Irish Lady Pillow continued

A quick update on my Irish Lady Pillow:

And this is something that I'm going to be experimenting with more on upcoming projects:

"Fill in" patterns using my waste canvas technique.  Basically, Blackwork but in this case, I used a single strand of Kreinik metallic #4 braid.  Just a sneak peek of things to come.

Victorian Irish Lady

My family thinks I'm goofy!  Okay, I really am!  But I love St. Patrick's Day!  My grandfather was Irish and I don't know if that has anything to do with it or not but I really think that I like it so much because it's the beginning of Spring.

The thing that gets me through the cold, dark, snowy months of Winter is the fact that Spring is the next season and Spring is my favorite!

So, I started another St. Patrick's Day Crazy Quilt piece:

I have always loved this pretty lady image in the green hat!  I don't think I've ever used that image on a crazy quilt piece before so here she is, in all her Irish glory!

This will be a pillow.  When I finish up on this project, I'll be putting together an online class and then starting on my 3rd Elegant Crazy Quilt Seam Treatments Ebook.

Although I no longer design or spend my stitching time doing counted cross stitch, the background that I have in that will probably never leave me. I like the perfection of working with charted patterns.  I like how I can apply charted patterns to crazy quilting.  And therefore, I will move forward in the direction of applying my charting skills to my beloved passion, crazy quilting.

So, stock up on 8.5 count and 10 count waste canvas!  There are loads of great new crazy quilt ideas and techniques coming this year to Kitty & Me Designs!

What Is A Door Pillow?

I've been asked this question several times recently.  What is a Door Pillow?  I've made 100's of them over the years.  Cross stitch, embroidery, crayon tinting and of course, my beloved Crazy Quilting.

I thought I would answer this question today and share my thoughts on it.

A Door Pillow is nothing more than a small pillow with ribbons or cording sewn into the top for hanging on a door knob or hook.  It's purely decorative and a lovely way to finish and display small needlework pieces without the cost of framing.  They can be changed for the holidays and seasons.

Door Pillows are wonderful for gifts because everyone has a door knob!  And they're sweet little home accent pieces.  Just a nice touch to make a home even more cozy.

They've also been called, door knob pillows, door hanging pillows, door hangers and door knockers.  My cousin Kim calls them door knockers!  LOL!

These are my latest Door Pillows for St. Patrick's Day:

Door Pillows can also be used to sit on a shelf.  The ribbons can be tucked behind the door pillow and displayed on shelf with other decorative items.

I love them and I have dozens of them for the different holidays and seasons.  They're easy to store because they're small and because they're made of fabric, they don't break!

Pink and Green Heart

My final heart shaped door pillow for St. Patrick's Day:

And here are close up photos of my embroidery:

All of these seam treatments, including the Feather Stitch are worked with my waste canvas technique.

I spent yesterday afternoon sewing all of these up.  They're all finished now so I'll post photos of them as soon as I can.

In the meantime, I thought I'd share my ORTS Jar with you:

ORTS stands for "old raggedy threads".  I use to save my bits of threads, ribbons, lace and scraps of sheer thin fabrics in a jar years ago.  Come Spring, I would chop them up teeny tiny and sprinkle them in my garden for the Robins to use in their nests.  I don't know why I stopped doing that but with everyone sharing their ORTS jars on their blogs, I thought I'd start doing it again.  With as much stitching as I do, I should have plenty of little bits by Spring for the birdies to use when it's time for their babies to come!

You can read more about ORTs Jars on Connie Eyberg's Blog.

And if you would like a pretty label for your ORTs Jar, visit my sweet friend, Pat Winter!

Traditional St. Patricks Day Heart

Here is another of my crazy quilt heart shaped door pillows for St. Patricks Day.  This one is quite traditional in color:

And here are closeups of my embroidered seams:

You can find more of my seam embroidery here.

I have one more that I started stitching on yesterday.  I'm going to finish that up now and I think I'll spend the afternoon putting them together.

It's cloudy and dreary here again today.  I sure could use some sunshine!  But I'm sure that putting a few miles on my sewing machine will help!