Angel Purse - Stitching Complete

I finished up on this project last night:



Lavender and aqua are so pretty together aren't they? If all goes as planned, I'll sew this one up on Friday.

In the meantime, here are pages 20 & 21 of my vintage needlework catalog from the 1930's:





Click on the images to go to my Flickr site where you can see the large version.

Enjoy!

Angel Purse Ready For Beads

The seam treatments are ready for beading now:



That vine will have some Silk Ribbon Embroidery on it and I expect to add the angel soon.

For my Counted Cross Stitch Readers, a new Mystery Stitch-Along is coming very soon. Check back often for updates.

Here are pages 16 & 17 of my vintage needlework catalog:





It's a short post for today everyone! I have to get to work on that mystery project!

Angel Purse Continued

I didn't quite finish the border on the left-hand side of this block. Had to stop and make dinner.
Anyway, to continue on with my discussion on balancing a block, another way to do that is to do variations of the same stitch.

If you look closely at the border on the top right, it's a fan stitch. I used a different fan stitch on the bottom left corner. This offers a bit of visual repetition without being redundant.

I'll have time to work on this some more later but for now, I'll leave you with pages 14 & 15 of my vintage needlework catalog:





Be sure to click on the image to go to my Flicker site to see the large version. Check out that Cutwork Ship!

Vintage Needlework Catalog Continued....

I haven't gotten around to stitching on my current Button Block yet. But I'm am quite pleased to say that my beads and sequins are all organized now, in little ziplocks bags and then in sandwich sized ziplocks according to color! Now, when I need blue beads, I just grab the bag of blue beads and I have them all to chose from instead of digging around through everything looking for the right color or size! And I have 3 empty drawers in my rolly cart!

Today, I will simply post pages 10 & 11 of my vintage needlework catalog:





Remember, you can click on the images to go to my Flickr site where you can see the large versions.

Enjoy!

Crazy Quilt Spider Webs

I completed Button Block #34 yesterday:



When I do my spider webs, I do what I call "mock couching". My spider webs are all free-hand. I work the long spokes of the web first, starting in the center. Then, when doing the short spokes of the web, I come up on one side of a long spoke and down with my needle on the opposite side of the next long spoke. This will hold the long spokes in place without couching them all down individually. Saves a lot of time! Click on the image to go to my Flickr site where you can see the large version. You should be able to see the stitches.

Remember, that most spider webs are not perfect! The more imperfect they are, the more realistic they look!

For the spider, I sew down a big bead, running my thread through the bead twice. I then do the same with the small bead. Then, I run the thread through both beads which again, holds them in place and keeps them in alignment with each other. Finally, I do the legs last.

For the buttons on this block, I used a mixture of new and vintage glass buttons, antique metal buttons and a few modern plastic buttons. Mixing them up adds visual interest so don't be afraid to play! Again, clustered buttons are more interesting to look than just one here or there. You can also layer buttons. Look for the square button and notice that I sewed an antique metal button on top of it. That gives the cluster some dimension. And for buttons with holes in them, I always fill those holes with seed beads. That adds a bit more sparkle as well as giving them a nice finished look.

Finally for today, here are pages #6 & 7 of my Needlecrafts Embroidery & Fancywork Catalog from the 1930's:





Enjoy!

More On Beading Crazy Quilt Seam Treatments

Yesterday, I painted the lace and did some more beading on this:



The cream lace was way too bright for this block. Generally, I paint my lace as I need it. I don't usually do a bunch of it at one time.

Another way to decide on where to put beads is to look for gaps. Empty spaces just scream for beads! Notice the bottom right-hand border. I added a few large beads in between the round beads.

When using sequins on lace or appliques, overlap your sequins a bit like I did on the leaves. It looks nicer than having gaps between the sequins and adds more sparkle.

Here are pages 4 & 5 of my Needlecrafts Embroidery & Fancywork Catalog:





Be sure to click on the images to go to my Flickr site where you can see the large versions. The cutwork designs are gorgeous!

Beading Crazy Quilt Seam Treatments

I started beading the seam treatments yesterday on Button Block #34:



I mentioned yesterday that I intended to chat a bit about how I go about the beading. Generally, with my own charted borders, or any borders for that matter, I always look for the points and intersections.

If you look at any of my CQ pieces, the points of any border are always topped off with a bead or sequin. This adds color, light and extends the border even further. It also adds clarity which keeps the points from getting lost in over all design.

Intersections are another good place to look for possible bead placement. I use quite a few cross stitches in my charted borders and if you look closely at the bottom right-hand border, you can see that I placed beads in between the arms of the "X".

I'll talk a bit more about beading CQ borders tomorrow.

For now, here are pages 2 & 3 of my Needlecrafts Embroidery & Fancywork catalog from the 1930's:





Click on the images to go to my Flickr site where you can view the large version.

Enjoy!

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.