  That one is blue.  I'll start on it later today.

In the meantime, here is the seam embroidery from the Pink Cat Doll:

I also finally got my little cellphone pouches all sewn up.  All I have left to do on those is to sew on the trim and the little snaps.  I plan to get that done today.

My dad has a Dr.'s appt. today for that final test.  The others all came back normal.  Mom and I are thinking he passed a kidney stone.  I'll be going with him today in case he needs me to drive home.  I suggested that he just let me drive my Towncar because I'm more comfortable driving my own vehicle but that was a "no go".  Men!  They're so stubborn!