Blackwork & Seascape

Last night, I completed the 2nd Blackwork Cellphone pouch:



The black on white certainly makes for an interesting piece! I plan to sew this up tomorrow and get it ready to ship on to it's new owner.

It's a cold one here today! I think it was 12 below over night. Ewwww......these terribly extreme temps make me restless. I've been up since 3 am and started on this piece:



I didn't crop this image down because I wanted you to see how I mark my foundation. I use a permanent marker. It shows on both sides so I know where to cut and where my seam line is. On regular CQ's, the piecing covers it up so I run a basting stitch along the inside line but I didn't have to do to that on this one. I leave 1 inch between the seam line and the outside line. Honestly, I don't know why I do that, I just always have. When the stitching is complete, I trim down to 1/2 inch seams, sew my piece and then trim the seams to 1/4 inch. That allows for fraying and shifting that may occur during sewing.

As with my last Seascape piece, this is one of my painted dryer sheets ironed on with Heat & Bond.

After a few hours of stitching and couching, this is what it looks like now:



Scott just drilled the holes in my seashells for me so I can now add them and start adding the beads. I'll probably have this completed later today.

TAST - The Chevron Stitch

This another stitch that I don't care for all that much. I've used it, but sparingly. It is however, a good candidate for perfect spacing using waste canvas:



As you can see, I couldn't leave it just plain! I had to add something interesting to it so I added my beloved little fan stitches.

I've charted out the pattern for the basic Chevron along with the pattern for Chevron with Fans like I've done here:





Click on any of the images to go to my Flickr site where you can download larger versions of the patterns.

I hope to complete the stitching on this cellphone pouch today. I have a few errands to run and then I'll curl up on my sofa, watch movies and stitch.

More tomorrow.....

Assembling A Crazy Quilt Piece

I didn't get very far on the 2nd Blackwork Cellphone Pouch so I'll have an update on that for you tomorrow.

Since I don't have much in the way of stitching to share today, I thought I would talk a little about machine assembling.

If you're like me and have a tendency (or rather a bad habit) of putting beads and buttons too close to your seam line, you might want to give the Zipper Foot for your sewing machine a try:



This is quite a handy-dandy little item! I actually use this foot more than my all-purpose foot. And I've never done a zipper!

I use this foot not only when sewing CQ blocks up, but also for adding piping and twisted cording to my doorknockers. It attaches to the machine like this:



Be sure to move your needle over to the left:



My needle is right up against a large bead. The All-Purpose foot will not allow sewing on the seam line due to those beads because it won't go over them but the Zipper foot will run right up against them.

I hope you find my suggestion helpful!

You may notice that my seam is 1/2 inch rather than 1/4 inch. I do this because of the piecing with various fabrics and because some fabrics like Brocade tend to shred on the edges. It allows a little extra room in case there's any shifting or shredding while sewing. Once the sewing is complete, I trim the seam down to 1/4 of an inch. I only do this with Crazy Quilts pieces. For all other sewing, I only allow for 1/4 inch seams.

I'm off to piece some blocks and then I'll be stitching!

The White Peacock Purse is Complete!

I'm running late today. But better late than never!

I did alot of machine finishing yesterday and totally completed The White Peacock Purse!



I really hate to part with this one, but I can't keep them all! So I've added it to my Etsy shop. I found wonderful vinyl lavender colored handles for it and I backed it with a tan upholstry fabric. I used some heavy weight interfacing on the inside for stability and it's fully lined with a light green floral cotton print. Because I use my purses all the time, I prefer the sturdiness of cotton for a lining. There's more photos over at my shop if you'd like to see them.

I also did the machine finishing on the Blackwork Peacock Purse and the Victorian Lady Cellphone Pouch. I still have the hand finishing to do those which I'll start on later this afternoon.

I had a request for another Blackwork Cellphone Pouch so I pieced the block yesterday:



I picked up another fan button today while I was out and about and plan to start stitching on this later today as well.

Also, I'm offering a 20% off sale on all Vintage Lace, Embellishments, Cross Stitch Pattern Booklets and Fabric in my shop.

Ok, I'm off to do some more finishing. Stay tuned!

The Blackwork Peacock Purse Stitching Complete!

I know many of you are probably waiting anxiously to see this:



This has been such a joy to stitch! A bit challenging too in trying to balance the design using black, gold and silver do-dads. If you look closely, I did manage to add quite a few more beads!

The fabrics on this piece include: Brocade, Silk, Taffeta, Sequined Bridal Lace and a gorgeous heavy cotton with fine metallic gold threads.

The peacock body was hand-embroidered using DMC Cotton Floss in Long & Short stitches. I then outlined the body with Kreinik Silver Ombre and highlighted it with Kreinik Silver Blending Filament. The tail is done with black eyelash yarn couched on. The jewelry piece is a vintage pin. I cut the pinback off of it using wire cutters to make it lay flat. The "eyes" in the tail feathers are pearly sequins and small pearl beads.

I worked the spiderweb with 1 strand of DMC black cotton floss, the spider legs are Kreinik Gold Ombre and the spider body are done with 2 pearl beads from a vintage necklace.

The black seed beads on the fan stitch beneath my signature cat are vintage as are the small white pearls and end caps on the fan stitch beneath the large gold fan.

The "berries" on the vine with the gold butterfly charm are black Swarovski Crystals.

I was asked if I would post a photo of this peacock piece along with the white peacock purse so here you go Geri, it's my pleasure:



Click on either photo to go to my Flickr site where you can see a larger version.

My plan for today is to do the finishing on both of these purses. I've also had a request for another Blackwork Cellphone Pouch so I'll be piecing that block today as well. As soon as I have these completed, I'll post another photo.