Seam Embroidery on Valentine Pillow

Not too much in the way of stitching time these past few days.  Typical for the week before Christmas but for today, I thought I'd share what I do have.

Here is an update on my current project, a Valentine's Day pillow:

The little red heart is a brooch that I found at a flea market this past Summer.  And here is the seam embroidery on this piece:

Be sure to click on the photos to see the seam embroidery up close!  I'll add these to my Crazy Quilt Seam Treatment Gallery for future reference.

As you can see, I used a lot of cross stitches in these borders.  It's the perfect way to add hearts to the design.  These are all worked with my waste canvas technique.

Crazy Quilt Valentine Pillow in Green and Pink

My seam embroidery is now beaded so this is ready for larger embellishments:

I'll share close up photos of the embroidered borders when I complete this piece.  I hope to have a few quality hours of stitching time later today.

I also thought you'd enjoy seeing this photo of my Simba:

As you can see, I put up a Christmas tree and wrap a quilt around the bottom so my cat has a comfy place to curl up and sleep!  LOL!!!

In other news, my dad's surgery went well and it looks like he will be fine.  The cancer was superficial meaning, it was on the surface.  Let's hope it stays gone.

Finally, Scott and I suspect that our Lucy had a stroke earlier this week.  Lucy is my little girl kitty in my blog banner.  I got home late Monday afternoon and I couldn't find her.  When I did, she was hiding in the corner under the bed.  She didn't come out to sleep with us that night but I didn't think much of it.  Tuesday morning, I woke up quite early at 2 am.  I spent 10 minutes looking for her and finally found her cowering in the corner behind my rocking chair.  She looked okay but wouldn't come out.  When I moved the chair to pick her up, she ran under my sewing machine.  I took her food and she did eat so I figured something just had her quite frightened.

The rest of Tuesday was much the same.  She kept hiding under the bed but she looked okay.  On Wednesday morning, she looked at me like she didn't have a clue who I was.  She seemed disoriented and confused and terribly frightened.  For the record, Lucy isn't afraid of anything.

Anyway, I was driving to WalMart on Wednesday and all of a sudden the word "stroke" popped into my head.  When I parked my car, I called mom to ask her what the symptoms of a stroke were. She said that the symptoms where a little different in animals than in humans but the main signs are confusion and disorientation.

I looked it up on my IPhone and those were really the only symptoms that she had.  Lucy wasn't walking in circles or leaning to one side.  Just confused, disoriented and terribly frightened.  The article I read did say that cats recover from feline strokes very quickly.  Usually within 1 to 2 weeks.

By Wednesday night, I was seeing improvement.  Thursday morning she was better and then more improvement by Thursday night.  She's still hiding here and there a little bit but she spent most of yesterday sleeping in my rocking chair rather than hiding under it.

It's the improvements that are making me think it was a stroke.  It took us so long to figure out the symptoms that she was having.  Anyway, let's hope the improvements continue and that she'll be her normal self in another few days.

Sometimes I wish they could talk so they could tell me what's wrong.  I have to take mom to the vet today with her dog so I'll talk to our vet about it.  I at least want to know what to look for in advance if it happens again although from what I read, cats can have one stroke and never have another and go on to lead a normal, healthy, long life.  Lucy is 12 years old.  She my youngest kitty.

Isn't she a beauty?  She the sweetest little thing.  I took this photo about a year ago.  Bubba rescued her back in 1999.  She was 8 months old when he found her.  Just a kitten.  I hope she recovers and that this doesn't happen again.

Pink Valentine Pillow and Seam Embroidery

I finished up my Pink Valentine Pillow yesterday:

It just needed a few hearts and some butterflies.  I added a bee too! 

And here are the seam embroidery photos:

If you click on the photos, you can see them closeup!

These will be permanently available to view in my ongoing series page of Crazy Quilt Seam Treatment Inspiration photos found at the top of this page.

It seams that the vote for my tall cat dolls is unanimous!  Everyone seems to like the tall ones.  Thank you to everyone who took the time to let me know.  I will plan on a series of tall cats for 2012.

For now, I'm off to start on a new project.

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! 

Flea Market Beads

I mentioned yesterday that Scott and I were going to Grayslake Flea Market and Antique show.  I really enjoy that one because it's all indoors!  Many of my favorite sellers weren't there which surprises me.  We've been going to this flea market for years and years and December has always been a "productive" treasure hunting month.

Anyway, onto my treasure.  Now I usually don't find cool beads at the flea markets.  Vintage hankies, vintage lace, vintage jewelry pieces, old cook books yes, but not beads.  I think I hit the mother load yesterday!  LOL!!!

These are all all vintage glass rice beads from Japan.  They were still on the original strings and had the old paper "made in Japan" tags on them.  Check out all the colors!  And they were not all from the same vendor!

These are all vintage glass seed beads and vintage glass pearls.  Again, still on the strings with the "made in Japan" paper tags on them:

Those aqua blue ones on the right are absolutely gorgeous!

There was a new vendor there who had some strings of crystals so of course, I had to have a few of those too:

I usually find tons of pretty vintage handkerchiefs at Grayslake Flea Market but yesterday, not too many.  I only found this pretty one with pansies on it:

In other news, thank you to everyone who left me comments regarding my cat dolls.  I will definitely plan on a series of the taller cats for 2012.  I personally like the little ones but the taller cats definitely give me more room for stitching!  LOL!!!

After our trip to the flea market, we stopped at Kohls.  I needed a new pair of shoes.  After that Bubba wanted a Christmas tree so we stopped for one of those.  I could have lived without it but we haven't had a tree in 3 years so I conceded.  We decorated it last night so I'll take a photo of that later today.  It is pretty and does smell good so I guess I can live with it in my living room for 3 weeks.

Finally for today, here's an update on my Pink Valentine Pillow:

I can stitch on this for about an hour before I get ready to go into town.  I think I'll use a few of my new vintage beads on it!

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!