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!

Comfort Dolls

Yes, it was snowing here again this morning. I sat and finished up on this little Bonnet Lady:



The colors a bit off. It's really a little softer than it looks here. I used seed beads instead of French Knots. It's not that I mind doing French Knots. I just like the sparkle and dimension of the seed beads.

My next little project will be another one of my cat dolls:



How's this for some bright, warm colors! This will be to send to the Comfort Doll Project as well.

Speaking of Pat Winter, she had decided to close her Etsy shop and then changed her mind as well. I guess it's something in the midwest air! or the water! I'm really glad to hear that she's keeping her shop up and running! Pat has some pretty things in there if you'd like to check them out.

Finally for today, here are pages 31 & 32 of my 1936 Herrschner's Catalog:





Check out the price of the Hosiery! 75 Cents! Wow! I think I paid $8.00 for the pair of pantyhose that I bought to wear to grandma's funeral back in September. I wore them once and had to throw them away because I snagged them. Me & pantyhose do not work well together!

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!

Quick Update

I finished up on the blue Comfort Cat Doll on Saturday:



Sometime this week, I hope to get him and his little friend sewn up so I can mail them to Pat for The Comfort Doll Project.

I also started on another button block:



On another note, I was wondering if you could ask you to send some positive thoughts to my father. He fell yesterday and broke his hip. I'm sure he'll be fine, but it's still a little scary. He's having surgery today to have some pins put in it. Any positive energy you could send his way would be much appreciated.

Comfort Cat Dolls

I stitched up this little one yesterday:



The fabrics on this one seemed so Summery to me! I decided to stitch it in Citrus colors.

Today, I'll stitch this one up:



This reminds me of ocean colors even though the closest I've come to seeing any significant body of water is only Lake Michigan! I may do this one as a seascape with some little fishy's.

After this cat, I'll go back to the button quilt for a bit. I'm also wanting a new purse! Which reminds me, I still have to show you my Spring purse! That one is done. I'll share that next week along with a quick tutorial on how to put it together with the handles.

Button Block #18 Completed

This one was a bit chaotic for me. I was quite disappointed when I finished up the stitching and beading. The stitching just didn't show up very well:



It was also a challenge to decide on what buttons to use. I didn't want to hide or distract from the floral pattern in the Brocade (the center fabric) but I wanted to be sure that the buttons were a focal point due to the stitching not showing up well.

I decided to go with a few really bold buttons and that seamed to do the trick for this block. None of them are vintage or antique. They're all new plastic buttons but they do work nicely.

I'm going to take a little break from the Button Quilt and do a cat doll for the Comfort Doll Project. Actually, I usually like to send Pat 2 at a time so that's most likely what I'll do. I still have a pile of these cats sewn up and ready to stitch on. I did a ton of them before Christmas. I chose this one for now because it looks kind of Summery. We've had a ton of cloudy, dreary, rainy days lately so this one seemed cheerful:



These stitch up in a few hours so I do expect to complete him today.

Comfort Cats & Update On Floral "A" Block

I did some finishing yesterday on a few projects including these two little cat dolls for The Comfort Doll Project:



I don't know which one I love more! The yellow one is so bright and cheery but the green one so pretty with the purple embellishments! I'll package these up today and mail them to Pat later this week when I go to the Post Office again.

I also did some stitching yesterday on my Floral "A" block:



I tried every little appliqué I have and nothing seems to work to soften that hard corner at the bottom left of the "A". I have some ideas but want to do some more beading on the seam treatments before I start working on that area.

Comfort Dolls By Mom

Well, my mom has been quite busy making Comfort Dolls!



She had them packed up so nicely in this box, I didn't want to take it all apart but there are actually 2 layers of these little Pocket Babies in here! I think mom said she did 25 all together!

She also made this little doll:



My photo is a bit fuzzy. This little doll is crayon tinted, embroidered, it has lace on it and beads and then mom made that pretty little bag for her! Again, I didn't want to take it apart but I thought you would like to see these.

I've already been to the Post Office today so these are now on their way to Pat. Also, I mailed off all orders today. We're supposed to get some snow later so I thought I'd better get my orders out now in case I can't get into town tomorrow.

Finishes!

I decided to do finishing yesterday. I get a little crazy when my "needs finishing" pile starts to stack up too high!

The first project I did was this little Santa Ornament that I stitched up over the weekend:



He's very glittery!

Then, I did my little "Smiling Snowman" ornament:



I haven't decided yet if I want to put the tree up this year or not. If I don't, I'll hang this guy on a doorknob. This is one of my designs so if anyone is interested in the pattern, you can find him and his little friend over at my Etsy shop.

Next, I did these two little embroidered pieces:





These are 2 of my favorite vintage embroidery designs. The poodle is a Vogart pattern and I believe the bonnet girl is an Aunt Marthas transfer. I've stitched each of these at least 3 times now!

Anyway, I did these a while back and finally sewed them up yesterday. They will go to Pat for the Comfort Doll project along with the Blackwork Cat doll that I did last week. I'll mail them off to Pat tomorrow.

Once I got all that sewing done and the hand-work completed, I started on the Purple Cat Doll:



I'm sure I'll get him finished up later today. Tomorrow I'll sew up the last 3 cats that I stitched and I expect to them in the shop on Sunday. As I mentioned last week, I received several emails asking me if I would consider making up a few cats for purchase. So that's what these are for.

Today, I'll be doing a bit more finishing and then sewing up a few new blocks. I just can't imagine life without a sewing machine! And speaking of sewing machines, Scott told me that he'll be putting the cabinet for my antique machine back together this weekend. I picked the machine up from the Singer man yesterday so I expect to have photos for you very soon!

Cats & Cellphone Pouches

I finished up the stitching on this little Comfort Cat Doll yesterday:



I'd like to get one more of these stitched up soon and then I'll have two to send to Pat.

I was asked on several occasions, where I found my cat pattern. Actually, I designed it myself for the Comfort Doll Project. I have also been asked if I could consider selling the pattern. No, I prefer to keep this one for my own projects. I know that probably sounds kind of funny considering all the complimentary patterns that I post here but this one is special to me. When I have some free time, I'll look around online and see if I can find a nice complimentary cat pattern and I'll post the link here.

In the meantime, my next project will be this little Winter themed cellphone pouch:



This is a gift for my mother in law. I make her one every couple of months. The little snowman pin I bought the other day will go in the center. This should be a fun project because it's suitable for loads of sparkly sequins! I love glitter! In case I haven't mentioned that before!!!

In other news, hop over to Allison's blog and see what she did with my little Alice Brooks Rose pattern that I posted the other day. Fun project and a nice visual effect!

Christmas Tree Purse - Stitching Complete!

I only had about 6 groups of Trick Or Treaters yesterday. Fine with me. That gave me plenty of time to finish my Christmas purse without too many interuptions:



My husband was kind of funny the other day. I had just finished adding the beads & sequins to the flower applique on the left when he came in from mowing lawn, looked at it and said to me, "I knew you couldn't leave that poinsettia flower alone!" Ha, ha, ha! He's too funny!

Anyway, the little packages under the tree are for card making and small mini projects. They're styrofoam wrapped with foil. I bought mine at WalMart last year. Because they're styrofoam, the needle goes right through them! Like I said the other day, if I can sew it on, I will sew it on!
And speaking of sewing, I'll get this assembled as soon as I can. I want it ready to use by December 1st. I have to get up to Michaels this weekend and see what kind of handles and foo-foo fringe they have. I'd love to find foo-foo fringe in dark green! Red would work too but I'd prefer green.

Ok so on to my next project. Ever since I designed these sweet little snowman faces last week, they have been screaming at me to stitch one:



Most of you know that I spend most of stitching time doing CQ and some outline embroidery with my vintage transfer collection. It's been a very long time since I've done charted stitching but I just love these guys.

I decided to stitch one up and make it into a doorknocker/ornament and send it to Pat for the Comfort Doll project. With the holidays coming, it should bring some extra cheer to someone in need of comfort. And besides, who doesn't like a sweet little snowman?!!!!

So later today, I'll pull some fabric and the thread colors and I'll start stitching. After that, I'll probably work up another cat doll.

Finished!

I finished up this little cat doll yesterday:



As soon as I can get in some sewing time, I'll assemble this and the pink one and get them ready to send to Jo in NZ for the Comfort Doll Project.

I'm off to wash my floors for now. Have a great weekend! I'll see ya on Monday.

Almost Done....

I started on this yesterday but didn't quite get it finished:



I'm sure I'll have time later today to finish it up and I'll post a photo for you tomorrow.

More Comfort Cats

I stitched up the brown comfort cat yesterday:



These really do stitch up quite quickly. A couple of hours and bam! A pretty little cat doll!
I'm going to stitch one more up and send both of these to Jo in NZ:



This one kind of screams "under the sea" but I'm not sure that's what I'll do with it. I think it's just the colors. Stop by tomorrow to see where it goes.

Some Finished Projects

I did some finishing over the weekend starting with my Pansy Purse:



I already used this one yesterday when we went to the Flea Market. Unfortunately, I didn't find a single thing! But we had fun looking at all the great junk so that's what's important. And we saw the whole market before it started raining!

My next little finish is this cellphone pouch that I made for Scott's step-mom for her birthday:



I still have to put the chain on it but I'll do that later today.

I also finished up this Comfort Cat Doll:



I still have 3 all sewn up and ready to stitch but next time I have a sewing day, I'm going to sew up another pile of them.

Last but not least for finishes, you may remember my little embroidered mermaid that I stitched from my vintage transfer collection:



I was going to work this into a whimsical CQ purse but the design was just too big for the 9 inch blocks that I like to do so I decided to sew it into a little doorknocker and send it to Pat for the Comfort Doll project. I'll package this up along with the green cat doll and mail them to Pat later this week.

Finally, I had some time to stitch a bit more on the Model A block:



This theme is a bit challenging so I'm focusing more on color than anything else. I'm planning on doing some more SRE on it later today.

Finishes

Yesterday was a sewing day for me and I did quite a bit of finishing starting with this little doorknocker for my mom:



I'll give this to my mom when I see her and she can enjoy it throughout the Autumn season.

Next, I finished up some cat dolls:



These 2 little Comfort Dolls are now on their way to Pat.

I also finished up this cat which was a custom order:



This too is now it's way to it's new owner.

I also finished up a Christmas gift and sewed up a few new blocks including this one:



This will be a cellphone pouch for Scott's step-mom for her birthday which just so happens to be the same day as mine, the day before Christmas!

Anyway, this is actually white. The flash bounced off of the shiny fabrics and I had nothing but a big glare! So I took this photo without the flash and I just wasn't able to brighten it up much in my graphics software. I'll use the scanner next time. That should give us a good image.

I bought that little vintage rhinestone basket pin at the last flea market we went to. This should make for a really pretty pouch!

And speaking of flea markets, I won't have time to post an update tomorrow as we're heading up to Elkhorn, WI for their last flea market of the season. Ok, I'm making boo-boo lips here. This is my favorite flea market and they only do it 4 times over the Summer months so I'm really looking forward to it. Thankfully, there are other flea markets that run every month all year so I'll still have some more antiquing to enjoy. It's one of my favorite things to do. I like the thrill of the hunt!

See ya Monday!

Black & Pink Comfort Cat - Stitching Completed

I added a little spider and web to the bottom of this yesterday:



I have some laundry to fold and then I'll be doing the finishing on my most recent project. I also want to sew up a couple of more pieces for Christmas gifts. Stop by tomorrow to see 3 finished cats!

Comfort Doll Button

Wanted to take a moment to say a special thank you to Janet for taking the time to help me out with sizing the Comfort Doll Button down so it fit in my sidebar! As you can see, it's there now and the link to Pat's Comfort Doll blog works! Thank you so much Janet for all of your help! Big Hugs!

New Comfort Doll Blog!

I went over to Pat's Gatherings blog to look for an Etsy link that Pat mentioned awhile back and found that Pat set up a new blog just for the Comfort Doll project. You can find the link here.

As you know, I so much enjoy making little CQ cat dolls for this project. I'm not sure why I enjoy it so much. Perhaps it's just knowing that I'm sending a bit of cheer to someone in need or maybe it's because they work up quickly and I get some much needed instant gratification from finishing something in a short amount of time. Or maybe it's just my love of cats! I honestly don't know why but whatever the reason, there are many more to come!

I hope you'll consider making one little doll to send to Pat for the Comfort Doll Project. It's really fun and it's just such a nice thing to do!

Fun Things!

Well, I have some fun things to share with you today! First, my blue comfort cat, which is started but I didn't complete yesterday:



I stitched on it until Scott came home and then we went out on the deck and talked while he grilled some chicken. I'm sure I'll finish it later today. I'll have to send this one to Pat with the next batch.

In the meantime however, there's no lack of Comfort Dolls here:



My mom made 15 of this little dolls which she calls "Pocket Babies" to send to Pat. They're beaded, they have lace and fancy yarns on them and ribbon flowers. Aren't sweet?!!! I believe she designed these herself. I'll be shipping these to Pat tomorrow along with my last 3 cats which I'll be sewing up today.

Finally, Robin sent me a photo of a Biscornu (pincushion) that she made using one of my patterns. I asked Robin for her permission to post the photo here because I thought my readers would enjoy seeing it:



Thank you very much Robin, for allowing me to share your stitched piece with my readers.

Here's the x stitch pattern in case anyone would like to stitch it:



Click on any of the images to go to my Flickr site where you can view the larger versions.

I'm to run my sewing machine. I want to sew up the comfort cats and I have a few blocks to sew up for Christmas gifts. It is mid-September now (where did Summer go?) so I'd better get things going!