Stitching A Purse

Lesson 9 of my Online stitching class is done!  All I have to do is to type it up and send to Jason.  I'll share a sneak peek with ya'll tomorrow.

In the meantime, I started stitching on this purse:

It doesn't look all that exciting at the moment, so stay tuned!  Once I get more of the seam embroidery done, I'll post close up photos of them.

Crazy Quilt Hearts Future Bowl Fillers

First, I'd like to wish a warm welcome to all of the new ladies who are following my blog!  All of a sudden, I see some new faces!  Thank you and please leave me comments!

I've been stitching and sewing and am working away on all sorts of new things here.  This is a set of future Crazy Quilt Hearts for Bowl Fillers.  I just finished stitching the last one this morning:

 

Each Crazy Quilt Heart will have 2 coordinating fabric hearts with it so there will be 4 sets available.  The next step is to sew these up along with their little companions.  My mom's bowl fillers have flown out the door so I thought I'd get on the band wagon with a few too!

In other news, Jason, my assistant and editor is about 1/2 way done with my upcoming book, "Elegant Cross Stitch Sentiments For Crazy Quilting".  Jason does an amazing job with my books and so far, it looks like this one will be phenomenal!  I finished putting all the models together over the weekend so I'll be photographing them tomorrow and getting the JPEG's to Jason.  At that point, he'll get the cover ready so I can share it here!

My next stitching project, which I'll be starting this evening, is Lesson 5 for my Online Crazy Quilt Course.  The release date for that is April 30th!

For now, I have a few new things from mom to list so I'll hope over to Etsy and do that.

More Examples From Volume 3

Been stitching like crazy these past few days.  I finished up my first little snowman ornament:

And then yesterday, I stitched up this one:

Here's a photo of this last block before all the embellishments:

You can see how I used some of the new borders from Volume 3 of Elegant Crazy Quilt Seam Treatments.

And here are some closeups:

And then early this morning, long before dawn, I started on this Santa Claus ornament:

And here are closeups of the stitching:

So now that Volume 3 is done, I have several new projects in the works.  You might get a little hint if you look at some of the photos in this post long enough!  And, coming soon.......Crazy Quilt Mystery Projects!  More information to come!

Finally for today, we're offering 25% off in our Etsy shop.  Use Coupon Code:  PreChristmas10 and you'll get 25% off your entire order!

White Cat and Pink Cat

The stitching on my White Cat crazy quilt piece is done:

It was nice to work with this color palette.  You may have noticed that I've been doing a lot with pink, green and purple lately.  I guess those colors are my favorites but I really like all colors and want to do more with the others.

I ended up shoveling my driveway myself yesterday.  I haven't had to do it in years so I shouldn't complain.  The worst part is that it was very wet, heavy snow.  And may I say that Direct TV needs to put windshield wipers on their satellite dishes!  LOL!

You may remember that we upgraded to a high def. TV so we of course, had to upgrade to high def. Direct TV.  Well, it's a bigger dish so instead of putting the new one on the side of the house where I could reach it with a broom to brush the snow off, now it's on the roof where I can barely see it!  When there's snow on the dish, there's no TV reception!

Yes, I had to stand on a chair with a broom, taped to another broomstick and try to brush the snow off the dish without falling on my 50 year old butt!  Ha, ha, ha!  So, this message is for Direct TV!  I need windshield wipers on my satellite dish! 

Okay, now that I've amused you with my snow story, here's my next project:

It's not really a pink cat, but he's dressed in pink and I love images of cats in hats!

St Patricks Day Hearts

I think we only got about 5 inches of snow yesterday.  More than I care to look at but better than 8 inches!  I made my soup, I put a Harry Potter movie on to listen to and I stitched a heart shaped, St. Patrick's Day door pillow:

The robin on the nest is a little brooch that I found at a flea market last Summer:

I guess you can see where my mind is right now!  I always say, Winter wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't cold and it didn't snow!  LOL!!!

Here are close ups of the seam embroidery on this piece:

Be sure to click on the photos to see them up close.  Both of these seams are worked with my waste canvas technique.

I have a few more of these little hearts sewn up so I'll start on another one today.

St Patricks Day Door Pillow

I was horribly restless yesterday.  But hey, my house is clean!  Nervous energy will definitely produce a clean house!  LOL!!!  But I couldn't sit still long enough to finish up on my St. Patrick's Day Door Pillow.  This is what I have so far:

And here are close up photos of my stitching:

These are both worked with my Waste Canvas technique.

I'm going to stitch on this for awhile now.  We're supposed to get a few inches of snow tomorrow.  Ewww.....I usually go to mom's on Fridays but decided to go today instead.  I don't like driving in snow and my car doesn't like it either!

So speaking of snow, isn't it Spring yet?  LOL!!!  No, I know we still have awhile to go yet.  I bought myself a new coat and it arrived yesterday:

This is a Dennis Basso faux fur mink coat.  I have a full length Dennis Basso faux mink that I bought last year and love it!  It's so gorgeous and luxurious!  But I wanted something that was a little more comfortable to wear while driving so I saved my money and bought this one as more of an every day coat.  Oh, it's so beautiful!  I bought this from QVC.

I have a weakness for beautiful clothes.  And my philosophy is, if I have to put up with Winter, I might as well put up with it in a beautiful coat with pretty accessories!

Have a great day everyone!

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!

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!