A Pattern For Your Crazyquilting

Well, I worked later yesterday than I normally do. I was so close to finishing up my design work, that I decided to just keep going until it was completed. By the time I was done, my eyes were hurting from staring at the computer all day so I didn't manage any stitching time. Instead, I parked myself in the chair, looked at a catalog and watched Star Wars on HBO!

Since I don't have any stitching to share with you today, I worked up a nice little pattern for you to use on your crazyquilts:



Click on the image to go to my Flickr site where you can download a larger version of the pattern.

Pin your Waste Canvas to the area on which you like to stitch this design on your crazyquilt piece. You can use #5 or #8 Perle cotton to stitch this or several strands of embroidery floss. Stitch the design, following the chart and then carefully remove the waste canvas. If you prefer not to use Waste Canvas, you can trace this onto tissue paper, pin that to your piece, stitch and then remove the tissue.

I received several orders this week for custom cellphone pouches and one for a custom CQ kit. So I'll be making some changes to my stitching schedule. I'll be doing foundation piecing today on my sewing machine and will have to start work on these projects right away.

Stay tuned because I do expect to have some stitching to share with you tomorrow.

Enjoy the pattern!

New Projects

I didn't manage any stitching time yesterday. I'm in the middle of a design project so I was focused on that all day and then when my husband came home from work, we ran up to Michaels so I could use my coupon. Love those Michaels Craft Store coupons!

I did pull out two new projects to work on:



This will be a purse with a Spring theme. I sewed this block up a couple of weeks ago. I have no idea where it's going to go so it should be interesting to watch my progress on this one.



I traced this one awhile back on some muslin that I had hand-dyed. I plan to stitch this entirely with DMC Rayon Floss. Yes, call me crazy! It's a challenge to work with but I love it because of the shine!

I don't know if I'll have time to start on both of these today. Like I said, I'm in the middle of a design project. And normally, I only work on one stitching project at a time but I've been wanting to do some more simple old-fashioned embroidery and I always want to crazyquilt so I thought I'd alternate on these.

Speaking of old-fashioned embroidery and iron-on transfers, specifically Vogart patterns, Laren of The Needle's Excellency blog has put alot of time into cataloging all of the pattern packs that Vogart produced from the 40's - 60's. This is a wonderful resource for those of you who like me, collect vintage Vogart patterns. You can find Laren's Vogart Reference Library site here.

I was quite to surprised to see how many I'm missing! I have quite a few but not all of them. Now I'll have to start adding to my collection again!

American Bald Eagles

First, I want to share with you my completed Spring Chick pouch:



I completed the stitching Friday evening just before my husband and I went out to dinner. If I can stay on schedule, I'll assemble it later this week along with the Red Hat Lady purse.

On Saturday morning, we drove down to Peoria, Illinois where my in-laws live to spend the weekend with them. It's about 3 1/2 hours south of were we live. I'm really excited about sharing the following photos with you! The Illinois River is open in some areas down there so the Bald Eagles spend the Winter on the river! This is a site that I can't even begin to describe! They just sit in the trees along the river, hundreds of them! We probably saw 100 eagles yesterday!











All of these photos were taken from our truck. If you get out of your vehicle, it frightens them and they fly away, which is also an amazing site!

We saw one tree that had 8 eagles in it! For those of you who live outside the US, these are huge birds! Beautiful and majestic! To see so many in one place is just breathtaking.

I have some design work to do so I'll end here. If you would like to see larger versions of my eagle photos, just click on one to go to my Flickr site.

TAST - More On The Feather Stitch

Grab a snack and relax because I have loads of things to share with you today!

First, I have photos of the last 3 cellphone pouches that I made. These are complete now:



These little cherubs would be so cute as a small purse for a little girl going to a wedding or even on Easter Sunday for church!



Susan asked me what the purple heart was on the left of this design. It's a button with a cool finish on it. Almost hologram looking!



I think I mentioned this while I was stitching on this project, the watermelon was a beaded pin kit from Mill Hill. I never wore it so I decided to use it as a focal point on this pouch. It's stitched on perforated paper. I took the pinback off of it and sewed it in place.

The watermelon pouch is a gift for Scott's step-mom. The Cherubs and the Lucky Lady pouch will be going to the brick & mortar store. I'll run up there this afternoon and add them to my showcase.

I have so many ideas for new projects now! I plan to take some time next week and sew up a few more purse and cellphone pouch blocks. I'm also feeling the need to make myself another purse!

The other day, my mom gave me a copy of her Victorian Trading Company catalog. I've requested their catalog many times and still have to yet to receive one! This is why my mom gave me her extra copy. Anyway, I fell in love with some of the vintage style clothing that they offer! I decided to look around online to see what other vintage inspired clothing I could find and I found this site, Premier Designs Historic Clothing. Oh my goodness! Now, I have no place to wear Victorian style tea gowns and I couldn't care less about Victorian style undergarments, but I do love the blouses that they offer! Specifically, this blouse. I will be ording this blouse for myself next week! I will be able to wear this in the Spring with the black skirt that Scott bought me for my birthday. And to go with it, I'll be making myself a Blackwork handbag. I'm sure I will be quite over-dressed for my little trips to Michaels and Borders bookstore but I don't care! I feel so cool wearing things like this! So stayed tuned for yet another Blackwork crazyquilt project!

I will be away from my computer this weekend and will return on Monday with an update on my little Spring Cellphone pouch. I expect to complete this later today but here's what it looks like at the moment:



As you can see, I used my beloved Feather Stitch again!



This is yet another one of my many variations! Being that the Feather Stitch is this week's stitch focus for Sharon's TAST Challenge, I will leave you with the charted pattern in case you'd like to give this try:



Click on the image to go to my Flickr site where you can download the larger version of the pattern.

Until Monday, have a great weekend everyone!

TAST - The Feather Stitch

Sharon has chose the Feather Stitch as this week's stitch focus. Yes, this is one of my absolute favorite stitches! It appears in one variation or another on almost every crazyquilt piece I do! I don't know what it is about this stitch that I like so much. I think some of it is the rhythm of working it and I also think that it is a very visually attractive stitch.

Here is a photo of it as it appears on my Red Hat block:



When working it over a seam, I always use waste canvas for perfectly spaced stitches. I've added Lazy Daisy stitches and Fan stitches for a more interesting treatment. The Feather Stitch works up quite well on waste canvas so I've charted it out for you just as I worked it on the Red Hat block:



Click on either photo to go to my Flickr site where you can download a larger version of the pattern.

Here is how it appears on the now completed block:



To continue the sense of movement across the bottom of the image, I added a button cluster using buttons in various shades of purple, lavender and violet. The gold heart button draws the eye to the cluster and the rest of the buttons move the eye to either side of the image allowing the eye to "get into the flow" of the rest of the design.

This is complete now so next week, I'll assemble it and add it to my Etsy shop.

In the meantime, this will be my next little project:



I'm really needing to "think Spring" at the moment! I thought I'd stitch up this little Spring Cellphone Pouch and then I'll be doing some more purses.

For now, I'm heading out into the deep freeze to get groceries. Arrgggg.......