Black Crazy Quilt Purse

I apologize for my absence the past few days.  There's a lot of things to do this time of year.  I started trimming my yard back but still have some plants and Rose Of Sharon trees left to trim.  I haven't seen a hummingbird in over a week so I'll go out this afternoon and bring my feeders in.  I have all the windows done except for the living room so that's on my schedule for next week.

In the meantime, I finished up the black Crazy Quilt purse that I was working on.  Well, the stitching done.  I'm planning on sewing it together tomorrow:

And here are some closeup photos of the seam embroidery and bead work that I did:

I made the rose from a piece of velvet upholstery trim.

I satin stitched the flowers on this lace applique.  The flower buttons were a bit bright so I painted them with a pearly pink nail polish to soften them up a bit.

As I mentioned, I plan to sew this piece together tomorrow.

I've been stitching on some cellphone pouches so I'll have photos of those soon too.  And, for my students, Lesson 9 will be available soon!  Here's a sneak peek:

Would you like to see the first 9 blocks together?  Here you go!

The first 8 lessons of my online crazy quilt class are available at Magcloud.  Lesson 9 will be available shortly.  I'll will let you know when Jason has it uploaded.

Wish You Painted Your Lace?

I've been stitching along on my current Crazy Quilt Purse project.  When I first chose my lace pieces, I liked the way they looked in white.  Once I had my seams embroidered, I decided I should have painted my lace:

It looked very stark to me so what did I do since my lace was already sewn on and embroidered?  I grabbed my colored pencils:

I have the watercolor colored pencils so once I colored my lace, I used a small paint brush dipped in water to blend the color into the fibers:

You don't want to soak the lace because you don't want it bleeding into the background fabric.  Just a light dab of water will help the color blend into the fibers of the lace.

This is a great way to deal with coloring fabric, lace or trim after it's sewn on.

Hand Needle Felted Halloween Mouse

My sister Kathi made this absolutely adorable, little hand needle felted Halloween mouse:

Is this absolutely precious or what!!!  I really don't know how Kathi does these soft sculptured dolls out of wool!  I can do needle felting but not the beautiful things that Kathi makes!

Stitching A Purse

Lesson 9 of my Online stitching class is done!  All I have to do is to type it up and send to Jason.  I'll share a sneak peek with ya'll tomorrow.

In the meantime, I started stitching on this purse:

It doesn't look all that exciting at the moment, so stay tuned!  Once I get more of the seam embroidery done, I'll post close up photos of them.

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

The other day, I had some very ripe Bananas that I didn't want to go to waste.  I hate throwing food away.  I made what I always make with over ripe bananas, Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins.  My sister Kathi always tells people I put chocolate in everything but that's really not true.  I never put chocolate in my Blueberry Muffins or my Apple Muffins or my Apple Cake.  But chocolate and Bananas really go well together!  And chocolate after all, IS a food group!  Well, it is in my book!  LOL!!!

Anyway, now that it's just about Fall, I bake more often so you'll be seeing some more recipes pop up on my blog from time to time.  Here's my recipe for Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins:

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
5 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
2/3 cup vegetable oil
5 bananas
1 12 ounce back Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a large bowl, mash bananas.  Use a fork or potato masher.  In another bowl, combine all dry ingredients.  In a Pyrex pitcher or another bowl, combine wet ingredients.

Add the wet ingredients to the bananas and mix well.  Add the dry ingredients to the banana mixture and mix well.

Stir in chocolate chips.

Line cupcake pans with paper liners and fill to the top.  I always add sprinkles!  That makes them pretty!

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 22 - 25 minutes (until done).

Enjoy!