Pretty In Pink Mixed Media Art Quilt

I have a few finishes to share today.  I spent most of the day on Sunday running my sewing and doing the hand finishing on these projects.

First, my Pretty In Pink Mixed Media Art Quilt:



I love this!!!  I used one of my great-aunt's knitting needles as a hanger.  The tassel was given to me by my friend Cherry Petersen and it just so happened that I had some of that yarn in my own stash so I zig-zagged it around the outside edge of the quilt.  A nice finishing touch!  I signed and dated the back of the quilt as well.

I really love mixing fabric and paper and glitter and embroidery and just about anything I have laying around in my stash.  I'm certainly planning on doing a number of these and I have started on my Spring Song quilt but I'll save that photo for tomorrow.

The next time I put a couple of art quilts together, I'll write up a tutorial on how I do them.  Stay tuned for that.

Next, I finished up on my 2 newest Crazy Quilt Hanging Pillows:



Although I love both of these, the green and pink one is my favorite!  Ya'll know I just love pink!

Last but not least are my Sweet Dreams Lavender Sachet Hearts:



Cottage Style Crazy Quilting!!!  If anyone has trouble sleeping like I do, a lavender sachet hanging on the bedpost does help to quiet the mind.  Trust me, I know!  Anyways, I made several of these and had a good time filling them with lavender.  The scent is just so soothing!

So those are my finishes for today as far as needlework goes.  I have some pretty Trash To Treasure finishes to share tomorrow.  And we have a big flea market on Sunday in Grayslake, Il. so there should be some great flea market finds next week.

As for my next projects, definitely more art quilts.  It's my latest thing!  I'm also working on a few little Marie Antoinette brooches and in the craft department, Mom and I have both started on a few July 4th do-dads!  FUN!!!

If you'd like to see more photos of my finishes or larger images, please click here.

So that's my post for today.  I have some laundry to fold (what else is new?) and then I think I'll switch to my laptop in the Living Room and see what everyone else is blogging about!

Have a great evening everyone!

Needlecraft Embroidery & Fancywork Catalog

Yesterday, I started to post a booklet that I have on Cutwork & Filet Lace. Robin left me a message saying that The Skinner Sisters offer this on CD on their website.

With a bit of sadness, because I was excited about this sharing my booklet with my readers, I have decided to withdraw from posting this so as not to infringe on the Skinner Sisters business. Instead, I will offer the link to their website so my readers can order it if they choose to do so.

The Skinner Sisters website.

I will share with you another catalog that I have. This one is called Needlecrafts - Embroidery & Fancywork. There is no date on this catalog but judging from the projects and the prices, I would say that it's from the 1930's.

So, here are the front cover and page 1:





Be sure to click on the images to go to my Flickr site where you can see the large version.

Again, I will put these in a folder over at Flickr and store them there.

Spontaneous Designing Challenge

It was a beautiful sunny and warm weekend here in Northern Illinois. Scott and I spent the entire weekend outside getting our yard ready for plants. We still have a few little things to do and we need to clean and reseal our deck but by the end of this coming weekend, we expect to have everything completed and ready for planting.

Despite so much time outside, I did manage a bit of stitching time. Rather than starting another crazy quilting project, I decided to do something completely spontaneous, a sort "design as you go" project:



If you're interested in increasing your artistic abilities, this would be a good Challenge exercise for you, an excellent starting point!

Gather a piece of fabric, some buttons, some beads and some threads. To make a circle, I used a drinking glass and traced it onto my fabric. I then sewed on some vintage glass buttons and beaded around them. I drew on some leaves and beaded those. Next, I will add some embroidery.

Give this a try! Use what you have on hand and start the same way I did, with the intention of creating 3 flowers. And then expand on it. What sort of fancy stitches do you know how to do? Use them! And don't confine yourself to the inside of the circle. Once you fill in the circle with beading and stitching, think about what you can do beyond the circle. You can create an entire garden if you want to!

I have no idea where my piece is going to go. I can finish stitching within the circle and then stitch or bead around it and leave it at that, but I really want to see where spontaneity takes me. This may remain as a small piece or it may expand into a larger piece. The point is to design as you go.

Many times, some one will look at one of my crazy quilt pieces and tell me that it's beautiful but they could never do anything like that. They're not creative or artistic. Do you know what they're really saying to me? They're telling me that they don't want to. For whatever reason, they're telling me that they don't want to try.

We are all creative! And we all have the ability to be artistic. So if you're interested in getting your artistic juices moving, start with my suggestion and add your ideas to it. You don't have to see the whole staircase. Just take one step at a time and have fun with it. There's no right or wrong way. Many times, I have no idea what a design will look like until it's complete. That's where the fun is!

If you decide to give this a try and have a blog or Flickr album, post the link in the comments section of this post so everyone can see your what your doing. That will inspire others and then you'll see how inspiration is everywhere and you will see that you do have the ability to be artistic!