Tussy Mussys

I've had so many requests for more of mom's Victorian style Tussy Mussys!  No one does these beautiful paper cones like mom does!  Here are her latest tussys for Valentines Day:

These are now available in our Boutique!

Crazy Quilting and Waste Canvas

I've received several emails recently regarding my use of Waste Canvas and stitching the seam embroidery on crazy quilts.  One of the big concerns is that the manufacturers packaging recommends wetting the waste canvas to pull it out after the stitching is completed.

Wetting the waste canvas is not necessary and I do not recommend it for crazy quilting.

Waste canvas was designed years ago for working charted patterns on non-cross stitch fabric such as sweatshirts and tee shirts. 

As many of my long time blog followers know, I am a retired professional counted cross stitch designer.  I worked with many magazines and manufacturers such as The DMC Corporation, Bucilla, Kreinik and Zweigart. 

I discovered modern crazy quilting about 10 years ago but struggled with keeping my seam embroidery evenly sized and spaced.  I decided to apply my cross stitch skills to crazy quilting and tried using waste canvas for my seam embroidery.  I was so pleased with the results that I eventually put the directions together in my Elegant Crazy Quilt Seam Treatments book and offered it as a PDF file download.

This book contains complete directions for working with waste canvas on crazy quilts. 

Early in 2011, I released Volume 2 of Elegant Crazy Quilt Seam Treatments which is also still available and contains another 180 charted patterns for crazy quilt seam embroidery.  There are however, no directions in Volume 2.  Only patterns.

Back to my discussion of working with waste canvas, the reason I don't recommend wetting the waste canvas is first, because in crazy quilting, we use many non-washable fabrics and we also use many hand-dyed threads and fibers that aren't washable.  If these fabrics and threads get wet, thread colors may bleed and fabrics might be damaged.

8.5 count waste canvas and 10 count waste canvas threads pull out very easily from beneath the stitching without wetting it.  The trick is to pull the excess waste canvas threads out, from around the outside of the stitched area first.  Then, pull all the short (width) threads out from underneath the stitches and finally, the long (lengthwise) waste canvas threads will pull out very easily.

Waste canvas will only allow you to pull out one thread at a time so don't get in a hurry with it.  Patience is necessary but the results are very worth the little bit of extra time it takes to use it.  If you find you have a stubborn waste canvas thread, get yourself a pair of tweezers, grab the waste canvas thread as close to stitching as you can (without grabbing any of your stitches) and give it a gentle pull and it should release for you.  If you're waste canvas thread breaks underneath your stitches, do not panic!  Try pulling it out from the other side.  If that doesn't work, try pulling the waste canvas threads out from another direction.

Honestly, it's much easier than you think.  It probably sounds complicated and fussy but it really isn't!  It's actually a lot of fun! 

I am pleased to announce that there will be an Elegant Crazy Quilt Seam Treatments Volume 3 coming later in 2012.  It will contain yet another 180 charted borders for crazy quilting and cross stitch samplers. 

With all that said, working crazy quilt embroidery with waste canvas and charted borders opens a whole new world of seam treatment options!  The possibilities for unique, embroidered borders are endless!

Both books are available only as PDF downloads.  I send the files manually within 24 hours of receiving an order.  Shipping fees are refunded via PayPal, also within 24 hours.

Before I run into town for errands, here is the progress on my latest Crazy Quilt Cat Doll:

One More Cat Doll

It felt so good to have a "stay at home" day yesterday!  I didn't get to sew up any new blocks but I did all my finishing done and a ton of other things so I feel like I finally accomplished something!

I finished this little Yellow Cat Doll:

I mentioned yesterday that this cat is a gift for a friend who recently lost her kitty.  I'll package him up today so I can mail him tomorrow.

I also finished up my Valentine Pillows that I stitched before Christmas.  I'll have photos of those over the weekend.

I'm going to stitch one more cat doll.  This one will be a gift for a friend too but it's a "just because" gift:

Today, I'm going to go over to mom's for awhile.  I have to wait for my "driveway cleaner upper" to come and shovel for me.  I think we got about 5 inches of snow yesterday. 

For now, I'm going to stitch for at least 1 hour before I do anything else!  Have a great day everyone!

Yellow Crazy Quilt Cat Doll

Well, we made it 1/2 way through Winter without snow.  Today, they're calling for 3 - 6 inches.  I'll spare you my complaints!  You may be thinking, "Winter just started on 12/21.  What's she thinking?"  You see, I have my own system of determining the seasons.

According to my calender, Spring always starts on March 1st. It has to! Therefore, Summer starts on June 1st, Fall on September 1st and then Winter starts on December 1st.  It has to be that way.  It's the only way I can get through the dark, cold days of Winter.  Ha, ha, ha!

Okay, so I hope I've amused ya'll with my odd way of dealing with the cold and snowy months of the year.  Mom always asks me how I got to be so weird.  I tell her, I'm not weird, I'm eccentric!  LOL!!!  Now that I'm 50, it's ok for me to be eccentric!  Besides, you know the reputation we artistic people have!

Anyway, I somehow managed to finish up my little yellow cat doll that I started last week:

This one is a gift for a friend who recently lost her little fur baby.  When I can, I like to make a cat doll for my friends when they lose a kitty.  It gives them something pretty to look at and something to hold when the emptiness gets to be too much to handle.  Our fuzzy babies give us so much while they're here with us and when it's time for them to go, the empty space that they leave in our hearts is almost unbearable.  My cat dolls truly are, still Comfort Dolls.

Anyway, here is a close up of the stitched seam that I did with my Waste Canvas Technique:

Since I'm planning to put a few miles on my sewing machine today, I'll sew this one up so I can get it mailed to my friend either tomorrow or Saturday.

I'm going to stitch up one more cat doll and then I'm going to move on to some other things.  I want to sew up some new blocks but haven't decided yet what to make.  I'll guess I'll wait and see where my muse takes me!

A Little Too Busy These Days!

I'm feeling a little too busy these days.  Seems every day I have some dumb thing I have to do or some place I have to go that takes too much time away from what I really want to be doing.

Today I see my Dr. regarding my medication.  I know she'll let me take the final step when I'm ready.  I confess, I'm a bit frightened now that I'm down to getting off of it.  It's been a long road.  A very long, hard, bumpy and frightening road.  And now that I'm at the end, it's a matter of being "ready".  I assume that it'll be like everything else.  When I'm ready, I'll know.

I have not had much in the way of stitching time.  5 minutes here, 10 minutes there.  Too many interruptions.....no sooner do I start stitching and someone's pounding on my door or my phone is ringing or I have to drop what I'm doing and run somewhere.

Tomorrow, I hibernate!  In my house, by myself.  Just me and my cats.  We're supposed to get a few inches of snow tomorrow.  We made it 1/2 way through this Winter with no snow!  And I'm okay with that!  So I guess I'll let it be my excuse to have a "do what I want to do" day!  I will be running my sewing machine and I will be stitching!

In the meantime, I've added a few more of my mom's beautiful door pillows to our Valentines Day Shop:

These are both made from vintage handkerchiefs!

Well, I think I'll get offline now and squeeze in 10 minutes of stitching time before I have to get myself together to head out.  Have a great day everyone!  I think I'll be back to my regular daily blogging schedule now!  LOL!