Pet's In Need Charity Pouch Stitching Complete!

I completed the stitching on this pouch yesterday afternoon. It looks kind of dark here. I used the scanner instead of the camera:



Once I get it assembled, I'll post another photo of it.

I'll do the finishing during the week on my latest projects.

I've decided that it's time to make another purse for myself. I think the last one I made for myself was back in November! I'll be starting on this today:



This will be a Blackwork Peacock purse, the same style as the Red Hat Lady. I found some vintage black velvet ribbon in an antique shop a few weeks back when we were at Scott's dad's house so I'll be using some of that on it.

As I type, Scott is installing our new floor in the Living Room. Actually, I was helping him with it all morning but I needed a break. The noise from the compresser and the nailer gets on my nerves so I came in here for a bit. It's going pretty quickly and looks very nice! And I love the fact that it's prefinished and won't require sanding in my house like the other hardwood floors that we put in.

Frankly, I don't think any aspect of this project has been nearly as bad as when we ripped the drop ceilings down! What came out and off of that ceiling was awful! Remember, this house is 70 years old!

I'll leave you with a kind of cute story. Once we had the old ceilings down and everything was open, a mouse had gotten in. Poor little thing fell to the floor and was running back and forth along the wall looking for his way out. While he was doing this, he had an audience of 4 cats, sitting there, watching him. Because my cats are indoor cats, they had no clue what to do! They just sat there, watching this poor little mouse run back and forth! It was quite comical!

Now we don't like killing things, so Scott caught him in a waste basket and took him outside to release him. And he found where the mouse got in and closed it so we didn't have to worry about that anymore!

Have a nice day everyone! See you tomorrow!

Pet's In Need Charity Cellphone Pouch

The last in my series of charity cellphone pouches is for my local no-kill animal shelter, Pet's In Need. This is what the block looked like before I started the stitching:



And here is what it looks like at the moment:



I still have some more beads and do-dads to add this. When it's complete, I will again be donating $25.00 from the sale of this pouch to the shelter.

Check back tomorrow to see the completed stitched piece.

Autism Awareness Charity Cellphone Pouch

I completed the stitching on this yesterday:



The only red silk ribbon that I had was 13mm. I would have prefered to use 7mm but I think the daisies came out great! I added the yellow flower buttons to the centers to tone the daisies down just a bit. I didn't want them to over power the puzzle piece.

I ordered an enamel Autism puzzle ribbon charm last week from The Autism Link Store. I expect it to arrive any day now and I will add that to the center of the puzzle piece. That will draw attention right to the center of the design.

When I have this assembled, I will use red beaded fringe and red braid on the bottom which should really balance out the design nicely.

I was asked if I might consider making the charted puzzle piece design available for purchase. Yes, I will do that in the near future. When I do, it will be available in my Etsy shop. All proceeds will go to Our Children's Circle.

In the meantime, the Puzzle Ribbon design is available on my main Kitty & Me Designs website:



Again, all proceeds from this charted cross stitch design go directly to Our Children's Circle.

Autism Awareness Cellphone Pouch

As I mentioned earlier this week, I decided to do a few cellphone pouches to benefit charities. I've already completed the stitching on the Breast Cancer Awareness pouch so the next on my list is the Autism Awareness pouch. This is what the pieced block looked like before I started stitching on it:



My very dear friend Kim was kind enough to stitch the puzzle piece for me which I designed specifically for this project. The puzzle piece is the Autism symbol.

I had this idea in my head that I wanted this to be very symbolic of Autism. That's the approach I took with my charted Autism Floral Design:



The Spring flowers represent innocence. I used 2 red tulips and 1 yellow daffodil to represent the fact that autism occurs in boys more often than in girls. The puzzle piece ribbon is of course the "official ribbon" of Autism Awareness.

I realized that the approach I used for the cross stitch design wouldn't work with the crazyquilt piece. Instead, I decided that I would treat the design the same as I would any other crazyquilt design and simply stitch it using color for balance. I did however decide that daisies remind me of innocence so I am planning to use some red SRE daisies on the vine at the top.

Upon it's completion, I will be donating $25.00 from the sale of this pouch to Our Children's Circle Autism Awareness Group.

Our Children's Circle is a support group comprised of parents, educators and community leaders who strive to provide resources for parents of children with autism spectrum disorders in order that these children may lead individual, productive, and fulfilling lives.

Here is a brief description of Autism according to the Autism Society of America:

"Autism is a complex developmental disability that typically appears during
the first three years of life and is the result of a neurological disorder
that affects the normal functioning of the brain, impacting development in
the areas of social interaction and communication skills. Both children and
adults with autism typically show difficulties in verbal and non-verbal
communication, social interactions, and leisure or play activities.  A
recent study states that autism now occurs in 1 in 150 individuals; up from
1 in 166 just a few years ago.  Autism is growing at a startling rate of
10-17 percent per year. At this rate, ASA estimates that the prevalence of
autism could reach 4 million Americans in the next decade"

Here's the link to the Autism Society of America's website.

This is what the Autism pouch looks like at the moment:



It's quite colorful, isn't it?

If anyone is interested in it, the Autism Floral Cross Stitch design is available with a donation of $5.00 or more.  You can find it on my main Kitty & Me Designs website along with a charted version of the Autism Ribbon which is also available with a donation of $5.00 or more.  I donate the entire amount to Our Children's Circle.  I will pay the PayPal fees myself.  I do accept PayPal although it's not mentioned on my website at the moment.  Simply email your order to me with the amount that you would like to donate and I will send you a PayPal invoice.  The charts are delivered electronically via PDF file email attachment.  You will need an email address that accepts attachments.

I expect to complete the Autism pouch today so I should have an update again for you tomorrow.

Comfort Food

Can you tell by my post yesterday that I desperately need some sunshine? I can't remember the last time we had a sunny day.

I did manage to get to the grocery store and WalMart for supplies yesterday. Which was good because I needed some "comfort food". Now, I don't actually comfort myself with anything edible. Instead, I add to my "already more than I need" stash!

While wandering around the craft department in WalMart, I found these beautiful Brocades and Satins:



I was good, I only bought 1/4 yard pieces! And now, I can't wait to sew up some new blocks with them!

While walking past the jewelry department, I noticed a rack with some "sale" items on it so I went over to look at that and found these earrings:



These were only $3.00! I didn't buy them to wear them. They're a bit longer than what I like in earrings but they were purple and kind of look Victorian so I thought I could use them on a crazyquilt. And the cool thing is, there's 2 of them!

I then remembered that the new Quilting Arts magazine usually comes out on March 1st so I hopped in my Hotrod Lincoln (that's the term that Scott uses to refer to my car.) and headed over to Borders bookstore where I found not only the new Quilting Arts magazine but also the new Bead & Button magazine:



The bracelets on the cover of the Bead & Button magazine are gorgeous! I wish I could figure out how to make one. But I have a terrible time trying to comprehend beading without a foundation to sew them onto! I do however think, that those bracelet designs would make for some interesting crazyquilt seam treatments! Hmmmmmm......