Crazy Kindle Cover

My mother is permanently attached to her Kindle like my kids are to their cell phones.  So what do you give the woman who has everything for her birthday (especially since the last gift was an Amazon card)?  A crazy quilted Kindle cover!

I researched a few tutorials online and came up with my own design for this thing.
There is a pocket for the Kindle when not in use:

And corners to hold it while you read:

Elastic keeps it all together when in "storage mode."  The elastic I used is not beautiful, but by that point I was ready to pull my hair out and elected to just make do.

I tatted the orange and turquoise laces.  The whole thing is made from quilting cotton so it will wear better than something made from satin, silk, and other fancies.   The colors are much brighter than what I usually use for anything, but are perfect for my mom.

Close-up of lace and silk ribbon roses

I am planning on making a pattern for this cover in general, but leaving the embellishment ideas up to the seamstress.  I will probably also make a few for my Etsy store. 
I've never wanted a Kindle because I love to hold a book in my hand.  I might be tempted to change my mind, though, if I had a cool cover!

The whole thing when laid flat (the butterfly is a pin-no I didn't make it).

Updated 6/13:  See Etsy for the Vintage Lace eReader Cover I have for sale & check back soon for a pattern!

Skulls Abound

The second of the four Dia De Los Muertos blocks that I am assembling:

I must admit, these have proved to be very difficult for me.  I really don't know much about the holiday, and I do not celebrate it, so I don't have the right mind set to be creative.  I am sure these blocks will need more stuff, but I am waiting until they are put together.  That's my excuse, anyway.  The fabrics are too busy for much embellishment.
This is my pinata.  It may still need a stick for hitting.  The silk ribbons at the top are supposed to look like streamers.

The tatted cross is the same one, in a different thread, that I made for my last CQJP block.  It goes together pretty quickly and is a nice little cross. 

This skull is made from an Embroidery Library download.  The velvet ribbon is hand dyed and the flowers are from Offray. 

I am very open to suggestions on these blocks.  Ideas? 

New Old Treasure

I recently acquired this beauty from a lady who is downsizing her collections of Stuff.  She was told it was a doll quilt when she bought it, and is circa 1890.  I can certainly imagine a young lady making this as a sampler of sorts.  It is mostly velvets, but has been worn away with time and use.  It is still a beautiful example of crazy quilting.

What Victorian era quilt is complete without a fan?  There is, of course, the requisite seam work on each blade of the fan.  I am enjoying copying these designs on my own quilts.  The real thing is so much better than copying from a book.  Of course, I do have way more books than any sane person should have.

This motif looks like a sunflower to me.  The fabric to the left is a threadbare rose colored velvet and the one below was a gold and orange striped velvet. 

And what girl of Scottish descent can resist the thistle?  One of them has apparently blown away in time, but you can still see where it was.  The background was orange and to the right looks to be an olive green.

Possibly forget-me-nots?  The purple above is still very vibrant.

This is the back.  It is mostly the fabric on top, with a smaller band of the other.  Both were black, now faded to grey.  I think the backing on a quilt can be just as interesting as the top.

May Crazy Quilt Journal Project Block

I love May.  Besides being my birth month, it's not too hot, not too cold, the flowers are blooming, and the garden has new things to discover every day.
Have you ever found that with a crazy quilt you made?  Whenever I look back at a block, I "discover" something new.
This is my 5th block for the 2013 CQJP:

The little girl is my grandmother, circa 1918. As you can see, I tatted a tiny flower for her and embroidered a duck pull toy.  The frame was pinked with my awesome vintage pinking machine and embroidered in an aesthetic style. 

I also tatted the cross from a pattern in Tatting Collage by Lindsay Rogers.  I had originally planned to put it below the picture, but it was too dark.  The lace that it landed on is from my stash of antiques, as is the flower and leaf surrounded by silk ribbon french knots.  Check my etsy page for an awesome holder for your tatting needles, hand made out of Texas mesquite.

The mixing bowl and rolling pin are my own design.  And yes, I do use a vintage wooden rolling pin with green handles.  I think old things should also have a function.  The mixing bowl reminds me of some of the Pyrex bowls that have been passed down to me.

 

Last but not least, my little tractor.  We do not use John Deere, but love International Harvester.  The design is from an Aunt Martha.  I had to shrink it quite a bit to fit, but it was a lot easier than trying to draw one.

Fourth Block

The fourth block in the CQJP challenge is finished, kind of.  I think it still needs something, but since I'm not sure what quite yet, it will do for now.  Please ignore all of the blue lines and such.  They will come off later.  I've been under the weather (again) and didn't even think about removing the lines before I took the photographs. 

This is my husband's grandfather and aunt.  There is an adult picture of her on the finished crazy quilt.  I tatted the frame using a beautiful variegated green.  The silk ribbon I hand dyed.  I am especially proud of the gold and silver on the scissors and thimble.  They add a nice sparkle in person.  

This is one of those beautiful pieces of lace I got last month and couldn't cut into pieces.  It was kind of boring stuck in the middle of the block, so I picked out some of the motifs with silk ribbon and tatting.  I think it's simple, but still eye catching.  The seam treatment above is the buttonhole herringbone from Sharon Boggon's Pin Tangle.  I really enjoy visiting her site.

Last but not least are my hat and boots (an old Aunt Martha Transfer I had) and a little toy sailboat.  I am trying to include things that invoke "family" in each block.  So we have something religious, something for children, something for Dad, and something for Mama.  

The hat and boots were just outlines, but my son told me they needed to be filled in.  I will do the boots when I get another darker shade of brown in the mail.  I think I've mentioned that I live in the middle of no where.

First Block...Finished??

I think this block is finished.  It just seems like it still needs something.  I think it is because of the muted colors.  I am used to the vividness and contrast of the other quilt.  Any suggestions for additions?  After the whole thing is assembled (a looooong time from now), I may add some beads and more buttons for embellishment.  I am hesitant to do that until after all the blocks are sewn together, though, because I think it will be more difficult to work with if I add them before.  By the way, the block is 6 x 12.

 My little drum was very sad so I added some flowers to spruce it up.  The drum was my first foray into silk floss.  Yummm (she says with dreamy, far away eyes).

The teacup was my second try at silk floss.  It was just as good as the first time, so I guess the ease of it wasn't a fluke.  Unfortunately, I used the whole skein of green.  The little flower was cut off from a venise motif and dyed.

 The little girl in the picture is my great grandmother, Maggie Dukes Brown.  She is with her baby brother and parents in a circa 1900 photograph.  I am planning to use family pictures of children in the quilt.  This picture was originally a lot smaller and it just wasn't working, so I blew it up some more and ended up appliqueing it on.

This motif was inspired by Brian Haggerd.  Along with the Kreinik floss, Santa brought me his newest book.

Have you ever noticed that when you get something new (or want something) that you suddenly see that item everywhere?  Whenever my husband gets a new vehicle, he is suddenly able to point out everything similar in a 2 mile radius.  That is exactly how I am with this piece of lace.  I found it in an antique shop in Goliad, Texas (Hanging Tree Antiques--check them out if you are in the area, these are super nice people).  There are several pieces of it that equal a few yards.  Anyway, in the couple of weeks since I bought it, I have seen it online in at least 4 other blocks.  Then when the husband and I went to Goliad for Market Days on the 12th, we went back to the Hanging Tree and and I found another length of lace which has the above lace as an insertion.

New Loves

Oh, my.  Oh, my.  Oh, my!!  Why didn't someone tell me about silk embroidery floss before?  Santa brought me a couple of the small Kreinik Silk Mori sampler packs and I just tried them out on the drum.  Wow.  I am in love.  I really expected it to be like the DMC satin floss.  Pretty, but entirely too much trouble.  If you haven't tried this stuff, take it from someone who is really impatient with stubborn threads, fabrics, and needles.  Silk Mori is like the proverbial knife through butter.  If this is the kind of floss our Victorian ancestors sat around using, I understand why they were always acting so dainty.  It was so they could embroider all of the time!!!
Don't get me wrong, I still love my plain Jane DMC that I've been playing with for more than a few years (read:  decades).  And I have an awful lot of that to use up.  But I will definitely be saving up my fun money for more Silk Mori. 
This is my new toy:

It is a circa 1931 Singer Hand Operated Pinker and was a gift from a very good friend and her brother.  Because it was their mother's, they shall remain nameless because I don't want any children getting bent out of shape.  Why did I get it?  Because I appreciate such awesome sewing paraphernalia. I also appreciate awesome friends, and not for the cool stuff.  
This is what it does:

Don't you love my daughter's pink toenails in the picture?  I was going to crop it, but changed my mind.  This is the true story of where we live.  It was the middle of January and we were barefoot on the porch taking pictures.  Now it's cold again, though. 

This thing will reportedly cut through fabric, paper, and leather.  It has dials you change to adjust for the thickness of what you are cutting.  As my son said, it looks like an "old" pencil sharpener.  I remember when those pencil sharpeners weren't "old," but you get the idea.  There are other blades for the pinker, but they are a tad expensive and difficult to come by.  Hopefully some day I will get others.

End of the Journey?

I am calling it done.  Except I forgot to put on the label I made.  Please leave a comment!  Positive, negative, suggestions, observations, anything.  I love feedback, it's how I learn and grow. 

This was definitely a learning experience.  And I must say, the finishing (border, backing) was the most difficult part.  Much more so than making and embellishing the blocks.  Before you read further, I do not receive anything for linking to store sites.  I simply do it because I like to know what people use and where they get their supplies, so I assume others do, too. 

I tied the quilt with Petunia 2mm silk ribbon, hiding the the knots.  I went through the backing and the foundation fabric because I did not want the ribbon to show on the front.  I buy most of my silk ribbon from silkribbon.com.  Their ribbon takes dye very nicely.  They are reasonably priced and ship very, very quickly. 

This is the "soaring bird" from Urban Threads.  I also have the "floral fascinator" on another block, but the picture came out way too fuzzy.  You can see it in the top right corner in the picture of the whole quilt.  This was my first foray into Urban Threads freestanding lace designs and I am very happy with the results.  I bought a few other downloads that I am looking forward to making up.

I also purchased several pieces of lace from Sew-Biz Fabrics to dye. They are very reasonable and also ship very quickly. For someone who lives in the middle of no where, that is super important. These I finished with buttons from my small stash (hand me downs from grandmothers and other places), from Roxann, and from my aunt. Check out the cameo button from Aunt Tricia. It is my hands-down favorite.

Kay's Kreation

Today I am tooting two horns!!  My friend and coworker, Kay, has been watching me work on my crazy quilt, and seeing my other projects, for over a year now.  She expressed interest in learning to embroider over the summer and we talked about how she could get started.  Now, we both tried our hand at crochet that another coworker tried to teach us last year.  That didn't go so well for either of us. 
So I bought Kay an Aunt Martha's transfer to practice with and then she got another and off she's gone!  This pillowcase is her first project:

She is going to make another matching one, possibly with the red and yellow reversed for some extra interest.  Her next project is an appliqued and embroidered shirt for her daughter.  She's picked out an adorable cat motif for that.

I am so proud of Kay for finishing the pillowcase in such a short time, and bursting with pride (ok, I teared up) that I have taught someone a skill that is quickly going by the wayside.  She really loves it and, since she's semi-retired, has time on her hands.  Kay's first love is gardening, but with our scorching summer that lasts until mid-October, you can only spend so many hours outside.  

Speaking of my crazy quilt, I am still finding new areas that really need just a touch more embellishing and I still need to make the corner blocks, but I hope to have something up here soon.

Nearing the Finish Line!!!

Finally, number 20 is complete!  I think it still needs something, but I'm not sure what yet.  It will come to me eventually.
The Tiffany blue brocade and lace are from my aunt's wedding suit back in the 60s.  The dark blue (it looks black in the picture) is from my uncle's dress blues that he wore for the wedding.  He was in the Navy and is a Vietnam Veteran.  I feel very, very blessed to have these fabrics but I'm not sure if it's because Aunt Tricia cut up their wedding outfits for me or because I have his uniform, a true piece of our history.  It's very humbling.  My aunt inspired me to start quilting.  She is very, very creative with a needle and thread and has unwittingly challenged me to change, adapt, and improve in my own little fabric world.  This is not to say that we are the same at all, but we do appreciate each other's work.  Aunt Tricia's quilts, and decorative clothing, is generally super bright and very modern, except for her work with buttons, neckties, and yo-yos.  (She is being featured in an upcoming issue of Belle Armoire.)  I tend to be much more traditional and while I enjoy pops of brights, I lean toward spring and fall colors. 
The brown floral, black cat, and turquoise paisley are from my cousin Tommie Sue, whose favorite colors are orange and turquoise.  Can you tell?  One of TS' jackets was in the Valentines issue of the same magazine this year.  I'm thrilled for them both to have been published, as well as extremely jealous!

 

I have never worked with wool before.  It sews nicely, but does it ever attract every snippet of thread and anything else!  How in the world do soldiers keep themselves looking as handsome and neat as they do?  It boggles the mind.  Anyway, the eagle pattern is from the Q is for Quilter blog that I found a few days ago.  I just had to play around with the size and transfer it to my water soluble stabilizer.  The USA is free hand.



My strawberries are satin stitched.  Didn't I say a long time ago that I was NOT going to satin stitch again?  Ah, well.  They turned out nicely.  The pink flowers to the left are silk ribbon and done in a lazy daisy stitch, as are the leaves.

 

Tommie Sue's Halloween cat was cute but needed something.  I picked out his whiskers, eyebrows, mouth, and ear hair with a single strand of gray.  There is satin stitching on the solid orange of the striped fabric he is wrapped in and black backstitching.







My lucky horseshoe full of flowers is tatted.  Some of the flowers I had laying around and can't remember where the patterns came from (sorry to anyone I have offended).  The horseshoe came from Be-stitched.  This is a very cool site with lots of different motifs well beyond the general doilies and edgings.  This arrangement didn't come out the way I envisioned, but I'm not sure what to do with it so it's staying as-is.

 

I finished the block last night and stitched it to some of the surrounding blocks early this morning.  Hopefully next week I will be able to share pictures of all the blocks sewn together, before the border is added.  I found the perfect fabric for that last weekend while shopping for school clothes.  I know, the fabric store is not the first place most people think of these days for school clothes.  But after spending that much time shopping with my little teen angels, I deserved a mommy break.

 

Comments?  Suggestions?

A Glimpse

This week I've been busy putting blocks together, embellishing the seams between them, and moving and adding motifs within the blocks.  While I'm only showing two things today, rest assured that much more was done behind the scenes!







This is my take on the Sacred Heart.  I saw something similar on one of the quilts in Crazy-Quilted Memories by Brian Haggard and decided to design my own.  After drawing it, I traced it onto the water soluble stabilizer and embroidered using buttonhole, backstitch, straight stitch, and french knots.  I obviously did not soak off the stabilizer before I snapped the picture.  Mr. Haggard's designs strike me as more Eastlake-ish (not a word, I know) in form.  Since I love Eastlake and aesthetic, I find his work very interesting.  As a matter of fact, as I write this and look at these pictures, I see a few other of his inspirations that I've followed.  Note the wagon wheel on the top left of the picture below (the rest of that design is also inspired by Haggard) and the blue triangular seam design on the top left.

This spider and web are stitched between two joined blocks.  I love, love, love how it came out.  I made the spiderweb first and then searched online for a tatted spider pattern.  This is from be-stitched.  I chose turquoise for the middle of the spider because the suggested red (black widow) was just too scary for me. 

In Victorian times, a spider in the home was a sign of good luck.  I think the husbands just told the wives that so they wouldn't have to be bothered with killing spiders.  So, much like pineapples and other positive traditions, spiders were added to crazy quilts. 
Stay tuned.  Next week I hope to have the last block finished.  I'm still searching for the perfect fabric for the border of the whole quilt. 

The Next Chapter

I believe we are at number 18.  This one features my mother-in-law in her wedding portrait.  I tried to make a veil for her, but I just couldn't get it right so I picked out her pearls with french knots and her bouquet with satin roses. 

The paisleys are free hand with variegated thread and a silk ribbon rose.  I love paisleys.  A lot.  More than I probably should.  But they're just so cool and free while still being contained.

This is Noel.  She is my favorite dog (which is saying a lot because I love dogs and have had many, many favorites).  My husband rescued her from the local shelter at Christmas several years ago because I adore bassets.  She never completely fattened up, but she always made me laugh.  Have you ever watched a basset run?  It's more of a rocking motion and is adorable.  Noel died last July and I still miss her.  Anyway, I sort of copied a drawing from the internet and used the water soluble stabilizer trick to embroider her.

I went to an estate sale last week and found a pile of nice fabrics for crazy quilting.  The light blue, purple, and burgundy were all from that sale.  At fifty cents for a couple of yards, I felt that I could finally experiment with burn-out velvet on the burgundy.  It turned out pretty well, until I cut it off when sewing it on the block.  Oh, well.  Only God is perfect. 

I collect hats. I have downsized quite a bit in the last 10 years, but I still have quite an affinity for them. Nano bought my first one, a black velvet that molds to the back of my head and reigns from the late 1800s, at a festival (Tuleta Days) in a neighboring community. I think I was about 12. The embroidered one doesn't look like anything I own, but I thought it looked Victorian. The fuzzy brown stuff is supposed to look like ostrich feathers or some such. Not sure if it does, but it works for me.

My aunt visited this week and brought a large bag full of lace bits and yards.  First I found the little off white loop thing that was the perfect length for the area above the blue butterfly.  I had left the embroidery off that area with the intention of putting in a piece of lace or trim and shazam!  There was the perfect piece.  After I embroidered the hat, I decided a lace parasol would be cute.  Back to the bag where I found this soft polyester that wasn't what I had in mind, but was too pretty to pass up.  It wasn't stiff enough to applique an open parasol, but I think it turned out very nicely.

I am planning to stop at 20 blocks, but I'm still not sure.  I had originally wanted the last two to really be one.  I have an awesome piece of organza with a large peacock machine embroidered onto it that I wanted to mount to the block, but the way it was cut when I bought it is awkward and I don't think it will work just right.  Still thinking about it, though.