Blue Crazy Quilt Purse

I made quite a bit of progress on my blue crazy quilt purse.  I have a bit more stitching I want to do on it and then I have a few do-dads I want to add:

I also finished a couple more Needle Felted Brooches:

Everyone tells me that I accomplish a lot!  I just like to stay busy.  It keeps me out of trouble!  LOL!!!

Oh and if you're wondering about the weather forecast for Northern Illinois, it's the same as it's been since Thanksgiving:  snow, cold, wind! Please tell me that February is only 28 days this year!

Lady In Blue Purse

I decided to go with the original color themes already in the fabrics on this purse instead of introducing more colors.  I thought it would keep with the vintage theme:

The only color I'll be adding more of is some greens.  I have some shibori ribbon that I plan to make leaves out of so be sure to watch my follow up posts on that.

It is actually above 0 degrees today!  So got in my little car and went up to Meyer to walk around a little bit and then I went to the Post Office.  Not really an exciting day but it sure felt good to get in my car and go! 

St Patricks Day Ornaments

I finished stitching my little birdie door hanger that I was working on yesterday:

I'll get this assembled in the next few days and post another photo when it's completed.  My next project will be the blue Crazy Quilt purse piece that I posted about yesterday.

In the meantime, here is a St Patricks Day Ornament that Mom made:

I guess that's my news for today.  If you're looking for more interesting reading, please hop over to Terri Lee's blog and tour her beautiful 130 year old home.

New Crazy Quilt Projects

I have a few new Crazy Quilt projects to share today.  One is started and the other is my next project.  First, a door hanger:

This is a special order which I usually don't accept but because the theme was birds and it's door hanger, I didn't mind doing this one.  I expect to finish this up today so I'll post another photo when I have it done. 

My next project will be a purse in shades of blue.  I don't work a lot in the darker shades of blue and I'm not sure why.  I guess I go for the pastel colors of pinks, greens and purples:

I think it'll be fun to work with this color palette for a change.  As I mentioned, this will be a purse.  I'm also working on some more little needle felted brooches.  So stop back to see where my latest projects go!

In other news, Mom gave me a few new things to add to our Etsy shop.  These are her St Patricks Day Door Hangers:

Finally for today, I have a new photo of my beautiful Lucy.  She was laying on my treadle sewing machine and I had the camera right there so I was able to grab it get a nice picture of her:

Isn't she pretty?  Lucy is 15 now.  Geez, where does the time with them go?  She has the early signs of kidney disease but we had her to vet on Saturday for tests and the special diet is working.  Her kidney numbers are in the normal range now.  Thank goodness!  She's tolerating the babies a little better.  There isn't too much pounding going on anymore but she has gotten really good at hissing at them.  Especially Cottonball because he tends to push her buttons!

Inspired By Pat Winter

I have always loved the work of Pat Winter.  I discovered her work years ago on Art-E-Zine.  Once she started blogging, I followed her religiously and still do to this day.  Pat's delicate embroidered crazy quilting, in soft Victorian hues can calm and quiet the busiest of minds!

I was quite taken with Pat's Embellished Brooches.  Beautiful Victorian images surrounded by needle felting, silk ribbon embroidery, beads, sequins and charms.  Here is an example of Pat's work:

Is this stunning or what?!!!!  Now I've been making needle felted heart brooches for a few years but Pat's pretty ones kept showing up on Pinterest and I finally asked her if she minded if I made a few for my shop.  Now I have to tell you, in case you've never talked to her, Pat is absolutely delightful!  She is sweet as can be and quite generously told me that she didn't mind at all.  I truly felt that I had to ask her because I know she sells some of her handmade pieces in her Gatherings Etsy Shop.  I believe in being respectful and I didn't want to take away from her sales.  I just felt that it was proper etiquette to ask her first.

So, here are my newest embellished needle felted art brooches worked in the beautiful and elegant style of Pat Winter:

I really enjoy making the little heart brooches but I have to tell you, I love making these even more!  And I am planning on doing a few more but I need to do some crazy quilting first.  Thank you so much Pat! 

If anyone is interested in making some of these, Pat offers a tutorial in her shop:

You can find the Instant Download for Felting And Embellishing A Brooch here.

And speaking of crazy quilting, I spent all day yesterday running my treadle sewing machine.  I'm sure I put a good couple of miles on it!  I sewed up a ton of purses, a pillow and a door hanger.  So have loads of new things in the works.

Finally, on a sad note, my mom lost her beloved Chooch this morning:

Chooch was the most wonderful and gorgeous black lab.  In her earlier years, she was a therapy dog.  Mom would take her to the local retirement center and she would visit with the residents there.  Chooch was awesome at that!  My mom gave her a wonderful life and she lived to be over 14 years old.  I will miss her terribly.