Spring First!

Finally, it's March 1st!  According to my calendar, it's Spring!  I just won't have it any other way!  LOL!!  March is coming in like a lion though.  Terrible winds yesterday and it looks like southern Illinois had some awful tornados.  Hopefully, March will go out like a lamb!

I have loads to share today!  First, I finished up my little pink purse.  Here's the stitched piece:

And this photo should give you an idea of what it will look like on the frame:

I paged through my books the other day that have the directions for attaching the purse to the frame.  I don't like how they do it but I have a few of my own ideas.  I still feel kind of clueless but I'll figure it out, one step at a time!  I'm going to get this assembled over the weekend.

In the meantime, I'm getting ready to start on another custom order.  I don't usually take on this type of project.  The lady who made this block asked if I would stitch and embellish it.  Normally, I prefer to work from start to finish but I must say, I loved the colors on this project so I agreed to do it.  Here's the pre-pieced block:

Last night, I pulled some trim and lace pieces for it:

I went ahead and hand painted the floral lace pieces right away so I could start stitching on this today.  The colors look a little washed out here.  I'm sure future progress photos will show a little better. 

One other thing that I wanted to share with you today is regarding storing supplies.  As most of you know, I'm a craft supply-a-holic!  I love craft supplies and have way more than I'll ever use but I don't care.  My only concern is in how to store my things.  I do have a room devoted to storing my supplies but I don't want it to look like a storage room.  It's 10 feet square and I have to have my big computer in there too.  I'm trying to organize my things so they're easy to see and get to but not all over the place!  I want to get a smaller desk for my computer and put a comfy stitching chair and lamp in one corner.  Just a little quiet space where I can stitch if Scott is watching football or racing.

Anyway, I'm sure this has been thought of and applied before but for anyone who needs extra storage space, get yourself a "back of the door" hanging shoe bag:

I picked this one up at WalMart for about $8.00.  The pockets are clear plastic so I can see what's in them.  And what's in them?  My collection of fancy yarns.  No, I know I don't crochet much but I love fancy yarn.  I like to use it on my crazy quilts and when I make purses, I like to crochet my own trims for the bottoms.  Anyway, now I can see them all so I can use them more!

This would be perfect for storing lace, threads, beads, buttons, anything really!  Even fabric if your collection is small.

Spring Hanging Pillows

I finished up my last 3 projects the other day and have photos to share!  Yeah!  One of my favorite things to make is door pillows aka hanging pillows.  I've made 100's of these over the years.  Some for myself, some for gifts and some to sell.  I have my little door pillows hanging on every door knob in the house and I change them for the holidays and seasons.  I love them!  They add color and a nice homey feel without taking up any space!  So here are my latest:

Also in our Boutique are another pair of earrings that Kathi made:

Her St Patrick's Day Earrings have sold out but a little birdie told me that there might be some Easter earrings coming!  These items and more can also be found at Etsy.

I'll be finishing up the stitching on my little pink purse today and then I have another custom order to do.  A pre-sewn block that I was asked to stitch and embellish so be sure to stop by tomorrow for updates!

Pink Cat

My pink cat crazy quilt hanging pillow is done and ready to be sewn up:

I think I'll spend the afternoon putting my last 3 projects together.  I have several custom orders to do and I like to stay on top of things.

I was asked to do a small purse on a frame so I started on this project last night:

I'll have to pull out one of my books that shows how to actually put the purse on the frame.  I've never done that before.  But first I have to finished stitching this so I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

I won't be taking on anymore custom orders this year. At the moment I have 4.  I'm going to be focusing on following my own muse, putting some new books together and working on some online classes for Maureen at Maureen's Vintage Acquisitions.  Of course, I'll be making things for the shop because I have to stitch.  It's just what I do.

Cat In Hat

A little progress on my pink Cat In Hat block:

The next thing I'll do is bead that lace applique at the bottom.

I also added 2 new pairs of St Patricks Day earrings by Kathi to the shop:

Look closely!  The crystals are shamrocks!  The prettiest St Patricks Day Earrings I've ever seen!  They're in the shop!

White Cat and Pink Cat

The stitching on my White Cat crazy quilt piece is done:

It was nice to work with this color palette.  You may have noticed that I've been doing a lot with pink, green and purple lately.  I guess those colors are my favorites but I really like all colors and want to do more with the others.

I ended up shoveling my driveway myself yesterday.  I haven't had to do it in years so I shouldn't complain.  The worst part is that it was very wet, heavy snow.  And may I say that Direct TV needs to put windshield wipers on their satellite dishes!  LOL!

You may remember that we upgraded to a high def. TV so we of course, had to upgrade to high def. Direct TV.  Well, it's a bigger dish so instead of putting the new one on the side of the house where I could reach it with a broom to brush the snow off, now it's on the roof where I can barely see it!  When there's snow on the dish, there's no TV reception!

Yes, I had to stand on a chair with a broom, taped to another broomstick and try to brush the snow off the dish without falling on my 50 year old butt!  Ha, ha, ha!  So, this message is for Direct TV!  I need windshield wipers on my satellite dish! 

Okay, now that I've amused you with my snow story, here's my next project:

It's not really a pink cat, but he's dressed in pink and I love images of cats in hats!