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

Groundhog Day 2012

Did you know that the movie, Groundhog Day with Bill Murray, was filmed right here in McHenry County, Illinois?  Yes, 20 years ago!  It was filmed on the beautiful square in Woodstock, Illinois which is the county seat.
The city of Woodstock (more like a quaint old-fashioned town) is having a 20th anniversary celebration of the filming of Groundhog Day through this weekend.  How fun!

Here is a photo of the opera house on the Woodstock Square:

If you're old enough to remember Orson Wells, he used to perform at this Opera House!

Just a little bit of fun trivia for today everyone!

I spent the majority of yesterday putting miles and miles on my sewing machine!  Loads of new crazy quilt pieces are now ready to stitch on and embellish!

I also finished up my Pot Of Gold Hanging Pillow:

I think I mentioned yesterday that the design is from my collection of vintage embroidery patterns.  It's so much fun to collect these old pattern and then actually create something from them.  I don't "iron them on".  I scan the patterns into my computer, print them out and then trace the design onto my fabric using a wash out blue pen and a lightbox.  Anyway, this is in the shop now.

I also had a little time to stitch on my Spring Lady Crazy Quilt Purse:

I love the colors on this one!  I'll stitch on this some more today and have another update photo for you tomorrow.

Finally, today is my dad's 72nd birthday!  Yes, he was born on Groundhog Day!  If anyone might like to leave a Happy Birthday wish for him, I will forward your messages to his email so he can read them.  I think he'd get a kick out of that!  Thanks everyone!

Irish Lady Pillow

After running a few errands yesterday, I finished up my Irish Lady Pillow:

I've already listed this in the Boutique in case anyone would like to take her home.

It didn't take me too long to do the finishing on this.  The biggest setback is that my cats just love to lay on my sewing machine while I try to sew!  And they love to lay on the cutting board too!  My husband knows that if he needs to find Nightmare, just look under my feet or in my face!  LOL!

Anyway, when I finished that up, I started this sweet little embroidered Pot Of Gold:

The design is from my collection of vintage embroidery iron on transfer patterns.  I've been collecting them for years and years and I still enjoy using them.  As you can see, I crayon tinted it before stitching.  All it needs now is just a few beads.  This will be a hanging pillow and since I only have about 5 more minutes of working on it, I'll sew it together today.

Yes, today will be a much needed "stay at home day"!  I will be running my treadle machine and sewing up a few new crazy quilt blocks.  And then I'll be stitching.  Here's is my next crazy quilt project.  This will be a purse:

Before I head out to stitch, I wanted to mention that I stopped in the new Hobby Lobby here in McHenry Illinois today.  What a beautiful store!  Slightly smaller than the Hobby Lobby in Crystal Lake but nice and bright, so neat and clean and lots of great craft supplies!  If you live in the McHenry area, do stop in and check it out!  It's on Rt. 31 next to the Hallmark store!

Irish Lady Pillow Is Ready To Sew

My Crazy Quilt Irish Lady Pillow piece is complete and ready to sew together:

And here are close up photos of the seam stitching:

I also mentioned when I started on this, that I'm going to be experimenting with "fill in" patterns.  Here's a closeup of that:

I have to run to WalMart this morning and pick up a few things.  I may also pop into our new Hobby Lobby and check that out.  When I get back, I'll sew this piece up with some pretty lace.  I'll share a final photo of it soon!

Irish Lady Pillow Update

I'm still working on this Irish Lady Pillow:

I've been up since 2:30 and it's 4 am now.  Yes, sleepless in McHenry I guess!  I have a few hours before I have to go anywhere so I'll sit here and stitch on this.  If I finish the stitching today, then perhaps I can sew it together tomorrow.

Door Pillows for St Patricks Day

Mom's latest creations!  Door Pillows for St Patricks Day.  Mom made these from vintage handkerchiefs:

This one was made from a vintage image that I printed on fabric:

Check out that vintage tatted doily behind the image!  I picked up a few of those at the last Flea Market I was at.  I gave them all to mom thinking they would be perfect for her door pillows.

These are in our boutique now!

Kreinik Threads

I didn't have a lot of stitching time yesterday but some.  Here's an update on my Irish Lady Crazy Quilt Pillow:

And here's a closeup of the beading on my fill in work that I did with Kreinik metallic thread #4 Braid:

Linda B asked me if Kreinik threads are difficult to stitch with.  The answer is no, not really.  Kreinik #4 and #8 Braids are no more difficult to stitch with than embroidery floss or Perle cottons.

Blending Filaments, which I use to create my spider webs can be a bit challenging since it's so fine.  You can read an article I wrote last October on working with Kreinik threads here.

Marie Antoinette Crazy Quilt is Featured!

I'm absolutely thrilled today!  My Marie Antoinette Crazy Quilt was featured on Lauren's Marie Antoinette's Gossip Guide To The 18th Century blog today:

Lauren's blog is beautiful!  Here you'll find anything and everything related to Marie Antoinette, 18th century France, fashion of that era, auctions, historical references, art, music, poetry and so on.  I've been following Lauren's blog for quite some time.  If you have a fascination with Marie, France, Paris, History or anything related to the 18th century, you will love this blog!  Thank you Lauren!

St Patricks Day Cards With Glitter

I've been chattering a lot lately about St  Patricks Day.  It's the beginning of Spring and it's coming!  I know it's a little bit early but when doing handmade things to sell, working well in advance is a must. 

I'm used to that though.  When I worked with cross stitch and craft magazines, I had to work 6 months to a year in advance so making things a couple of months ahead of the the holiday or season is nothing new for me.

These are the pretty St Patricks Day Cards that I made for the shop:

Although needlework is my specialty, I have to make cards because I have to use glitter!  I love glitter!!!  And these are quite sparkly!  

Irish Lady Pillow continued

A quick update on my Irish Lady Pillow:

And this is something that I'm going to be experimenting with more on upcoming projects:

"Fill in" patterns using my waste canvas technique.  Basically, Blackwork but in this case, I used a single strand of Kreinik metallic #4 braid.  Just a sneak peek of things to come.

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!

What Is A Door Pillow?

I've been asked this question several times recently.  What is a Door Pillow?  I've made 100's of them over the years.  Cross stitch, embroidery, crayon tinting and of course, my beloved Crazy Quilting.

I thought I would answer this question today and share my thoughts on it.

A Door Pillow is nothing more than a small pillow with ribbons or cording sewn into the top for hanging on a door knob or hook.  It's purely decorative and a lovely way to finish and display small needlework pieces without the cost of framing.  They can be changed for the holidays and seasons.

Door Pillows are wonderful for gifts because everyone has a door knob!  And they're sweet little home accent pieces.  Just a nice touch to make a home even more cozy.

They've also been called, door knob pillows, door hanging pillows, door hangers and door knockers.  My cousin Kim calls them door knockers!  LOL!

These are my latest Door Pillows for St. Patrick's Day:

Door Pillows can also be used to sit on a shelf.  The ribbons can be tucked behind the door pillow and displayed on shelf with other decorative items.

I love them and I have dozens of them for the different holidays and seasons.  They're easy to store because they're small and because they're made of fabric, they don't break!

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!

Traditional St. Patricks Day Heart

Here is another of my crazy quilt heart shaped door pillows for St. Patricks Day.  This one is quite traditional in color:

And here are closeups of my embroidered seams:

You can find more of my seam embroidery here.

I have one more that I started stitching on yesterday.  I'm going to finish that up now and I think I'll spend the afternoon putting them together.

It's cloudy and dreary here again today.  I sure could use some sunshine!  But I'm sure that putting a few miles on my sewing machine will help!

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.

Another Heart Shaped Door Pillow

After doing a bit more straightening up in my craft supply room, I started another St. Patrick's Day heart shaped door pillow:

I probably could have finished this yesterday but if you remember, my husband surprised me with a new 60 inch television for us for Christmas.  I've been having me a Harry Potter movie marathon this past week while I'm stitching but I'm so blown away by how beautiful these movies look on our new TV, I keep getting caught up in the movie!  It's like seeing these Harry Potter movies for the first time.  Anyway, I'm going to sit here and stitch for an hour before I do anything else.  And I'll save Goblet Of Fire for this afternoon!