A Few Things Finished

I spent most of the day yesterday finishing up projects.  First is this pretty Purple Crazy Quilt Pillow:

I also finished up on this little Cellphone Pouch which was a custom order:

And finally, this pillow with the vintage Rose perfume label:

Mom has finishes too!  She made these sweet little Felt Christmas Tree Ornaments for our Etsy shop:

So, now that I have everything finished and I'm all caught up on things, I started on some new little purses.  I'll have some photos over the weekend!

Do You Remember This?

LOL!!  It's a joke!  I'm sure you're all tired of seeing it by now! 

Yes, it's the peacock design from the cover of the 2015 Crazy Quilt Calendar.  I finished it into a pillow with crocheted trim.  I'm very pleased with the finished pillow and I just love doing these peacocks so I think I'll plan on doing another in the near future.

I also finished up this little cellphone pouch for my aunt:

I heard through the grapevine that the blue one I made her a few years back is starting to look a little worn. So it was time for her to get a new one!  I crocheted the trim on the bottom of this one too.

I have some more finishing to do this week and I want to sew up some new blocks to stitch on.  More eye candy to come!

Crazy Quilt Cellphone Pouches

I'm planning on sewing up that red and black purse tomorrow but in the meantime, I'm stitching up a few little cellphone pouches for my Etsy shop.  This one is done and ready to sew together:

I started this one yesterday: 

First I stitched up the little cross stitch motif which is one my own designs.  It will be available in an upcoming crazy quilt book:

I stitch it up on 14 count Aida and then simply appliqued it to the pieced block.  I expect to finish this up later today or tomorrow.

In other news, Nightmare seems to be doing better.  Scott and I suspect he had a stroke.  It was those symptoms that made me take him to the vet.  Then the blood tests showed that his kidney's are starting to fail.  He's eating the special diet now and seems to be recovering from the stroke symptoms.  He's still a bit "off" but is definitely doing better.  He's laying in my lap as I type.

My Lucy had a stroke back at Christmas and it took her a good 6 to 8 weeks to recover but she's fine now.  As long as we can give Nightmare quality of life, we'll do what we can to keep him healthy and comfortable.

Pink Rose Cellphone Pouch

Just a quick update for now on my Pink Rose Cellphone Pouch.  I've hand painted the lace appliques, stitched the seams and started embellishing:

I really like this color combo!  I'm off to do some more beading on this!

Red And Black Cellphone Pouch

We're finally getting some much needed rain here!  I can live without the thunder and lightening but the rain is most welcome!

I have an order for a custom cellphone pouch in reds and black.  I don't usually work in these colors so I think this will be a lot of fun!

I'm going to sew the lace and trim on now and then I plan to head over to mom's so we can put our Shabby Lane Shops Boutique Bags together.  These will be the Boutique Bag goody's for August.

When I get home later, I plan to relax and stitch!  Que pasa un buen dia!  Have a great day!

Designer Cellphone Cases

I finally had time to do the finishing on these cellphone cases that I stitched last week:

I don't think I could pick a favorite as I really love them both!  Any cellphone, IPhone or Blackberry Phone will fit in these pouches which measure 6 inches high X 4 inches wide.  They are fully lined with a large snap closure.  My purses and pouches are padded (between the layers) for added protection and stability.  I use iron-on fleece!

I have another style of cellphone cases that I make and I sewed up a few blocks a couple of weeks back.  I'm looking forward to stitching on those.

First, I want to do the finishing on my Marie Antoinette quilt which I plan to start on this weekend.

I guess that's my news for today.  We went from 95 degrees yesterday to 65 degrees today.  I can't believe it's June and I have to keep switching back & forth between my Heat and my A/C!  Isn't this some crazy weather?

Marie Antoinette Crazy Quilt Block #9 - Finally!

I finished up the little kitten cellphone pouch that I was working on and decided that was definitely time to get the final block of my Marie Antoinette Crazy Quilt.  Here's the block with the trims:

And here it is with the seam embroidered:

I'm looking forward to putting this quilt together!   I had all the blocks laid out on the floor this morning and it's very sparkly!  Well, what I could see if it when the cats weren't trying to walk on it!  LOL!!  I'll start on the beading tomorrow.

Here is the little kitty cellphone pouch:

I'd like to sew these up tomorrow but not sure I can squeeze anything else into my day.  We're trying to get the yard in order and constantly working around rain!

Flea Market Treasures and Some Finishes

Scott and I picked mom up this morning and headed out to the Flea Market in Grayslake, Illinois.  The Flea Market & Antique show in Grayslake is the 2nd Sunday of every month and it's indoors so we didn't have to worry about the cold March air this morning!

There were a lot of new vendors this month and it was a bit larger than last time.  I found some nice little treasures for my crazy quilting.  First, were some pretty trims:

Next, I found a pretty doily with a cross stitched rose motif in the center:

Some vintage buttons:

 

 And some pink vintage velvet leaves:

Definitely some nice do-dads today!

When we got home, I sewed up my custom order Crazy Quilt Cat Doll:

And I did the finishing on my Crazy Quilt I Phone Pouches:

I did spend a little time sitting out in my backyard which felt so good!  Bubba started a fire in our firepit so I just sat for a few minutes.

So that was my day everyone!  Bubba is making dinner now.  Scrambled eggs with ham and pancakes.  Don't you just love breakfast for dinner!

Finished Cellphone Pouches

Just a quick update for today. I finished up these cellphone pouches this afternoon:





I still have to add the snaps and the chains but other than that, they're finished.

Asian Inspired Cellphone Pouch

A quick update on my current project:



This is a custom order for an Asian themed cellphone pouch. I have the seams covered now so I'll start beading on it later today. The seams are all worked with my own charted borders. I have a floral spray pin for the center.

Tomorrow, I'll share a "Random Act Of Kindness" gift that I received and some glittered Artist's Trading Cards that I made last week. And of course, I'll have an update on this project.

I'm off now to help my husband clean up the leaves from our maple tree. I'd rather be stitching!

Ladybug Purse Completed

Well, I think I'm finally over that nasty chest cold I had! All that's left is a hacking cough which I can live without!

I finished up my Ladybug purse:



It may be a little while before I can get this sewn up. Suddenly, WalMart no longer carries purse handles and Michaels doesn't carry the type I like. So I'm going to have to get to JoAnn's for them and my JoAnn's is almost an hour from here. I plan to stock up on purse handles! I like the kind with the little hooks on the ends that can be slipped into tabs after the purse is finished.

In the meantime, I have an order for a custom cellphone pouch:



I'll start on this later today.

Cellphone Pouch For Mom Completed!

Well, I ran my sewing machines today! Whew! That felt good. I finished this cellphone pouch up for my mom:



I also sewed up some button blocks and my TIF block for June. I'll have that photo for you tomorrow. I decided to glue the peacock feather on using fabric glue. It shouldn't go anywhere now but it has to dry before I scan it.

Simple Enough?

I just finished up on this cellphone pouch for my mom:



She asked me for a simple cellphone pouch. Is this simple enough? I don't think I can do simple! Ha, ha, ha!

I'm hoping to sew this up during week along with my TIF challenge block for June. It's been a long time since I've been able to treadle!

A Little Bit Of Stitching

I started on the "simple" cellphone pouch that my mom asked me for:



I expect to have some stitching time tomorrow so I'll add some beads to it and hopefully, get it assembled during the week.

Marilyn asked about how I attach jewelry, brooches and shank buttons to my CQ's. For brooches and small pins, if they are in excellent condition, I pin them on and whip stitch over the pin on the back to keep them in place. Sometimes I buy pieces that have a damaged pinback so then I cut the pinback off with wire cutters and just sew them down. If there is no way to sew them down, I sew on a few small plain buttons and glue the piece to the buttons using E-6000 Jewelry Glue. This is a good way to use tack pins as well.

For shank buttons, I usually just sew them on. Since I usually do clusters of buttons, the others will keep the shank button from flopping around.

A good option if you want to cut the shank off so that it doesn't flop around, would be to do that, then sew down a plain button and glue the other button to the plain button using the jewelry glue. I've done this with antique buttons where the shank is missing.

Finishes

I did some sewing yesterday and finished up this little cellphone pouch that I made for my mom:



I took it over to her this morning and she absolutely loves it!

Julie asked me if I still sell my cellphone pouches. No, I won't be making any items to sell anymore. I am however, planning on offering classes on the art of crazy quilting out of my home eventually. It'll be a little while yet as I prefer to wait until we get our big house built.

I also finished up these little cat dolls yesterday:



These will go to Pat for The Comfort Doll Project. I'll mail them off to her later this week. I put some dried lavender in this batch! My whole living room smelled like lavender for the rest of the day yesterday!

I also thought you would enjoy seeing these cards that I made. I started them last week and finished them up the other day:



The little houses are one of my vintage embroidery transfer designs. I printed them on cardstock and then colored them by hand with colored pencils. Then I added glitter to the trees. You know how I am about glitter!

Seascape Cellphone Pouch

I finished up the embellishing on this yesterday during the ballgame:



I don't think I've ever done a seascape in these colors before.

I'm going to assemble this today along with the cat dolls that I made to send to Pat for the Comfort Doll project. I also plan to sew up a few new button blocks.

Seascape Cellphone Pouch For Mom

I started on this yesterday while watching the Cubs game:



I stitched until my husband came home from work and then we went up to see my dad. He's doing very well and looks much better every day now. Thank you again everyone, for sending positive thoughts his way!

Scott and I are heading out for breakfast and a flea market. I should be able to finish this up later today. It just needs some more beads and a few little fishies.

Orange Seascape Cellphone Pouch

My mom asked me if I would make her another cellphone pouch. I've only made one for her so far because she's never needed to use her cellphone too much but under the circumstances, she has it with her all the time now. She would like another one so she can alternate. I asked her how she felt about a seascape and she loved that idea so this is my next little project:



Using Heat & Bond, I first added one of my painted dryer sheets to a piece of muslin. Then I added some Angelina Fiber and a bit of pulled silk cocoon. This technically won't be crazy quilting but rather a mixed media project. I have a few things to take care of then I'll start adding some stitching and embellishments to this.

I was asked how to dry pansies in the microwave. It's actually quite simple. I laid out some pansies on a paper towel, covered them with another paper towel and put a heavy glass pot on top of them to weigh them down and keep them flat. Then I microwaved them for 1 minute on 50% power. I repeated that 2 more times and then removed the pot. Then I microwaved them for 30 seconds on 50% power another 2 or 3 times.

You can tell when they're done because the paper towel will be dry and you can only do a few seconds at a time or they will burn. They do keep their color well in the microwave. All microwaves are different so you'll have to experiment a little bit.

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.

Tutorial - Washing Vintage & Antique Lace

I recently received an email from a stitcher who just purchased a bagful of Vintage Lace at an antique shop and she wanted to know the proper way to wash it.

I'm sure many people are intimidated by old textiles, fearful that washing them will somehow cause deterioration. Honestly, it's quite the opposite. Dust & mold is what causes damage to lace & fabric so washing it is indeed a good way to preserve it.

The proper way to wash lace is to do it by hand, just as you would any delicate hand-washable item. I fill my kitchen sink with warm water and a bit Orvus. Orvus is technically and chemically not a soap. What it does is, it makes the water "wetter". To read more about Orvus, visit Martha Beth Lewis' article on Orvus and Needlework. Orvus is available at most fine needlework shops.

I use Orvus to wash all of my needlework pieces that are indeed washable. Crazy quilting for the most part, is not.

With my old lace that I find at flea markets and antique shops, I put them in a large strainer which I then set down in the sink and I let it soak for about 1/2 an hour. I swish it around a bit and then drain the water from the sink. I then refill the sink with plain warm water and let the lace sit again for about another 15 minutes. After swishing one more time, I drain the water and let the excess drain out of the lace through the strainer.

Many times, you'll find that the water is extremely yellow or gray in color. You'll want to continue draining the water and re-soaking until the water is clear.

After draining for about 15 minutes, I lay it all out on a big, fluffy bath-towel and roll it up. After 1/2 an hour, I lay it out again on a dry bath-towel. This time, I don't roll it up, I just let it air dry a bit.

When it comes to pressing it, it's best to do that while it's damp. Use a cotton setting on your iron for crocheted & tatted pieces and a cooler setting for nylon or anything for which you do not know the content of.

If you like, you can use a bit of spray starch on your lace but please keep in mind that cottonworms and silverfish love starch. Which leads me to speaking of storage. Textiles of any kind should not be stored in plastic bags. They need to breathe. I store my lace in an old dresser. The drawers are lined with acid free tissue paper. A good way to prevent cottonworms and silverfish from dining on your lace stash is put a few cedar-balls in with your lace. Those icky bugs don't like the smell. Mothballs would work too but oh, I hate that smell! Cedar-balls are available at Wal-Mart.

So that's how you do it! It's very simple and well worth the effort if you like to use beautiful vintage and antique lace on your crazy quilting. One last thing that I should mention about deterioration is this: look it over before you buy it. Lace that's deteriorating will literally fall apart when you touch it. It will feel dry so to speak and dust will fly everywhere! That's the fibers breaking down. If you give it a very gentle pull and nothing happens, it's in good shape!