Easter is Coming and It's Time to Make Eggs

Notecards are fun to make. To me, the best part is that they are finished fast. Sometimes, I work on projects and then it takes as long to make the item, whether it is pouch, purse, album or whatever as it does to do the crazy quilting itself. With these little note cards, you can do your needlework and then just get out your glue and stick it to a card. I enjoy that!

So, here is a sample of the fast work. Eggs and more eggs. We don't dye them at our house, I just make them in an evening. Some, I mounted on felt backgrounds for hanging and some went onto note cards. These are note cards. I'll get the felt backs out in a day or so.



The card that is below was printed from a card that was sent to my "Daddy" when he was young. His aunts lived in Guernsey, Channel Islands and they cards they sent him were very interesting. This one says "To Greet You". There are others that are for little boys, this one seemed to be a card that was sent to the entire Hamon family. The colors are lovely.

Pillow Ticking purse

Many years ago, Inspirations by Country Bumpkin in Australia, had an article on using pillow ticking as a base for embroidery. That sounded like a good idea to me because I had some of this fabric. I found that it needled very well and was a good pick-up and go project.

Isn't amazing how things finally "turn out"? I did this embroidery and made a glasses (spectacles) case. Well, it was a little too big for glasses even the large glasses that I was wearing back then before these narrow ones arrived on the shelves. So, I kept looking at the glasses case and decided that I would make the front of lovely and interesting purse and this is the product. This is the large view of the handbag. It is lined with some dupioni which I had just received in the mail. Funny how those things happen isn't. What we order for one thing we use on something else.

This is the full view of the handbag. I put a beaded handle on it, which was a vintage necklace that I got someplace. That necklace was too long so doubled it and then the bag was finished.

The bag measures: At the tallest point 8 inches and it is 6 inches along the bottom.






The flowers motif is made of wire-edged ribbon. I had to make them specially for the handbag because the glasses case was quite bare of anything but the line stitching.

The pillow ticking embroidery technique is very easy and I hope just as easily explained.

• Simply embroider the lines of the pillow ticking with crazy quilt stitches, then embellish the stitches with other little accent stitches just as we do in crazy quilting.

• Some of the lines of the pillow ticking can be covered with narrow braid, or silk ribbon stitches. Don't forget the beads. There is no limit as to what you can do to cover those pillow ticking lines. I used all kinds of stitches and embellishments, some of which were "invented" just for this piece.

This handbag is available for sale.

Photo Transfer sans Computer

For some family gifts this year, I found these "vintage" photo transfers that I had copied many years ago. Since they were appropriate for our daughter and my sister-in-law, I embellished them, we found frames for them and they became Christmas gifts. Haven't heard how well they were received yet. Actually, I had to wait until after Christmas so that the we assured they would be a surprise.

These photo transfers were done by burnishing commercial photocopies onto 100% silk using gum turpentine as the solvent. I don't even know if we can still buy gum turpentine, but we could about 15 years ago. The solvent allows the copy ink to transfer off the photocopy and onto the silk. It is an old fashioned process and it looks well with these 1950 and 1960's photos.

Here are some details and closeups of the pieces.

And another detail.

Since these were special gifts, I allowed the use of really old buttons, silk threads some old keepsake lace that I had, and some cultured pearls.

Another Pink Card Case

This Card Case measures 4.5 by 3 inches which is just right for credit cards and some money. This little case was an order from a client and is designed to be taken out in the evening without having to carry a large purse.

I pieced on a rather stiff interfacing so that the little card case doesn't flop around. It worked well and will certainly use that method again.

These photos are all of the finished piece.

The open card case

I cover large snaps with a matching or coordinating fabric before I sew them on. My goal is to make the snap look like a flower. Sometimes it works and sometimes it is not so successful, but the snap always looks better covered.

Instructions for covering the snap.

• Cut a small round about 3/8 to 1/2 inch larger than the snap. Gather around the edge and slip the snap face down into the hollow. Pull up the gathering thread, cinch it off. You will probably need to trim the little wad of gathered fabric that is left on the back.
• You'll then need to puncture a little hole so the snap can actually snap onto its mate.
• Sew the side of the snap with the hole in it onto the base of your worked piece. In this case the dibble of the snap was on the flap and the side of the snap with the hole is on the card case itself.
• Cover the other side of the snap in the same manner. And snap it into its mate so that you know where to sew them on.
• Decorate the snaps as you desire with beads or embroidery. The two snaps do not have to be covered with the same color or decorated the same, just be sure that whatever you do, the snaps can get together and snap securely.

This is a detail of the back.

The little pink "round" is a Dorset button. I love making them and they always add a lot of texture and interest. Instructions can be found in the book, 50 Heirloom Buttons by Nancy Nehring. That book is out of print, but you can find it at some Internet booksellers. There are some good instructions here. Also, with some of that wonderful thread, I made some bullion knot roses and buds.

Full view of the back

Here is a full view of the back of the card case. I used silk ribbon flowers and some wonderful hand painted silk embroidery thread which I buy from Evening Star Designs.

The finished front. The edge is lined with alternating seed beads and 3 mm glass pearls.