Christmas Crazy Quilt Purse

I finally did the hand finishing on my Christmas Crazy Quilt Purse:

I used an antique lace collar on the bottom and then finished it off with hand crocheted trim using my fancy fun yarn.  The poinsettia is from a vintage hankie!  This is probably the only Christmas purse I'll do this year.

For now, I'm going to turn the computer off and get back to stitching on my clutch purses.

Pink Paint

I've been rambling on and off about repainting my room before I buy a new computer to do the magazine on.  I decided a long time ago that I would paint this room pink because pink is my signature color and because I find it soothing on my nerves.

Mary Anne made me laugh in a recent email.  She said a pink room would send her over the edge.  LOL!!!  I have seen pink rooms and they can be nauseating but my room won't be that way.  I intend to paint everything white and then sponge paint the walls with a pale icy pink glaze.  Then I'll stencil roses in here.  The glaze will just give the walls a hint of pink color without it being that "in your face pink".

When I was at the hardware store over the weekend, I picked up a couple of paint chips:

I like the warm, peachy shades of pink rather than the blue pinks.  I highlighted the color that I'm going to go with.

Little by little, I'm getting things together and organized for my new endeavor!

For now, I finished stitching up my Christmas purse:

I'll have to stop at JoAnn's this weekend and pick up a pair of purse handles.  Then I should be able to sew this up next week. 

Christmas Poinsettia Purse

I woke up at 1:30 this morning, sweating buckets!  Oh, does that ever end!!!!  So, since I'm not one to waste time, I got up, made coffee, put QVC on and stitched.  My Christmas Poinsettia Purse is done and ready to sew together:

I added some more Kreinik metallic to the border on the left.  I stem stitched around the leaves with a #4 Braid:

The leaves needed a bit more definition and I'm always up for more sparkle!  I love those Kreinik metallic threads.  Always have!  BTW - the free cross stitch design on Kreinik's main webpage is one I did for them a few years back!

And here is a close up photo of the antique lace piece at the top:

I had first used red seed beads on the antique lace but it was too much red.  I rarely take anything off once I sew it on but the red just didn't work so I replaced them with green seed beads and now it looks more balanced.

Finally, I added centers to the red Silk Ribbon flowers:

If you look closely at the photos, I scattered some clear snowflakes here and there on the block. 

I'll have to run up to JoAnn's tomorrow and get some purse handles for this bag.  I have a few sets here but nothing that works with this piece.  So, just twist my arm and make me to go to JoAnn's!  LOL!!!

And now for some more cute cat pictures.  Here's my little Cotton ball:

A rare photo of him with his eyes open!  He's on the top shelf of my garden window.  No, he's not allowed up there.  But I can't reach him when he's way in the back so instead, I grabbed the camera!

And apparently, Wrigley discovered the sink in the bathroom:

Oh, those little faces just melt my heart!  I'm still trying to get some new photos of Lucy but she's still a little crabby and fussy.  She's had a hard time adjusting to losing Nightmare (I know that feeling) and having 2 little aliens in the house.  Slowly but surely, she's coming around.  I'll try again later for some new photos of her.  She's always been a beauty!

CQ Seam Embellishments

I added some more Kreinik threads to my CQ Christmas purse.  The poinsettia flowers in the vintage hankie needed to pop a little bit:

 Please excuse Wrigley's ear in this photo.  Like most cats, he likes to be in the middle of everything!

And here are some close up photos of the seam embellishments:

I still have some stitching to do on this.  I've been asked several times, how does one know when one is done.  It's not so much a "knowing" as it is a "feeling".  You just get the feeling that it's well balanced and one more bead or do-dad would be too much.  It's like anything else in life, practice makes perfect.

Finally for today, I have a new Hanging Heart that mom made:

Kreinik Metallic Facets

My current project is this Crazy Quilt Christmas purse:

The top of the purse is part of a vintage Christmas hankie.  I kept looking at the edge of the hankie and felt that it needed some sort of definition. I didn't feel that beading around it was the right thing.  I just wanted it to have a little definition.  Then I remembered my beautiful Kreinik metallic threads. 

Kreinik offers a thread called, Facets.  It's available in a variety of sizes but for this project, I decided on the Petite Facets in gold:

The Facets are very glittery and actually look like little beads.  They're not intended to use for actual stitching but rather are meant to be couched on using another thread.  I used a Kreinik metallic cord for that which is very fine.

Here are some close up photos so you can see how it looks:

You learn more about the Kreinik Facets here on their website.

And before I turn the computer off for today, I thought I'd share yet another picture of my very cute baby kitty:

Cotton ball loves to play on the bed when I'm trying to make it every morning!  I was trying to put clean sheets on the bed yesterday when he decided it would be fun to lay in the middle of everything. 

Crazy Quilt Christmas Purse

I just spent a couple of hours putting together my most recent purse and cellphone pouch.  All I have left to do on them is the hand finishing. 

In the meantime, I started stitching on a Crazy Quilt Christmas Purse:

The top piece with the poinsettia is a piece of a vintage hankie that I bought at a flea market earlier this Summer.  The lace piece on the left is antique, the tatted piece is vintage and so is the lace on the right.  Antique and vintage lace seemed rather appropriate considering the vintage hankie I used!

It didn't look like I did much stitching on this yet but I did.  The pine branches on the hankie are all highlighted with thread.  If you look closely at the photo, the stitching kind makes them pop!

Purses Finished

I did some finishing over the weekend on the last 2 purses I made:

It feels good to be getting a few things done.

Christmas Fabric

It was 100 degrees here yesterday.  Needless to say, I didn't spend much time on my deck.  Scott and I sat out there for a few minutes in the evening but it was so humid, I could hardly breath so inside was the place to be.

I pulled some lace and trim for my Christmas Purse:

This purse was inspired by a fat quarter:

I need a full fat quarter to line a 9 inch purse.  To get the image, I just scanned the fabric into my computer and printed it on inkjet fabric so I can use it as a focal point for the design.

We have another hot day in store for today but not quite as bad as yesterday.  Hopefully I'll have a little deck time later.

Christmas Purse

It was quite warm yesterday but with my deck shaded in the afternoon, I was able to sit out there for awhile.

This is my next project, is a Christmas purse:

I've already crocheted the trim for the bottom.  I used fancy foo-foo yarn and added large hole sequins.

If you'd like to make some crocheted trim yourself and add the sequins, first, you have to string all the sequins onto the yarn before you start crocheting.

Then chain as long as you want your trim to be.  In the case of this purse, it'll be 9 inches across so I had to double that and then I add an inch for overlap on the back.

For the second row, single crochet adding a sequin every other stitch.

Third row, just do a single crochet with no sequins.  For the 4th row, single crochet adding the sequins every other stitch.

That's all there is to it!