Elegant Cross Stitch Sentiments For Crazy Quilting

I've been chattering a lot about my upcoming book, Elegant Cross Stitch Sentiments For Crazy Quilting.  No, I really don't design much cross stitch anymore but I had this fun idea for a book with some small cross stitch designs that could be used on crazy quilts.  It took me awhile to design the 60 plus patterns and then awhile longer to stitch up some models:

My assistant and editor Jason, is in the process of converting the patterns and putting the book together.  I'll have more information in the next couple of weeks regarding the book but in the meantime, I'm making some of the models available for purchase.  I'm keeping the Halloween one but the rest are in my Etsy shop.  And just so ya'll know, that purple and green hanging pillow is the cover design!

What Are Bowl Fillers?

I was recently asked about Bowl Fillers.  What Are Bowl Fillers to be exact?  Bowl fillers are the hottest new trend in home decor and decorating.  Bowl fillers can be any collection of things that are small enough to display in a pretty bowl and set on a dining table or coffee table as a center piece.

They can be something as simple as vintage glass Christmas ornaments, pinecones or seashells.  Mom and I have had a lot of fun coming up with new ideas for bowl fillers.  Here are some of mom's:

Some of these are still available and I know that mom is working on all sorts of new bowl fillers!  And as I mentioned yesterday, I'm working on 4 sets of crazy quilt hearts for bowl fillers!  Hope to run my sewing machine most of the day tomorrow!

Cottage Style Gingham Pillows

I have a couple of fun things to share with you today so I'll do a couple of different blog posts.

First, I thought I'd share my mom's latest creations.  These are her Cottage Style Gingham Pillows:

Made from vintage place mats!  Mom put them on a gingham background and added some pretty lace and trim.  I can see these as a set all lined up on a pretty bench or bed!

Crazy Quilt Hearts Future Bowl Fillers

First, I'd like to wish a warm welcome to all of the new ladies who are following my blog!  All of a sudden, I see some new faces!  Thank you and please leave me comments!

I've been stitching and sewing and am working away on all sorts of new things here.  This is a set of future Crazy Quilt Hearts for Bowl Fillers.  I just finished stitching the last one this morning:

 

Each Crazy Quilt Heart will have 2 coordinating fabric hearts with it so there will be 4 sets available.  The next step is to sew these up along with their little companions.  My mom's bowl fillers have flown out the door so I thought I'd get on the band wagon with a few too!

In other news, Jason, my assistant and editor is about 1/2 way done with my upcoming book, "Elegant Cross Stitch Sentiments For Crazy Quilting".  Jason does an amazing job with my books and so far, it looks like this one will be phenomenal!  I finished putting all the models together over the weekend so I'll be photographing them tomorrow and getting the JPEG's to Jason.  At that point, he'll get the cover ready so I can share it here!

My next stitching project, which I'll be starting this evening, is Lesson 5 for my Online Crazy Quilt Course.  The release date for that is April 30th!

For now, I have a few new things from mom to list so I'll hope over to Etsy and do that.

Student Crazy Quilt Blocks Lesson 4

I'm thrilled with the improvements and creativity that I 'm seeing in my students work.  They're finishing up on Lesson 4 so I thought I'd share the photos that they've sent to me.  This is my example block:

I'm starting to give everyone more freedom now that they have the hang of my teaching style.  And the girls are starting to have a better understanding of working with color to compose a well balanced block.

The only requirements for this block is that it had to be worked in yellow, white and green and the bee had to be used.  As you can see, I'm starting to focus on more techiniques now and letting the girls learn how to work with color through those techniques.  Yes, there is always a method to my madness!

This is Cris' block:

Cris struggled a bit with the first 3 lessons but judging by lesson 4, she's starting to see how colors compliment each other and how to use them to balance a block.  Cris used a nice variety of stitches and embellishments and although I would add more sequins (that's just me.  I love sequins!), that's really just a matter of personal preference.

Next we have Karin's block:

Karin's block is beautiful!  Heavily embellished and well balanced.  I'm not sure what Karin did for the wings on the bee but Karin, if you're reading this, please leave us a message in the comments so we know what you did.  Again, there's a nice variety of stitches and embellishments on Karin's block.  Lovely work Karin!  Job well done!

Finally for today, we have Joyce's block:

Joyce came up with a very unique way to display her bee.  Check out that sunflower!  Excellent!!!!!!!!!  Amazingly creative!  Joyce doesn't feel like her block is done yet so I made a few suggestions for her:

If you're ever stuck on a crazy quilt block, photograph it or scan it into your computer and play with it a little bit using whatever graphic software you have.  I use Corel Photopaint but Paint Shop Pro would work, Photoshop would work and Microsoft Paint would probably work.  Simply "draw" on the image of your block to try different things before actually stitching on them.

It always helps to look at your block from a distance.  I keep my stitched piece propped up on a chair in my living room when I'm not working on it.  That way, I can glance at it as I walk around and see where things need to be balanced.

Joyce, I hope my suggestions help you!