No Not Pansies

Thanks to everyone who left guesses on what the theme is for my latest purse project.  No, the theme is not pansies.  Nor is it violets.  Here is an updated photo:

Please try again everyone!  Maybe this photo will help to give you a hint:

Leave a comment or drop me an email with your guesses!

Cold Again

Well, my furnace is out again.  I have the heating people coming out.  It's probably just time to replace it again.  We had this one put in about a year after we bought the house.  We've had the house now for 19 years.  Don't know where the money is coming from for that but we'll figure it out.

I didn't get to doing any stitching yesterday so here's an oldie but a goodie:

I use this purple purse a lot during the Summer months.  The grapes are acrylic.  I bought them at Michael's and was determined to sew them on a purse!  I have another little bunch of grapes that I bought.  Maybe I'll make one to sell this Summer.

Spring Lady Purse Continued

More embellishing to share with you today.  Here's an update on my Spring Lady Crazy Quilt purse:

I'm experimenting with Blackwork style fill in patterns on my crazy quilt pieces.  Here's a closeup of that:

You'll be seeing more and more of this in my upcoming projects.  And yes, there will be a book!

Spring Lady Purse Progress

This is really looking like Spring now!  I had some stitching time yesterday so this is where I'm at with now:

It's time to add some beads and sequins for sparkle!er

One Elegant Crazy Quilt Seam Treatment

Well, I managed to stitch one seam on my Poodle purse:



Today seems to be a good day so I may be able to stitch on it later. It's sunny today which always helps and yesterday, I saw my first Robin of Spring! Actually, I saw 5 of them! I'll be keeping my eye on my yard today for more!

I was asked about the backstitching on the mystery project and if it's necessary to have that completed before Part 2 is released. No, the little bit of backstitching on Part 1 won't affect the placement of Part 2. Part 2 will be released on March 19th.

I'll post another update on my Poodle purse as soon as I get some more stitching on it or as soon as I feel good enough to sit here at the big computer.

Easter Purse & Pink Rose Purse Finished!

Just a quick post for today everyone. I wanted to share the photos of my two latest finishes.

First, the Pink Rose Purse:



and, the Easter Purse:



I used to be able to get handles at WalMart with the little hooks on the ends and I could put them on after the project was completed. Unfortunately, WalMart does not carry purse handles anymore. Scott takes me up to JoAnn's for them but they don't carry the ones with the hooks. Turning these purse right side out with the handles in there is a challenge. As you can see, it can be done!

A quick note about my Garden Fantasy Mystery Stitch-Along Project. The fabric color should be white.

Ladybug Purse Completed

Well, I think I'm finally over that nasty chest cold I had! All that's left is a hacking cough which I can live without!

I finished up my Ladybug purse:



It may be a little while before I can get this sewn up. Suddenly, WalMart no longer carries purse handles and Michaels doesn't carry the type I like. So I'm going to have to get to JoAnn's for them and my JoAnn's is almost an hour from here. I plan to stock up on purse handles! I like the kind with the little hooks on the ends that can be slipped into tabs after the purse is finished.

In the meantime, I have an order for a custom cellphone pouch:



I'll start on this later today.

Weekend Ramblings

First, I'd like to say thank you to everyone who left a comment about my antique sewing machine. I really enjoy reading your comments even though I don't always reply personally. Many times, if someone leaves me a question, I just answer here in case other readers were wondering the same thing. That's what I'll do now with a question. The question is:

What needle do I use for Kreinik #4 Braid? I usually use a tapestry needle when I use the #4 on CQ's. For X stitch, I use (I believe) a #14 X stitch needle. My suggestion is to fold the #4 Braid in 1/2, pinch the thread with your fingers as close to the top of that loop as possible and try pushing that through the needle. That usually works for me. The metallic threads can be a challenge to work with but the results are so totally worth the effort!

Back to my antique sewing machine, I can't tell you how many times since we brought it home, that I've sat on my cedar chest and just about brought myself to tears with gratitude for it. I've wanted one for a year and 1/2 now.

I saw an antique treadle machine at a flea market back in May of 2006. It wasn't a Singer, it was a rare European machine, only in fair condition but I was fascinated with it. I remember thinking that I would like to have one someday but that I would want to have a Singer and that I wanted one in very good condition. I didn't think about it much after that, until Spring of this year when my neighbor mentioned (out of the blue) to me that his girlfriend has one. Then I remembered that I wanted one and started thinking about it more and more. We kept looking at flea markets and antique shops and we really starting seeing them but most were in very rough condition. When this one came along, I knew the moment I saw it on Ebay that it was my machine. It was Pick-Up only but I just knew it was my machine when I saw that it was just over the border in Iowa. Just a 3 hour drive away! And thankfully, my husband was more than willing to drive to Iowa to pick it up.

When he said that he was going to strip it and refinish it for me, I think that blew my mind! I never expected that. It didn't even occur to me to ask him if he would refinish the cabinet. I was just happy to have one but he insisted. So yes, I look at it and quite often, I'm overwhelmed with a sense of gratitude. I'm just so thankful to have this beautiful antique machine.

I've sat there, looking at it, wondering about the women who originally owned it and what sort of things she made on it. Clothes? Quilts? I will never know but I hope that where ever she is now, that she knows her beautiful machine is so much loved and appreciated.

Ok, I don't get mushy too often but ya'll know I have a thing for "moldy oldy stuff" as my sister puts it! "You and that moldy oldy stuff" she always says! Yeah, I really do have an appreciation for old things. I just love them!

Anyway, I finished up my Blizzard purse yesterday (on my electric machine) so here is a photo of that:



I had wanted some white foo-foo fringe for the bottom but I couldn't find any anywhere! I thought white would look like icicles. Instead, I had to settle for the aqua blue foo-foo fringe but it works nicely. I'll probably start using this one a few days before New Years.

I also thought you would enjoy this photo:



This gorgeous little creature is our Lucy. She's 7 pounds of hair! Ha, ha, ha! Honestly, she is the sweetest, happiest little kitty you will ever meet. My husband rescued her back in 1999. She was only 8 months old at the time, filthy, matted, covered in weeds. Our vet literally had to shave her. We never would have gotten her brushed out.

Lucy worships the ground that Scott walks on. She looks at him like he's Zeus! She follows him everywhere and she talks to him constantly. And he absolutely adores her.

Anyway, I thought she looked so cute sleeping in the chair so I took a picture.

Last but not least, this is my little 2 foot Christmas tree:



I'm not huge on Christmas for the most part. My favorite holiday's are Thanksgiving and St. Patricks Day. Don't ask why for St. Pats Day. I have no idea. I think it's just because it's the beginning of Spring! Anyway, I didn't feel like putting up the big tree so I brought this one out. It's just enough to add a nice Christmas feeling to the Living Room without seeming overwhelming, esp. when it comes to putting it away!

Well, that's my post for the day. I know much of it is a bit off topic. I usually stay with my general needlework theme but I'm waiting for my husband to get home from work so I thought I'd just share a little bit of personal stuff with you today.

Finally, Some Pictures For You!

Yesterday was so annoying! I was getting disconnected every 5 minutes and when I was able to stay online, I kept getting "timed out"! But I was finally able to get my pictures uploaded to my Flickr site last night. I thought I'd better get to blogging now before the internet gets busy again! It must be because there's no school this week. At least here there isn't any school this week! Argggg........

Here is the little Snowman Cellphone Pouch that I made for my mother-in-law:



I gave this her on Saturday when we saw her in Princeton, Il. She loved it! She immediately took off her Autumn pouch and put this one on!

I also finished my Christmas Tree Purse:



I can't wait to use this! But I'm saving it for December 1st!

In other news, I called Singer yesterday and they were able to give the exact date that my antique sewing machine was made. May 3, 1916 in Elizabeth, NJ! How cool is that?!!! And she told me that if I need a manual, I can download it from their website. That was the only thing missing from this machine so I downloaded it and printed it up. All the original attachments that came with the machine are here including the original wooden needlecase and the oil can!

Scott is almost done with striping the cabinet. He said this is one the easiest pieces he's ever done! On Friday, I'll take the machine to the sewing machine man and have him clean it inside and make sure it's mechanically in order. When we get it all done and put back together, my mom is going to come and show me how to treadle! I can't wait!!! At first she thought I was crazy wanting a treadle machine. She learned how to sew on a treadle and much prefers electric machines now but I think she finally understands how charming I think antique sewing machines are! And not only are they functional, but old stuff has visual appeal as well! My sister always says, "you and that moldy, oldy stuff!" Yep, I love old stuff! It's all so cool to look at! I plan to piece my CQ's on it and then do the finishing on my electric machine.

Finally, Sharon B. is thinking about her next "challenge project". She proposed a monthly project where everyone could work in their own medium and form. For me, I would do a CQ block per month and at the end, I would have 12 blocks to sew into a quilt. I love this idea!!! If you would like to read more of Sharon's thoughts on this project, hop over to her website.

Ok, I'm off to clean my house a bit and get ready for Thanksgiving!

A New Custom Purse

As ya'll know, I have this thing for purses! I don't know where it came from. I just love one-of-a-kind purses and handbags.

A year ago, I was looking around at Etsy and found a shop with the most gorgeous knitted purses! I sent Louise a message and asked her if she would consider doing a custom purse for me. She was happy to!

Well, I was looking around at her blog a couple of weeks back and saw a new purse style that I absolutely loved and again, sent Louise a message asking her if she would do one for me in custom colors. Purples & Greens. Again, she was happy to create a custom purse for me:



As you know, I like glittery things so I asked Louise to add some metallic yarns as well as some Pailettes. Isn't this gorgeous! It's so colorful and very funky! It's definitely me!

I thought you would enjoy seeing this. If you would like to see other purses by Louise, visit her Scarf It Up Etsy shop. If you would like to see more photos of my custom purse, you can find can find them here.

As for stitching, I now have all the deteriorated patches replaced on Maxine's quilt. I still have to replace the stitching on about 5 of them and then I'll be ready to move onto adding more embellishments.

This quilt is so large, that I'll have to go with some larger embellishments. Small things will get lost on it. Although I can do some small things, I need to create "moments" on this quilt. Things that will draw the eye in so it can then move around the quilt. The first step in my plan is to make some velvet pansies and some really cool sunflowers! I can also add some crocheted pieces which I can then do some SRE embroidery on. I'm also thinking of some velvet yo-yo's which I can use as flowers with buttons in the centers.

I have lots of ideas moving around in my head and I'm quite excited about getting on with the decorating part of it! One step at a time though, I'll finish the seams first!

The Mozart Journey Complete!

The stitching is complete on this:



Mozart looks happy, doesn't he? I would like to think that he would be pleased with my tribute to him!

I'll assemble this next week when I have some free time. Michael's carries beaded gold purse handles so I need to run up there for a pair.

Also next week, I plan to start work on the antique crazy quilts. My sweet mom was at Hobby Lobby earlier this week and she bought some fabrics for me that will work nicely to replace some of the damaged pieces. I need to pick up some #8 perle cottons in a variety of colors. I usually use #5 on my CQ's but my antique CQ is worked with finer threads.

Quick question for you: Does anyone have any clue as to when varigated threads were introduced? I was looking at my commission quilt and there are varigated threads on there. If I could find out when shaded threads started showing up, it would help me to "ballpark" date that quilt.

Ok everyone, I'll be away from my computer now until Tuesday, May 22nd. We're off to Galena, Illinois for the weekend and this time, I hope to see the "Field Of Dreams" movie set in Iowa!!!

Have a great weekend everyone. I'll see ya on Tuesday!

Magnificent Mozart

Yesterday afternoon was cloudy and rainy. Although I always prefer sunshine, it was a good day to curl up in the middle of my sofa and focus on my stitching. I stitched for 6 hours straight!



As you can see, I've done quite a bit of embellishing on this. I added the vintage millinery roses to the antique metallic gold lace and then added some green glass leaves to that.

There are now Mother Of Pearl flower beads on the SRE vine and some Czech glass fire polished beads and seed beads.

I added some beads to the seam on the top left and I will be adding some more beads to that.

I also started beading the rose applique. I still need to finish up the leaves.

The Rhinestone Treble Clef pin will go in the center blue patch on the bottom. I'll be sewing that on today.

So this is how it looks at the moment. I'll be stitching on this again shortly so stop by tomorrow for another update!

The Mozart Journey Continues.......

The Mozart Journey is coming along nicely:



As you can see, I have his signature on here now. I think that makes it very clear as to who this is.

I added a SRE motif with roses because, when I think of Mozart, I think of roses. That will get some beads as well. I also have some vintage millinery roses that I will be adding to the antique metallic ribbon strip later today.

Don't you just love that salmon color? It really adds life to this piece and works well with the red in the painting. If you remember, I didn't want any more red on here so the salmon color is perfect!

I still need to figure out where to put my rhinestone treble clef pin. I'm sure that will fall into place when I get a bit further along on this piece.

Stay tuned! I'll be working on this again later today!

The Mozart Journey Begins

First, since "loose ends" make me crazy, I decided to take today and do the finishing on my 3 most recent crazy quilt projects.

My Little Brown Bird purse is all together now. I just have to do the hand-finishing:



Next is my Heart Shaped Peacock piece. I have no clue on what to do with this. I want to make it into a cellphone pouch and I have several ideas for accomplishing this. First, I could sew it up into the heart shape with a backing and then do the same with another heart and then top stitch the two together. This will automatically give it a lining and I would only have a little bit of hand-sewing to do then. But my top stitching is not always perfect so I'm think my best option would be to sew it into a heart shape with a backing, then sew my regular cellphone pouch and attach the heart to the front of it. My mind is telling me that this is my best option so that's probably what I will go with.



Finally, I want to finish my Button Flowers into a cellphone pouch:



This one will be finished just like all my other pouches. I was asked how big this was. The stitched/beaded area is approx. 4 inches. This pouch will be just a twinge bigger then what my CQ pouches are. I'll have to go 5 inches X 5 or 6 inches. No big deal. More room for more money and hands-free shopping!

The Mozart Journey began last night! But it was a slow start. I think I put way too much thought into this and when I looked at it, I had no idea what to do with it. I decided that I didn't need to see the whole staircase, I only needed to take one step at a time so I started with auditioning some lace pieces:



The lace isn't sewn down yet. I need to look at it for a bit and see if this works. I'm pleased with the antique metallic gold lace to the left and the cream colored lace to the right but I'm not sure about the rose appliqué yet. If I do go with it, I'll give a hint of a salmon pink color and then antique it.

So what do you all think? Does the rose appliqué work? Or do you think it's too large?