Blizzard Purse

We woke up to 6 inches of snow this morning. I'll spare you the disaster photos! Honestly, is there a rock somewhere with some written law on it that says it HAS to snow in Northern Illinois in December? The news people mentioned this morning that they thought it was so pretty outside. Excuse me? Pretty is 80 degrees and sunny! This is a sloppy mess!

I can't say that I don't like snowflakes. I just prefer artistic renditions of them as opposed to having them in my reality:



I guess in some ways, this purse is kind of a poetic joke! It's no secret that I'm intolerant of Winter. The snow, the cold and the extra hours of darkness get to me. By the end of January, I usually have cabin fever so bad, I can't stand myself! I thought it would help to have a special purse just for that month. Calling it "The Blizzard Purse" is my sense of humor trying to make light of what I find to be the most annoying and inconvenient time of year. I will have a Winter house in Florida some day!

So on to what I did here. I used a combination of Carol Samples "Dream A Seam" Templates as well as my Waste Canvas technique.

The seam at the top between the two pieces of lace was one of Carols Templates. Once I had that stitched, I lined up a piece of waste canvas over the top to do the Fan Stitches. I have this thing about perfect fans!

Anyway, I used another of Carols templates for the Cretan Stitch and then I free-handed the Lazy Daisy stitches. The Buttonhole stitches were done with the templates and then the snowflakes and the fans at the bottom were done with Waste Canvas.

I really want to experiment more with the templates but that will come in time. For now, I'm doing my best to focus on anything but the weather. If you're interested in the Dream A Seam Templates, you can find them at Evening Star Designs.

I've been collecting snowflake sequins and buttons. I also have some flower appliques that resemble snowflakes so I plan to pull those out later and dye them in shades of blue. I'll probably add glitter to them too. I want this purse to be so sparkley that it's blinding to look at in the sun! If we ever see that again!

And speaking of snowflakes, I must tell you, I'm addicted to designing Biscornu's! I haven't stitched a-one yet but I absolutely love doing designs for them. I just finished a set of 4 Biscornu designs with snowflakes, each one in a different pastel color. I'll have those ready soon. In the meantime, I have to clean up the driveway. Argggggg........

More Finishes

I am all caught up on finishing now! I sewed up this little custom cellphone pouch yesterday:



I love making these! And those little crocheted beaded fringes that my mom makes for me are the perfect finishing touch!

I also finished up this tote bag for my mother in law for her birthday which ironically, is the same day as mine, Christmas Eve:



Heaven help me though, I don't know what I was thinking when I decided to use Panne Velvet on the back and as borders. It's stretchy fabric and although I used some iron-on interfacing on the back of it, it still wanted to shift on me and it made me insane! My personal preference is Velveteen. The only colors I can find it in are black, emerald green and cranberry. Do they make it in brown? If any one comes across some brown Velveteen, would you please pick some up for me? I will pay for the fabric and the postage!

Anyway, those are my photos for the day. I did start on the Blizzard purse but I didn't get very far on that so I'll post an update on it tomorrow.

Comfort Dolls By Mom

Well, my mom has been quite busy making Comfort Dolls!



She had them packed up so nicely in this box, I didn't want to take it all apart but there are actually 2 layers of these little Pocket Babies in here! I think mom said she did 25 all together!

She also made this little doll:



My photo is a bit fuzzy. This little doll is crayon tinted, embroidered, it has lace on it and beads and then mom made that pretty little bag for her! Again, I didn't want to take it apart but I thought you would like to see these.

I've already been to the Post Office today so these are now on their way to Pat. Also, I mailed off all orders today. We're supposed to get some snow later so I thought I'd better get my orders out now in case I can't get into town tomorrow.

New Projects

I was asked to do a custom cellphone pouch in black fabrics. I sewed this up the block on Saturday and I stitched it up yesterday:



Yes, I got a lot done yesterday despite running to Michaels and WalMart. I actually started on this pouch at 3:30 a.m. My rude neighbors felt that 3:30 in the morning would be a good time to ride their snowmobiles up and down my street. Scott and I decided to overlook it this time because it was the first snow of the season but if there's a next time, I will be calling the police!

Anyway, so I have it all stitched now and will do with machine & hand finishing today.

My next CQ project will be a purse:



Ya'll know how much I love Winter.....NOT! Actually, Winter wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't cold and it didn't snow. And if I didn't have rude neighbors with snowmobiles! Ha, ha, ha!

Well, I thought a special purse just for the month of January would be something nice to help get me through the wicked month.

The blue snowflake is an acrylic ornament I found at Hobby Lobby. I can sew that on but I think I'll need Scott to drill a few extra holes in it for me.

Also, look closely at the lace. Do you notice anything interesting? I want this to be so glittery that it's almost blinding to look at in the sunlight. Just like real snow! I painted on some fabric glue with a small paintbrush and then I sprinkled on some very fine glitter. Is that too cool or what?!!!

So after I do some more finishing on my sewing machine today, I want to start on this.

I'm also wanting to pull out my vintage iron-on transfers and stitch some things from those and I'm wanting to pull out my box of Poly-Clay and play with that. Geez! Too bad I have to take the time to sleep at night. Maybe the snowmobiles aren't such a bad thing after all! No one can accuse me of not having ambition!

BTW - if anyone is looking for the 2008 Valentine Mystery Stitch-Along Project, you can find it here. It starts on January 3rd. I gave this one a lot of lead-time due to the Christmas Holiday.

Crazy Quilt Cat Dolls

I'm running a bit late today! Scott and I went out for breakfast this morning and then stopped at Michaels and (heaven help me) WalMart!

Anyway, here are the latest 3 cat dolls:



If you're interested in adopting one, you can find them here.