Marie Antoinette Purse Block Completed!

I finished stitching this yesterday and so much wanted to sew it together today but after washing my floors, doing laundry, washing a few windows and putting a few packages together for shipping, I was out of steam:



My plan now is to put it together on Thursday when I get back from picking up groceries.

I did run my sewing machine yesterday.  I pieced some Autumn themed cat dolls and another purse block.  I stitched a little bit this afternoon but not enough for sharing.

In other news, we had some of the pin-striping done on the Model A this weekend:






What you see in these photos is the gas tank.  Bubba had to have the pin-striping done on that before he could put it in the car permanently.  It's getting there!  It looks more and more like a real car everyday!

Be sure to stop by on Thursday for my next Guest Blogger post!  There will be lots of beautiful photos of my guest's creations!!!

Finally for today, enter to win my Sewing Art Quilt.  The drawing will take place when my blog reaches 300 followers:



Details can be found in this post.

Finally for today, my Peacock Purse was included in this lovely Etsy Treasury.  Please hop over see it.  It's a lovely a Treasury!!

Happy Pink Saturday!!!

Happy Pink Saturday everyone!  Again, I'm just thrilled to be part of this really fun pink blog experience!  This is such a wonderful way to connect with other pink bloggers!

I had a really fun pink thing to post about this week but like last Saturday, I decided to put it off one more week due to an amazing find at last weekend's flea market!

I do not collect teapots but I found this last weekend at a little flea market not far from our home and I just had to have it!  And, I immediately thought that it would be great to share on Pink Saturday so I've been saving it for today.  So here it is:

Isn't it gorgeous!!!  It's not old.  It has a sticker on the bottom that says, "Made In China".  I had to have it!  It's pink, it's heart shaped,it has roses on it, it has a pearly finish on it and it was only $3.00!!!  What a treasure!

So that's my Pink Saturday post for this week!  I'd like to say thank you to our gracious host Beverly for including me in Pink Saturday again.  If you're interested in sharing your lovely pink things, please visit Beverly's How Sweet The Sound blog for more details.  And please take a few moments to visit some of the other lovely Pink Bloggers!

Also, be sure to see my post from yesterday to learn about my contest/drawing!!!!

Contest Drawing!!!

Hello everyone!  I have a really nice surprise for you all today!  I'm having a contest!  A drawing actually.  I made this sweet little sewing art quilt and thought about how nice it would be to offer it in a drawing for my blog readers:

Here's how it works!  There are 3 ways to win. 

***First, become a follower of my blog by clicking on the "Follow" button in my sidebar.  (If you are already a follower, you are automatically entered once.)

***Your name will be entered again if you mention my drawing on your blog.  Please leave a comment on this post so I know that you mentioned it!!!

***To receive a third entry in the drawing, post my blog button in your sidebar on your blog.  You can find to the left in my sidebar.  Again, please leave a comment here on this post so I know that you added it.


All entries will be put in a basket and when my blog reaches 300 followers, my husband will draw a name and I will post the winner's name here. 


So that's it everyone!  Good luck and please spread the word.  I had a lot of fun making this little quilt.  I used some vintage velvet berries from an old hat.  I hand-dyed the berries!  I ran all over the planet looking for a little sewing scissors charm.  I added some silk ribbon embroidery and wound thread on the tiny spools myself!!!

Good luck!

Art Quilting 101 Tutorial - Finishing

This is the final part of how to finish an art quilt.  Of course, you can do it however you want to.  I just thought I'd offer you one way to do it if you've never made an art quilt before.

First, you'll want to choose a backing fabric.  I like something light in color so I can sign and date it.  Lay it right side down on your work space:

On top of that, lay down a piece of quilt batting.  I prefer cotton quilt batting:

Finally, on top of that, lay your stitched piece down right side up:

Now, pin all three layers together just along the outside edge:

Next, simply top stitch around the outside of your quilt.  I used the same gold metallic thread that I use when I pieced it:

You can either make it a rectangle or curve the edges like I did:

Here's a photo of the back so you can see how I sewed it:

Now for the fun part!  Trim the edges with pinking shears about 1/2 inch from sewing line:

If you don't have pinking shears, just use a regular pair of sewing scissors:

Now you'll want to add something for hanging it.  You can use lace, ribbon, fabric, yarn or whatever you choose  I used some dyed strips of fabric:

You can sew them to the top of the quilt or on the back side of the quilt.  There's no right or wrong way:

I like to leave some excess so that it dangles.

Finally, you can use a tree stick, a knitting needle, a dowel rod or again, whatever you have on hand or choose to use will work.  I used a tree stick and wrapped it with lace and some dyed fabric strips and then added some fuzzy yarn:

Carefully slide the hanger into the loops.  When you have it in place where you want it, use a little glue gun glue to hold the loops in place on the hanger.

At this point, if you want to add some flowers or anything else that can be glued on, go for it!  I used some old flowers from a vintage hat to finish it off.

I hope you've found this tutorial helpful.  If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me.  If you've been working on an art quilt using my tutorial, please send me a photo or a link to your blog or website and I will gladly share it here.

Crazy Quilt Peacock Purse At Etsy

I'm pleased to tell you that I have finished my Peacock Purse and I've added it to my Etsy shop:



I've now got a bee in my bonnet to do a pink peacock purse!  I don't think I have any pink eyelash yarn so I'll have to see if I can find some when I'm out and about.  I've noticed that all the wonderful fancy yarns that were available just a few years back are getting more and more difficult to find.  I remember that Michael's had tons of fancy yarn and now with the exception of just a few skeins, most of what they carry is worsted weight.  What fun is that?  I don't crochet sweaters or scarves.  I can't even read a pattern.  Well, I can read a pattern, but the abbreviations totally mess with my ADD mind so I just make it up.  I do the same with tatting.  I can follow the pattern but the abbreviations make me crazy so I make that up too.

Anyway, I crocheted the trim at the bottom of the purse.  The sequins are crocheted on as I went along.  Then I hand-sewed the trim on once I had the purse sewn together.

So now that my peacock is complete, I started another purse project.  One of my favorite subjects is Marie Antoinette.  I love the fluffly-ness and the flowers and the pastel colors associated with Marie.  I also see her as someone who was so misunderstood and pretty much screwed the minute she was born.  If you don't know too much about Marie Antoinette, Wikipedia has an excellent biography on her.

Here's the block before stitching:



And here's the block before beading:



This will be incredibly glittery.  I plan to use a ton of sequins on it.

I decided to experiment with some curved seams.  Boy, did I fight with myself on using a glue stick on a crazy quilt.  But I kept reminding myself that if it's good enough for Judith Montano's quilts, it's good enough for mine!  I only used 1 curved piece on this block.  Future blocks will have more.  I like the look!  While the sides of that piece are sewn into the block, the curve is simply held in place with a glue stick.  To cover the edge, I just hand sewed some trim over it.

The image of Marie, which I printed on commercial ink jet fabric, is trimmed as well and then tacked in place with hand sewing.  Again, trim covers the edges.

I'll leave you for today with a couple of new pretties from mom & Kathi.  First, is mom's latest cottage style pillow:

And Kathi's latest, a gorgeous set with earrings, bracelet & matching necklace. Real amethyst beads are the focal point:

Both can be found here at Etsy.