Contest - One More Day

Oh, I can't believe how close some of you are! I really want someone to win one of these!!! It's so simple, when you find out what it's for, you're going to want to bonk your head on your monitor!!!



Look at it closely. I'll give you another hint, it is a sort of frame. It's for showcasing something very special such as in "old" or "vintage".

Ok, I'll give you all until tomorrow (Saturday) and then I'll reveal what it is. Please ladies, it's so easy! Think about the things we love to add to crazyquilts!!!

A quick note on the Etsy front, things seem to be calming down there a bit so I've been able to list my peacocks and a few other things. It's still a little slow at times but everything seems to be functioning now. If you're looking for some Mill Hill beads, vintage lace or my peacocks, click here.

And keep posting those guesses!!!! I had a ball reading them all!

Girl With A Kitten Purse and Contest!

I did a bit more stitching on this last night, not alot though. I spent some time making the pink circle of beads that you see to the right:



While working on it, I had a really cool idea for a contest here!

So here's the deal, the first person to correctly guess what that is (not what it used to be but what it is now) and post their guess in the comment section here, will win one. If you live outside the US, don't be afraid to post your guess because I will ship internationally.

I'll give you a hint, something special goes in the center!

Peacock Cushions

Well, I was finally able to list the lace in my Etsy shop! I also added a few needlework and craft books



but by the time I got to adding these, the site slowed way down and I gave up for the moment!





I finished these over the weekend. Thought they would make pretty little cushions for sitting on a bed, chair or shelf. They're about 7 1/2 inches square. I still want to do a Winter themed peacock block but haven't been able to come up with the right combination of fabrics. I want to do the peacock in white so I have to be sure that it will show up well.

Speaking of Etsy, the new version will be great as soon as it speeds up a bit. It's very professional looking and rather elegant. There are some nice options for sellers although the shipping thing is kind of making me crazy. I don't care for what they've done with that but I'll figure it out in time. The photos are larger and you know what that means? I have to start getting better at taking pictures! Ha, ha, ha! Overall, I think in another day or two, it'll be really nice!

I have more things to add including this little pack of Mill Hill seed beads"



I'll get some more things listed as soon I can. Seems first thing in the morning is a good time to do that.

I didn't stitch at all last night, so I don't have an update on my Girl With A Kitten purse. I'd like to work on that some more later and I have another idea I'd like to try out. If it works, I'll share photos here.

I'd like to take a moment to say thank you to everyone who commented on the cushion I made for my mom for Christmas. It's always so nice to hear that my readers enjoy my eye candy! I really love blogging and sharing photos of my stitching. I hope that I've given you some cool ideas for your projects! Thank you everyone!

Fish Under The Sea, Old Lace & More!

I'm still here! But I've been busy as a bee trying to organize my stash better and get some finishing done. And I've done alot this past weekend!

Starting off with my Fish Under The Sea purse:



It's completely finished now and I've decided that I can't part with it! It sure looks different as a purse than it did as a stitched piece. I won't get into all the little details of the finishing but as you can see, I added a tassel which I made myself and then added some silver bugle beads with more seashells on the ends. I used it yesterday morning and will admit, I got alot of weird looks. Those looks from other women that say, "who the heck does she think she is?!!" Ha!! I don't care. I think I'm someone who prefers pretty one-of-a-kind purses to plain ole boring store bought ones! That's who I think I am!

So now, my next big project will be this purse:



I've titled this one, "Girl With A Kitten". And yes, I'll most likely keep this one for myself too. I just fell in love with this vintage photo when I saw it at Art-E-Zine. I don't download much from the internet, but I just love hand-tinted vintage photos of pretty little children with animals, esp. cats (that's a surprise, right?)! I hope to start on it later today.

In the meantime, I also did a bit of antiquing over the weekend and I have to confess to you another weakness that I have, vintage lace! I can't help myself, I buy all the old lace that I find. I can't stand to see it laying around in an antique shop, not being enjoyed. Esp. the hand crocheted lace but I feel that way about all of it!

The problem is, I have a chest of drawers in here that is full to the brim with vintage lace! So, I have decided, that when I find it, I'll buy it, wash it, hand paint it and offer it in my Etsy shop to other stitchers who don't have access to it or who don't want to mess with the dyes. And yes, it does get messy!





What you see here, is only 1/2 of what I've hand-painted this weekend. The other half is hanging on hangers on the rod in my bathroom drying. I finished up this morning.

As soon as I got home with this batch of lace, I hand-washed it and started painting! I don't use a traditional dye pot method. I hand-paint each piece one at a time. I like my lace to be unevenly dyed so that's why I do it that way. I'll be spending the rest of my afternoon, heatsetting and lightly starching it. And tomorrow morning, I'll start packaging it up.

I have tons of stuff to add to my Etsy shop as soon as Etsy is up and running again. I just checked a few minutes ago and they don't have the new version of their site running yet but I'm sure it'll be soon. I have some beads, some needlework books, lots of quilt fabric in case I have some sane quilters who read here and then some new things I made. It'll probably take me hours to list every thing so I'll most likely add a little each day. I'm still on dial-up!!

So, that's what I've been doing. I have more finishing to share tomorrow but in the meantime, I'll off to iron all that wonderful old lace!

Let It Snow Fabric Postcard

Been very busy here organizing my stash. I have limited storage space but am blessed with an amazing collection of beads, buttons, fabrics, laces and other trims and embellishments.

I've pulled some things that I know I won't be using again and will add alot of goodies to my shop next week. Since Etsy will be down this weekend (at least that's the plan at the moment) I figured I might as well hold off until I have everything together and do it all at once.

I'm getting ready to go through my fabric collection but in the meantime, I wanted to share my "Let It Snow" fabric postcard with you. I completed it last night.


Just as a refresher, I started with some white 28 count linen. I tore one of my hand painted fiber (dryer) sheets and fused it to the bottom with some Heat & Bond. I then stitched the snowflakes in using 2 strands of DMC floss and 1 strand of Kreinik Blending Filament and did eyelet stitches. I then sewed the tatted tree on by hand, embellished it with sequins and then added the Mill Hill snowman button. I sewed the blue snowflake sequins on and attached a bit of glittery snow with some fabric glue. I added some iron-on interfacing to the backing fabric and layered it all with cotton quilt batting and then blanket stitched the edges using 1 strand of DMC White Perle Cotton #5. I almost hate to part with it but I'll adding this to the shop next week too.

Ok, so now I'm off to re-organize my fabric stash.