Valentine Door Pillows

Just a couple of quick eye candy photos for today everyone.  These are the last of my Crazy Quilt Valentines for this year.  The first 2 are models for my upcoming book, "Elegant Cross Stitch Sentiments For Crazy Quilting"

Both are available in my Etsy shop.

These 3 are gifts that I made:

I just finished stitching up a purse (in pink of course!) so I'll have photos of that soon!

Purple Roses

I finished up stitching my Eagle Door Hanger yesterday:

It's very colorful and very Patriotic!

I started a new piece with a purple rose:

The rose is from a vintage handkerchief.  I love the soft colors on this one!  I'll do some stitching on this later today.

I have some new door pillows that mom made so I'll start adding them to the shop today and post photos tomorrow.

My plans for the week are to sew up my 4th of July hanging pillows and to sew some new blocks since I'm down to just one or two in my stitching basket. 

Today is opening day at Wilmot Flea Market in Wilmot, Illinois.  I'm going to straighten up and then Scott and I head up there to walk around for a little while.  Maybe I'll find some goodies!

Another Gorgeous Day!

We have the weirdest weather in the Chicago area!  Since when is 75 degrees here in the middle of March?  But I'm not complaining!  I love it.  I've been walking with my neighbor Peggy every day, sitting out on my deck and having my windows open for the fresh air.

I did stitch yesterday but I didn't quite finish up on my embroidered basket piece.  For now, I'll share photos of my mom's newest door hanging pillows:

Door pillows seems to be the direction that mom and I are moving in with our shop.  They sell well and we love making them!  Always have!  And who doesn't have at least 1 door knob?  LOL!

The rose is already sold but the yellow daisies hanging pillow is still available.

I did finish up on my little basket crazy quilt pieces.  They're so pretty!  They look like little pieces of cake!  I'll post photos over the weekend.

A Tisket A Tasket

A bunch of little baskets!  I thought I'd do a couple of little crazy quilts.  Door pillows actually.  I sewed these a few weeks back:

The little baskets are from a set of vintage hankies that I bought a few years back.

I started on the blue one last night:

These would make a really cute bellpull but I love making the little handing pillows.

Spring Hanging Pillows

I finished up my last 3 projects the other day and have photos to share!  Yeah!  One of my favorite things to make is door pillows aka hanging pillows.  I've made 100's of these over the years.  Some for myself, some for gifts and some to sell.  I have my little door pillows hanging on every door knob in the house and I change them for the holidays and seasons.  I love them!  They add color and a nice homey feel without taking up any space!  So here are my latest:

Also in our Boutique are another pair of earrings that Kathi made:

Her St Patrick's Day Earrings have sold out but a little birdie told me that there might be some Easter earrings coming!  These items and more can also be found at Etsy.

I'll be finishing up the stitching on my little pink purse today and then I have another custom order to do.  A pre-sewn block that I was asked to stitch and embellish so be sure to stop by tomorrow for updates!

Door Pillows for St Patricks Day

Mom's latest creations!  Door Pillows for St Patricks Day.  Mom made these from vintage handkerchiefs:

This one was made from a vintage image that I printed on fabric:

Check out that vintage tatted doily behind the image!  I picked up a few of those at the last Flea Market I was at.  I gave them all to mom thinking they would be perfect for her door pillows.

These are in our boutique now!

What Is A Door Pillow?

I've been asked this question several times recently.  What is a Door Pillow?  I've made 100's of them over the years.  Cross stitch, embroidery, crayon tinting and of course, my beloved Crazy Quilting.

I thought I would answer this question today and share my thoughts on it.

A Door Pillow is nothing more than a small pillow with ribbons or cording sewn into the top for hanging on a door knob or hook.  It's purely decorative and a lovely way to finish and display small needlework pieces without the cost of framing.  They can be changed for the holidays and seasons.

Door Pillows are wonderful for gifts because everyone has a door knob!  And they're sweet little home accent pieces.  Just a nice touch to make a home even more cozy.

They've also been called, door knob pillows, door hanging pillows, door hangers and door knockers.  My cousin Kim calls them door knockers!  LOL!

These are my latest Door Pillows for St. Patrick's Day:

Door Pillows can also be used to sit on a shelf.  The ribbons can be tucked behind the door pillow and displayed on shelf with other decorative items.

I love them and I have dozens of them for the different holidays and seasons.  They're easy to store because they're small and because they're made of fabric, they don't break!

Little Heart Pillows

Another of my little St. Patrick's Day heart shaped door pillows is ready for assembly:

The pansy is a little brooch that I picked up a flea market awhile back:

And here are close ups of the stitching:

You can see more Crazy Quilt Seam Embroidery worked with my Waste Canvas technique on my Crazy Quilt Inspiration page.

I started another one of these little door pillows yesterday.  I'll finish it up today and have more photos tomorrow.  I expect to sew these up later this week and have them ready to add to our boutique this weekend.

A Little Too Busy These Days!

I'm feeling a little too busy these days.  Seems every day I have some dumb thing I have to do or some place I have to go that takes too much time away from what I really want to be doing.

Today I see my Dr. regarding my medication.  I know she'll let me take the final step when I'm ready.  I confess, I'm a bit frightened now that I'm down to getting off of it.  It's been a long road.  A very long, hard, bumpy and frightening road.  And now that I'm at the end, it's a matter of being "ready".  I assume that it'll be like everything else.  When I'm ready, I'll know.

I have not had much in the way of stitching time.  5 minutes here, 10 minutes there.  Too many interruptions.....no sooner do I start stitching and someone's pounding on my door or my phone is ringing or I have to drop what I'm doing and run somewhere.

Tomorrow, I hibernate!  In my house, by myself.  Just me and my cats.  We're supposed to get a few inches of snow tomorrow.  We made it 1/2 way through this Winter with no snow!  And I'm okay with that!  So I guess I'll let it be my excuse to have a "do what I want to do" day!  I will be running my sewing machine and I will be stitching!

In the meantime, I've added a few more of my mom's beautiful door pillows to our Valentines Day Shop:

These are both made from vintage handkerchiefs!

Well, I think I'll get offline now and squeeze in 10 minutes of stitching time before I have to get myself together to head out.  Have a great day everyone!  I think I'll be back to my regular daily blogging schedule now!  LOL!

Crazy Cat Lady

I can't help myself!  I'm one of those eccentric crazy cat ladies who dresses like a gypsy and has cat figurines all over my house!  I'm going to stitch 2 more crazy quilt cat dolls before I move on to something else.  The next 2 cat dolls will be gifts.  First a yellow cat doll:

After stitching this is shades of yellow, I'll add aqua blue flowers and embellishments.  I'll share the next one when I finish this doll.

I stopped at moms yesterday to have a cup of coffee with her and she surprised me with 2 more beautiful door pillows for the shop.  Both are made from vintage hankies:

You may remember seeing the vintage hankie with the red rose last week.  I bought it at the antique mall.  Mom really has a knack for turning vintage hankies into little works of decorative art!  These are both available in our Valentines Day Shop!

Vintage Handkerchief Door Pillows

Mom has come up with such a unique little door pillow using vintage handkerchiefs! 

I just love the shape of these!  I let mom raid my vintage hankie stash so I know there are more to come.  These are now in the Boutique as well as Etsy.

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