Christmas Baby!

I completed the stitching my Purple Painted Lady purse last night:



After adding my little signature cat, my husband looked at this and told me it needed a spider web. So I added one! You might want to click on the photo which will take you over to my Flickr site where you can see a larger version. The spiderweb is a bit obsure. I didn't want it stand out too much but I loved Scott's idea and it was the perfect motif for that space. When I get it sewn together, I'll post another photo taken with the digi. They always look a little dark when I use the scanner. It's much brighter in person.

We took a nice drive up to Crystal Lake yesterday and stopped at our Local Needlework Shop where I bought a few new Watercolor Threads:



I just love using these on my crazyquilts! They're 3 ply and I use only one strand which is pretty close to a #5 Perle cotton.

I won't have any stitching to share with you tomorrow. Not so much because of the holiday but because today is my birthday! I'm a Christmas Eve baby. Scott is taking me out for some antiquing today, which is one of my favorite things to do! We'll also be stopping at Michael's so I can use my 50% off coupon!

Tonight we'll head over to my parents house for dinner and to visit with them and my aunt & uncle.

Despite not having stitching to share tomorrow, I do hope you'll have a few minutes to stop by. I will be leaving a few stocking stuffers here for you. It's my way of saying thank you for taking the time to read my blog everyday!

Also, I'll have a fun little contest next week with a nice prize for the winner. I hope it'll help with the after-Christmas blahs!

See you tomorrow everyone! And Happy Christmas!

Almost Done!

I had a good few hours yesterday to work on this:



I so much wanted a pretty button cluster on this but no matter what I tried, it just didn't work. I really thought white vintage Mother Of Pearls would have looked great but they didn't. I tried grey MOP's, black glass buttons, rhinestone buttons and even some pretty yet simple shirt buttons. They just didn't work.

So instead, I did another beaded button frame to showcase a fancy button. This one is Lacey Glass Button that I bought a few years back at a flea market. It came in a little bag that had several pretty glass buttons. I thought it was a nice piece to use considering the lady theme.

Also, if you look closely, I changed the "brooch" on the ladie's collar. I had a tiny glass purple flower bead there. While poking around in my button boxes, I found some tiny cameo buttons. It really looked great so I removed the flower button and added this one instead.

I just have a bit more to do. The first thing I'll do this afternoon is add my cat. I've decided to stitch him in white in the bottom right-hand corner and I'll add some small pink flower buttons. I'm not sure it will need anything else after that or not.

I will have an update for you tomorrow.

The Cast-On Stitch

Ok, I've decided that I really don't enjoy doing these! Don't get me wrong, I love the way they look, but I find them time-consuming and fussy. I had a terrible time getting them to lay right, they twisted on me and I spent alot of time straightening them out:



Honestly, I got bored with doing them and decided to alternate the cast-on stitch grapes with some grapes made of beads. I can't say I'll never do them again because I know I will, but I'll be limiting them. I think too that they're easier done with #5 Perle than with #8 like I used here.

For me, crazyquilting isn't really about the stitching. You may have noticed that I pretty much use the same stitches over and over on every piece I do. Occasionally, I'll explore something new and sometimes I like it and sometimes I don't. For me, it's about balance. Working with color to tame the craziness and still allow the chaos that is "extremely embellished crazyquilting". Deep down, I still think it's my way of balancing the chaos in my mind. The creative mind can be rather complicated and noisy. Ideas race around, sometimes faster than I can write them down and certainly, I never get to trying everything idea that comes to me.

Truthfully, the beading is my favorite part. How strange that I can sit for hours and sew beads onto the various seam treatments and lace pieces but ask me to re-attach a button to one of my husband's shirts and I have to force myself to do it!

I love beading so much, that I've been buying several beading magazines. Bead & Button magazine is my favorite! I've so much wanted to try one of the freeform flower design patterns that they offer but my mind just will not comprehend beading without the security of a foundation fabric. I just can't grasp the concept of not sewing the beads onto something. They offer great diagrams and instructions but I think I need to make my trying it more gradual than just jumping in, which is what I usually do but it's not working for me this time.

With that said, I'm going try some of the techniques and patterns in these magazines but I want to see if they can be worked on a foundation. If I can get the hang of that, then maybe my mind too will convert and open to new possibilites. I will be exporing this during Sharon's Take A Stitch Tuesday Challenge project. Who knows what doors this will open up for us!

Dryer Sheet Pansies - Supply List

Sharon's Take A Stitch project will be starting on January 2nd. This will be a year long project and Sharon's focus will be basically, to take a given stitch and push it to it's limits. What variations are possible, what it can be used for and so on and so forth.

I will be participating in the Take A Stitch project offering patterns, examples and ideas in which to use various stitches. Since I don't know what stitch Sharon will be starting with, and since I need a starting point, my focus at first will be on the Blanket Stitch. It's a wonderful stitch with unlimited possibilities!

We'll be using the Blanket Stitch in making Pansies out of Painted Dryer Sheets. The pansies can be used to embellish all sorts of items, from crazyquilts to purses, lampshades to clothing, even traditional quilts.

As I promised yesterday, here is the supply list of things you'll need to make the Painted Dryer Sheet Pansies. You can find the tutorial for painting the dryer sheets in my post on December 21st. If you would like to make some of the Pansies from dryer sheets but don't care to mess with painting them, I still have several packs available in my Etsy Shop.

SUPPLIES

Painted Dryer Sheets – recommended colors are purple, yellow and green

Fusible Web either Heat & Bond or Wonder Under

Cotton Fabric – recommended colors are lavender, light yellow and light green

Light Weight Iron-On Interfacing

Threads – you can use 6 strand embroidery floss or #5 Perle Cotton. Colors should be a bit darker than the dryer sheets.

An 1/8 yard of the fusible web, cotton fabric and interfacing will make several pansies.

Feel free to make your pansies any colors that you would like. For me, I like purple and yellow pansies.

Gail asked me yesterday why I use the Lumier Paint from Jacquard and can other paints be used. I recommend the Lumier paint for several reasons. First, they soak well into the fibers and they dry soft. They were designed specifically for textile and fiber art although they can be used on paper and wood as well. They're a good quality metallic paint and have a slight transparent quality to them.

You're certainly welcome to try other fabric paints but I definately do not recommend regular craft paint. They will only sit on the surface and they dry hard. They won't be soft to the touch like the Lumier paint is. If you choose to stretch or tear your dryer sheets for other projects, regular craft paint will crack.

I have only used the Lumier Paint on the dryer sheets. To quote my husband, the mechanic, "if it works, don't fix it!" Honestly though, if you want to try something else, please feel free to do so. If it doesn't work, the dryer sheets are cheep! The Lumier paints are not. They sell for $9.99 at Michael's and they don't go far when painting the dryer sheets.

If anyone has any questions regarding this project before we start, please don't hesitate to leave a message for me here, on my Flickr site or you can send me an email. My email address can always be found on my main Kitty & Me Designs website. Even though it's the holidays, I will be around everyday for awhile so contact me if you need to.

Update On Purple Painted Lady Purse

I wanted to share with you, an update on my Purple Painted Lady purse:



I started adding beads last night. I must admit, the beading is my favorite part! I also started a vine to the left of the lady. I'm still leaning towards some cast-on stitches to go with that vine but I still haven't decided for sure yet. I guess I'll decide when I sit down to stitch! Stop by again tomorrow to see if I used them or not!

Also, if I have any sane quilters who read my blog, I packed up tons and tons of 2 inch charm squares. Perfect for a Postage Stamp quilt:



I don't know why I cut so many the last time I made a quilt. Maybe I like cutting the squares more than sewing them together! Ha, ha, ha! I know for sure that I like cutting fabric better than hand-quilting!!! Anyway, these are in my Etsy shop in case someone can use them.