Pink Heart

I'm sitting here, all toasty warm, drinking coffee.  My new furnace is in and other than the bill, I'm a happy camper!

I did a lot of baking yesterday just to have the oven on.  A double batch of Chocolate Chip Muffins and a double batch of Cornbread Muffins.  My laundry is done too!  I did anything I could think of to get a little heat in house.  The installer had it running by 6 pm so I slept good last night.  No waking up at midnight, freezing and shivering! 

Oh and my poor little kitties.  They kept looking at me like, "MOM!  What's up with this no heat thing?!!"  I had Nightmare and Simba wrapped up in quilts on the bed and I had Lucy out here with me on the heating pad with my stitching lamp shining on her.

I felt so bad for them.  They're all older and have some health problems.  Nightmare is has a heart condition, Simba has Colitis and Lucy had that stroke just before Christmas.  And I hate that I can't explain things to them.  But I managed to keep them warm as best as I could and they're no worse for the wear today.

In between baking, I did do some stitching.  This will be a little heart shaped door hanging pillow:

I used the corner of a vintage hankie for the center.  I think it needs some vintage Mother Of Pearl buttons now!

In other news, the Spring issue of Pat Winter's Gatherings magazine is now available for purchase:

Is that a gorgeous cover or what?!!!  Preview and order from Magcloud.

Have a Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Getting A New Furnace

Our heating company recommended a new furnace.  At the moment, my heat is out again.  I just called and told them that I need it replaced today.  Okay, that's all I'll say about that for right now.

I finished up my purple cat doll yesterday and sewed up both the purple and the green one:

They're so Springy, aren't they?  Here are closeups of the seam treatments:

Both are worked with my waste canvas technique. 

Well, I don't know how much stitching I'll get done today.  It's hard to stitch when you're shivering!  But we'll see what happens. 

Cold Again

Well, my furnace is out again.  I have the heating people coming out.  It's probably just time to replace it again.  We had this one put in about a year after we bought the house.  We've had the house now for 19 years.  Don't know where the money is coming from for that but we'll figure it out.

I didn't get to doing any stitching yesterday so here's an oldie but a goodie:

I use this purple purse a lot during the Summer months.  The grapes are acrylic.  I bought them at Michael's and was determined to sew them on a purse!  I have another little bunch of grapes that I bought.  Maybe I'll make one to sell this Summer.

Cold Night

Well, in the middle of the night, on the weekend, when it's 11 degrees outside, my furnace decides to go out!  I've been up since 12:30.  Freezing!  LOL!  It's 6:30 now and fixed at the tune of $700.00 but it's warming up in here now and I'm not longer shivering.

I tried stitching but I was shivering so much from being cold that I couldn't get the thread in the needle!  Anyway, I'm almost done with my little purple cat doll:

I think I'll add some silk ribbon flowers to this while I sit here and warm up!

Another Cat Doll

I finished up my St Patricks Day Cat Doll yesterday:

I hope to get this little guy sewn up over the weekend so I can mail him.  I'll share another photo when he's done.

I started one more cat doll as gift for another friend.  This one is purple:

I did another blackwork fill in design at the top using Kreinik metallic #4 braid:

I absolutely love this technique however, although pulling the waste canvas out dry, from small areas like my seam treatments is quite easy to do, larger fill in areas is not so easy.  With crazy quilts, because of the fancy fabrics and fancy threads, I can't wet the waste canvas to get it out more easily. 

Since one thing usually leads to another, I'm going to start looking for some kind of doable alternative.  Because this is fun and this is cool looking!