More Pillows

Okay, I don't know why I'm making pillows and not other things but I finished this one up the other day:

And then I started on this one:

I suppose they could purses instead of pillows.  What's your vote?

2 More Pillows

I've been working on pillows lately but I want to wrap them up and move on to some more purses.

This one is ready to sew together:

This one is spoken for so I'm going to get it sewn together this afternoon and I'll post another photo of it in it's finished form tomorrow.

This is the pillow that I'm working on now:

The center of this design is from a vintage hankie.  I love using them in my crazy quilt projects.  There's still some do-dads to be added to this piece.

I need to sew up some more blocks as well.  I used to have a huge stash of pre-sewn blocks but I've pretty much stitched all of them up.  I printed up a sheet of vintage images so I have some new pictures to use.

Lots of pretties to come!

New Pillows, Purses and Door Hangers! Oh My!

I've finally finished up all of my projects!  And Mom has been working away too!  Here's an update on our finishes.  First, I finished up 4 new Crazy Quilt Pillows:

And here are the most recent Crazy Quilt Purses that I made:

And them made this pretty Summer Watermelon Door Hanger:

And these sweet little Porcelain Doll ornaments:

I finished stitching up another pillow project but I'll save that photo for next time!

Everything is available now in my Etsy shop!

Pillows Finished

I finally got around to finishing up these last two pillows that I stitched:

These are both in my Etsy shop.  At the moment, I'm stitching up a couple of little door hanger pillows and when I finish that, I'll be starting on my block for the 2016 Crazy Quilt Calendar!  Yes, it's time to get that together!!  I've sent out my invitations and the girls are so excited!!  All are bouncing off the walls.

But I'll have more information on that down the road a way.  For now, it's like 0 degrees outside and I can live without that!  Tomorrow is supposed to be colder! 

Crazy Quilt Pillows

I have a few more finishes to share today.  These are the last 3 Crazy Quilt Pillows that I made before Christmas:

Would anyone like to take a guess as to which one is my favorite?  Leave a comment!!!

I still have 2 purses and some door hangers to finish but I don't think I can get to them until the weekend or next week.  I'm currently stitching on a St Patricks Day Crazy Quilt pillow so stop back to see that.  I'll post photos of that in the next few days.

Stitching Through The Snow

Well, it seems that we're in this weather pattern of snow every other day.  It was pretty at first.  It was novel at first.  But for me, it doesn't take long and it gets old.  I can go back to sunny and 75 any time now! 

I'm just about ready for Christmas.  How about you?  All I have left to do is to wrap my gifts and I plan to do that tomorrow.  Then I have a few days that I can take it easy.

I try to take my fancy new Fusion uptown on days that it doesn't snow.  Just to walk around a store a little bit.  And I have been stitching on some things.  I don't know if you saw my Kitties In The Teacup Pillow all stitched or not.  This is ready to sew together:

And here is another pillow that I stitched up.  It too is ready to assemble:

I love the little girl in that vintage photo.  She has the cutest little face!

I also stitched up a couple of Crazy Quilt Hearts:

I doubt I'll have time now to sew any of these together until after Christmas.  Maybe not even until after New Year's.  But at least I was smart enough to take the time before Thanksgiving to sew up a bunch of blocks so I had some things that I could stitch on.

In other news, my sweet Lucy hadn't been acting right for about 2 weeks.  So Scott and I took her to vet and, she is in the beginning stages of kidney disease.  I know it's not unusual for cats but geez!  What's up with this?  I just lost Nightmare to kidney failure back in May.

It's the early stages and she is 15 years old now, but I'll tell you, it's like getting another kick in the head.  And the heart!  Our vet has started her on the same special kidney diet that Nightmare was on.  Science Diet makes a version and Purina makes a version.  Lucy really isn't thrilled with either one of them but it seems she leans towards the Purina version a little better so I just ordered a case of that for her.  She also has a bit of arthritis in her spine down by her tail and I still kind of think she may have had a mild stroke a few weeks ago.  She's perking up now all of a sudden so she may be recovering from that.  She had a bad stroke 2 years ago and recovered fully.

Well, hopefully, since this is the early stages of KD, she should be alright for awhile if she doesn't fight me on the special diet.  Keep your fingers crossed.

Crazy Quilt Pillows

Busy day today.  My Lucy has been having some trouble with her back legs.  She walks fine but hasn't been able to jump up on anything.  Which is totally not like her!  I was starting to wonder if she had another mild stroke so Scott and I took her to the vet today.  Dr. Patty did bloodwork and other tests along with xrays.  So far, it looks as if she has a bit of arthritis in her spine near her tail.  The odd thing is, when we brought her home, she jumped up on the counter to get into the garden window. Go figure! Anyway, I'll get the results of the bloodwork on Tuesday.  I had that done in May and everything was good then so hopefully, it's still all good.  Lucy is 14 1/2 years old now.

In other news, I finished up my Kittens In A Teacup pillow:

And then this morning, I started on this block:

I think the little girl in this vintage photo has the sweetest little face!    This will be another crazy quilt pillow.

Scott and I decided not to put a tree up this year.  We feel that Wrigley and Cotton will do nothing but climb it and mess with it and I don't feel like dealing with that.  By next year, they'll be past some of that kitten curiosity.  Not that I mind the kitten-ness, I don't.  I just think that 2 kittens and a Christmas tree is asking for trouble!  LOL!!  After all, that's how my Nightmare had gotten his name!

Black Friday Anyone?

Is it just me, or is there anyone else out there who can't stand the term, "Black Friday"?  I know what it means...it's better to be in "the black" than in "the red" but geez, it's so dark and ominous!  What was wrong with "day after Thanksgiving sales"?  That sounds so much happier!  And who comes up with this stuff?  Is there someone out there who has nothing better to do than come up with these goofy terms?  I guess I'm from the Disney generation.  I like everything to sound happy and uplifting.

Well, I don't go out the day after Thanksgiving anyway.  I did a little more shopping over at Etsy and I still need a few more things but for the most part, I'm done with my shopping.  I much prefer to buy handmade and vintage than to go out and put up with the noise and the crowds.

And I did some stitching!  I finished stitching up my Pink Kitty Pillow:

These always look prettier in person than they do in the photos.  Anyway, my next project is also kitties in a teacup:

When I finish up this one, I'll sew them both together at the same time.

Okay, I have some new things that mom made to photograph.  Be sure to listen to The Cinnamon Bear episodes.  Just scroll down and click on the links.

More Pink Kitties

I finished up a little block that I was stitching on over the weekend.  This is a little door hanger for a friend:

I didn't get to sewing up my little pink cat dolls over the weekend like I had wanted to.  Maybe I'll have time tomorrow to sewn them up a long with this.

My next project will be more pink kitties!  No, not dolls but rather a couple of pillows starting with this one:

The kitty in the teacup is from a vintage greeting card.  I have another block pieced with a vintage kitty image but I'll do this one first.

Victorian Style Crazy Quilt Pillows

Well, I hope you're not all sitting here clicking the reload button over and over!  I know I left ya'll hanging on what I was going to sew the old world santa and the lady in the hat into.  Okay, I know this isn't Ebay so no need to think that anyone is sitting on the edge of their seat here!  LOL!!!  I made them into Victorian Style Pillows.  Are ya'll surprised?

And here is the Old World Santa Pillow:

I don't know which one I like more!  The santa is a bit unusual for me since I like to work with a more colorful palette but I do think this is stunning! 

So for my next projects, I have to finish up my little green teddy bear doll, I need to work up the model for Lesson 8 of my Crazy Quilt Class and I have a pile of other things that I can't wait to stitch on.  I guess I should get off the computer now and get to my stitching!

Purse Or Pillow?

Purse or pillow?  That is the question!  Ha, ha, ha!  Seriously, I'd you, my blog friends to tell me what I should finish this into:

It's all stitched now and ready to sew up.  Please leave me your comments and I'll go with whichever the majority is.  It doesn't matter to me either way.  I'm going to put it in my Etsy shop.

Crazy Quilt Bird Pillow

I'm still impatiently waiting for Spring!  LOL!!!  I wanted Robins and I got snow!  So I'm stitching on this bird pillow thinking about Spring and when the Robins will show up in my backyard:

I have a little more work here to do on my computer and then I plan to stitch the rest of the day and watch a movie.  Maybe something that takes place in Spring!  Ha, ha, ha!

Redwork Embroidery

My poor little neglected blog!  Actually, I haven't been neglecting it.  My backup battery unit went out last week and I didn't want to take a chance with my computer by having it on without the back up battery.  I bought a new one over the weekend and got it hooked up today.  Our power goes out a lot here.  We live in a very wooded area.  Anyway, things are back up and running fine now!

My latest finish is this Redwork Cat Pillow:

Several years ago, I designed a set of 4 of these pretty little kitten embroidery designs.  I thought it would be fun to use one as a focal point for a crazy quilt piece.  I've always loved the old fashioned look of outline embroidery.  In keeping with tradition, I stitched this piece in red and white and used lots of vintage mother of pearl buttons and vintage red buttons.

 I've also re-released the patterns in case anyone else would like make one:

There are 4 Redwork Cat designs in this booklet and it's available at Magcloud.

In other news, Lesson 3 of my Crazy Quilt Color and Composition Classes will be available tomorrow, February 14th.  I'll have photos of my students blocks from Lesson 2 in the next couple of days.

Lesson 4 will be available on March 17th, 2013.

Irish Lady Pillow Update

I'm still working on this Irish Lady Pillow:

I've been up since 2:30 and it's 4 am now.  Yes, sleepless in McHenry I guess!  I have a few hours before I have to go anywhere so I'll sit here and stitch on this.  If I finish the stitching today, then perhaps I can sew it together tomorrow.

Crazy Quilt Pillows

Last week, I was able to do some finishing and finally completed these Crazy Quilt Pillows that I stitched before Christmas:

These are so sweet, aren't they?  I think I'll do a few for St. Patrick's Day!

Today, I'll be working on organizing my craft storage room.  I really want to run my sewing machine but if I don't neaten up my fabrics and laces a little bit, it'll be like parting the Red Sea to get in there!

These are available in our Boutique!

Crazy Quilt Valentine Pillow Almost Done

I didn't have too much in the way of stitching time yesterday so this is almost done but not quite:

This just needs a few little hearts and some bugs.  I love bugs on crazy quilts! 

Pink Valentine Pillow

Well it doesn't look like I've done much stitching on this but it does take time to sew all those beads and sequins on!

When I finish adding beads to the last seam, I'll start adding some larger embellishments.  This definitely needs flowers!

We're going to the Flea Market and Antique Show in Grayslake Illinois today.  Maybe I'll have some goodies to share later!

Back to my cat dolls, Sandie told me that she likes the taller cat doll:

I'm open minded so I'm thinking of doing a series of these in 2012.  What do ya'll think?  Does anyone else like this taller version of my Crazy Quilt cat dolls?  Let me know please!

Crazy Quilt Pillows

I am absolutely thrilled with how these turned out:

I finished these pillows with lots of lace and extra buttons.  They're so pretty!  And both are now available in my boutique as well as my Etsy shop.

I started adding my cat dolls to my "Collectible Cats" page.  I still have to pull some of them off of Flickr.  Once I have them all posted, I'll start adding the dates as to when I made them.

KItty And Me Designs In 2 Locations

I've added a few new handmade items to our Boutique.  First are mom's gorgeous Crazy Quilt style pillows:

And then Mom made this gorgeous little pink door pillow:

Notice the unusual shape of this one!

And here's my newest addition:

I sat on my deck and stitched the entire Southern Belle design on one of the days that my power was out!  That's a lot of stitching in one day!

And for anyone who prefers shopping at Etsy, our products are also available at Kitty And Me Designs Etsy Shop.  Yes, we're in 2 locations!!!