Rare Photos Of Me

Since I don't have any stitching to share, I thought I would share a few, yet rare photos of me. These are not great. My husband is not any better at photography than I am!

This one was taken on Christmas Eve at my mom's house:



As usual, I was busy yaking at Scott while he was trying to take pictures! I always feel like I look stupid in photos because I am always talking to him! That's why there aren't many photos of me. I don't allow too many!

This one was taken Christmas morning:



This one is a little fuzzy but at least I remembered to take my glasses off! That's my crabby-butt Garfield with me. I love walking around and carrying him. He's a big teddy bear but ornary as can be!

That's about all I have for you today. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

Tomorrow is "Contest Day" so please come back to check that out!

Happy Christmas!

Good Morning everyone! And Happy Christmas to you!

I had a lovely day with my husband yesterday. He took me to The Dress Barn and told me to pick something out for my birthday. He's never been one to guess on what I would like. He much prefers to let me pick something out and I'm fine with that. I found a beautiful black skirt, pieced like a crazyquilt. Very Victorian Gypsy looking! I wore it last night and will post a photo tomorrow.

He also took me to the antique mall where I felt like I was in heaven. I just love antiquing! I guess it's the "thrill of the hunt". You never know what you will find! I found a beautiful vintage collar complete with beading and a big bag of lace, mostly crocheted! Guess what I'll be doing with some of that?

Well, as promised, I have a few stocking stuffers for you:



This pretty little Counted Cross Stitch Christmas Wreath design can be stitched on cross stitch fabric and made into an ornament or used as a motif on a crazyquilt.



And this fractal design can be printed on commercial inkjet fabric and worked into a crazyquilt, used in a collage piece, for scrapbooking and/or other mixed media or altered art projects. You can also print it on paper and use it to make greeting cards.

Click on the photos to go to my Flickr site where you can download the large versions of the patterns.

I enjoy blogging so much but it wouldn't be nearly as much fun if I didn't have so many readers who come everyday to see my stitching and read my ramblings about my passion.

This is my way of saying thank you for taking the time to read my blog.

Have a wonderful and safe holiday everyone!

Happy Christmas!

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!