Purple Cellphone Pouch

I've been busy as a bee stitching on cellphone pouches and finished up on my purple one early this morning:

I used my waste canvas technique for this seam embroidery:

And I used Sharon B's CQ stencils for the crazy quilt stitches on these seams:

The combination of my charted borders and Sharon's stencils gives me an excellent variety of borders!

Here's a closeup of the grapes:

The grapes are a vintage brooch that I picked up at an antique shop a few years ago.  I made the leaves from a piece of green velvet.

I'll get these last few projects sewn in later this week and show photos of the completed projects.

A Little Pink Cat Doll

I can't seem to do much these days other than clean my house and do a little stitching.  I don't feel like sewing but thankfully, I keep a little basket of pre-sewn crazy quilt blocks all ready to work on. 

I pulled out this little pink cat doll and starting stitching on it yesterday:

I'm quite fond of this little border at the top:

This is worked with my Waste Canvas technique.

I think I'll ask Bubba to take me up to Home Depot today for a plant for my front porch.  Other than that, I know I need to take it easy for awhile now.

Getting A New Furnace

Our heating company recommended a new furnace.  At the moment, my heat is out again.  I just called and told them that I need it replaced today.  Okay, that's all I'll say about that for right now.

I finished up my purple cat doll yesterday and sewed up both the purple and the green one:

They're so Springy, aren't they?  Here are closeups of the seam treatments:

Both are worked with my waste canvas technique. 

Well, I don't know how much stitching I'll get done today.  It's hard to stitch when you're shivering!  But we'll see what happens. 

Another Cat Doll

I finished up my St Patricks Day Cat Doll yesterday:

I hope to get this little guy sewn up over the weekend so I can mail him.  I'll share another photo when he's done.

I started one more cat doll as gift for another friend.  This one is purple:

I did another blackwork fill in design at the top using Kreinik metallic #4 braid:

I absolutely love this technique however, although pulling the waste canvas out dry, from small areas like my seam treatments is quite easy to do, larger fill in areas is not so easy.  With crazy quilts, because of the fancy fabrics and fancy threads, I can't wet the waste canvas to get it out more easily. 

Since one thing usually leads to another, I'm going to start looking for some kind of doable alternative.  Because this is fun and this is cool looking!

Victorian Irish Lady

My family thinks I'm goofy!  Okay, I really am!  But I love St. Patrick's Day!  My grandfather was Irish and I don't know if that has anything to do with it or not but I really think that I like it so much because it's the beginning of Spring.

The thing that gets me through the cold, dark, snowy months of Winter is the fact that Spring is the next season and Spring is my favorite!

So, I started another St. Patrick's Day Crazy Quilt piece:

I have always loved this pretty lady image in the green hat!  I don't think I've ever used that image on a crazy quilt piece before so here she is, in all her Irish glory!

This will be a pillow.  When I finish up on this project, I'll be putting together an online class and then starting on my 3rd Elegant Crazy Quilt Seam Treatments Ebook.

Although I no longer design or spend my stitching time doing counted cross stitch, the background that I have in that will probably never leave me. I like the perfection of working with charted patterns.  I like how I can apply charted patterns to crazy quilting.  And therefore, I will move forward in the direction of applying my charting skills to my beloved passion, crazy quilting.

So, stock up on 8.5 count and 10 count waste canvas!  There are loads of great new crazy quilt ideas and techniques coming this year to Kitty & Me Designs!

Pink and Green Heart

My final heart shaped door pillow for St. Patrick's Day:

And here are close up photos of my embroidery:

All of these seam treatments, including the Feather Stitch are worked with my waste canvas technique.

I spent yesterday afternoon sewing all of these up.  They're all finished now so I'll post photos of them as soon as I can.

In the meantime, I thought I'd share my ORTS Jar with you:

ORTS stands for "old raggedy threads".  I use to save my bits of threads, ribbons, lace and scraps of sheer thin fabrics in a jar years ago.  Come Spring, I would chop them up teeny tiny and sprinkle them in my garden for the Robins to use in their nests.  I don't know why I stopped doing that but with everyone sharing their ORTS jars on their blogs, I thought I'd start doing it again.  With as much stitching as I do, I should have plenty of little bits by Spring for the birdies to use when it's time for their babies to come!

You can read more about ORTs Jars on Connie Eyberg's Blog.

And if you would like a pretty label for your ORTs Jar, visit my sweet friend, Pat Winter!

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.

St Patricks Day Door Pillow

I was horribly restless yesterday.  But hey, my house is clean!  Nervous energy will definitely produce a clean house!  LOL!!!  But I couldn't sit still long enough to finish up on my St. Patrick's Day Door Pillow.  This is what I have so far:

And here are close up photos of my stitching:

These are both worked with my Waste Canvas technique.

I'm going to stitch on this for awhile now.  We're supposed to get a few inches of snow tomorrow.  Ewww.....I usually go to mom's on Fridays but decided to go today instead.  I don't like driving in snow and my car doesn't like it either!

So speaking of snow, isn't it Spring yet?  LOL!!!  No, I know we still have awhile to go yet.  I bought myself a new coat and it arrived yesterday:

This is a Dennis Basso faux fur mink coat.  I have a full length Dennis Basso faux mink that I bought last year and love it!  It's so gorgeous and luxurious!  But I wanted something that was a little more comfortable to wear while driving so I saved my money and bought this one as more of an every day coat.  Oh, it's so beautiful!  I bought this from QVC.

I have a weakness for beautiful clothes.  And my philosophy is, if I have to put up with Winter, I might as well put up with it in a beautiful coat with pretty accessories!

Have a great day everyone!

Crazy Quilting and Waste Canvas

I've received several emails recently regarding my use of Waste Canvas and stitching the seam embroidery on crazy quilts.  One of the big concerns is that the manufacturers packaging recommends wetting the waste canvas to pull it out after the stitching is completed.

Wetting the waste canvas is not necessary and I do not recommend it for crazy quilting.

Waste canvas was designed years ago for working charted patterns on non-cross stitch fabric such as sweatshirts and tee shirts. 

As many of my long time blog followers know, I am a retired professional counted cross stitch designer.  I worked with many magazines and manufacturers such as The DMC Corporation, Bucilla, Kreinik and Zweigart. 

I discovered modern crazy quilting about 10 years ago but struggled with keeping my seam embroidery evenly sized and spaced.  I decided to apply my cross stitch skills to crazy quilting and tried using waste canvas for my seam embroidery.  I was so pleased with the results that I eventually put the directions together in my Elegant Crazy Quilt Seam Treatments book and offered it as a PDF file download.

This book contains complete directions for working with waste canvas on crazy quilts. 

Early in 2011, I released Volume 2 of Elegant Crazy Quilt Seam Treatments which is also still available and contains another 180 charted patterns for crazy quilt seam embroidery.  There are however, no directions in Volume 2.  Only patterns.

Back to my discussion of working with waste canvas, the reason I don't recommend wetting the waste canvas is first, because in crazy quilting, we use many non-washable fabrics and we also use many hand-dyed threads and fibers that aren't washable.  If these fabrics and threads get wet, thread colors may bleed and fabrics might be damaged.

8.5 count waste canvas and 10 count waste canvas threads pull out very easily from beneath the stitching without wetting it.  The trick is to pull the excess waste canvas threads out, from around the outside of the stitched area first.  Then, pull all the short (width) threads out from underneath the stitches and finally, the long (lengthwise) waste canvas threads will pull out very easily.

Waste canvas will only allow you to pull out one thread at a time so don't get in a hurry with it.  Patience is necessary but the results are very worth the little bit of extra time it takes to use it.  If you find you have a stubborn waste canvas thread, get yourself a pair of tweezers, grab the waste canvas thread as close to stitching as you can (without grabbing any of your stitches) and give it a gentle pull and it should release for you.  If you're waste canvas thread breaks underneath your stitches, do not panic!  Try pulling it out from the other side.  If that doesn't work, try pulling the waste canvas threads out from another direction.

Honestly, it's much easier than you think.  It probably sounds complicated and fussy but it really isn't!  It's actually a lot of fun! 

I am pleased to announce that there will be an Elegant Crazy Quilt Seam Treatments Volume 3 coming later in 2012.  It will contain yet another 180 charted borders for crazy quilting and cross stitch samplers. 

With all that said, working crazy quilt embroidery with waste canvas and charted borders opens a whole new world of seam treatment options!  The possibilities for unique, embroidered borders are endless!

Both books are available only as PDF downloads.  I send the files manually within 24 hours of receiving an order.  Shipping fees are refunded via PayPal, also within 24 hours.

Before I run into town for errands, here is the progress on my latest Crazy Quilt Cat Doll:

Pink Cats

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas.  Ours was very nice.  We spent the day at my parents house and I was able see my sister and nephew for awhile too.

My mom made me a gorgeous Mile A Minute afghan in pink!  Pink, are you surprised?  I'm going to drape it over the back of my sofa later so I'll take a photo of it for tomorrow.  I've always loved Mile A Minute afghans.

I haven't had any stitching time but I thought I'd share my current pink cat doll since I have a bit of stitching done on it:

Both borders were worked using my Waste Canvas technique.  If you look closely at the white border, it's the Creten stitch with lazy daisies on the points.  Yes, even the Creten stitch can be worked using waste canvas.  It's the only way I can get it straight!

Scott is going to take me to the antique mall in Woodstock Illinois today.  One nice thing about the holidays is that I get extra time with him!  And he's willing to go anywhere I want to go.  He's a good man.  Anyway, if I find some cool goody's, I'll share pics tomorrow.

Blue Cellphone Pouch

Last night, I finished up the stitching on my little Blue Cellphone Pouch:

And here are closeups of my stitched seam treatments:

The Herringbone Stitch, a Fan Stitch and finally a Satin Stitched Leaf, all worked with my waste canvas technique.

I'm keeping a Seam Treatment Inspiration Gallery (found at the top of my blog) so take a peek for other seam treatment ideas.

This is my next little Cellphone Pouch:

I'll start on this one later today.  I first want to hand paint those lace pieces.

Pretty Cellphone Pouches

I'm working on some pretty Crazy Quilt Cellphone Pouches for Christmas gifts.  I mean, who doesn't have a cellphone and who wouldn't like a pretty pouch to keep it in?  Mine is a IPhone and I like to keep mine in a pouch to protect the screen from getting all scratched up just in case my keys decide to have a party in my purse!

Anyway, I finished up my purple and green pouch yesterday:

I didn't want to do any Silk Ribbon Embroidery on these because that can also get caught on keys and other purse contents.  So I figured, buttons are a safe addition.  These are vintage Mother Of Pearl buttons accented with large seed beads.

And here is the seam embroidery up close:

All of these seam treatments, including the feather stitch, are worked with my Waste Canvas technique.  Click on each photo to see a larger version.

And here is my next little cellphone pouch:

I painted the appliques and sewed the lace and trim on last night so now it's ready for embroidery and beads.

Elegant Crazyquilt Seam Treatments - Try Me Patterns

If you've been considering my Elegant Crazyquilt Seam Treatments EBooks, I thought you might enjoy trying a few patterns first.  I worked up 2 charted borders for you to use on your Crazy Quilt seams using Waste Canvas:

If you've done Counted Cross Stitch, you'll know how to work with Waste Canvas.  If you haven't, the basic principle is that one square on the grid = 1 stitch on the Waste Canvas.  It's a matter of counting out your stitches and duplicating them on your Crazy Quilt.  Full directions are available in Volume 1 of my Ebook.

For Crazyquilting, I recommend using 8.5 count or 10 count Waste Canvas.

If you already have my Ebooks, then please, enjoy these new additions to your seam treatment collection!