Cross Stitch Patterns by designer Pamela Kellogg of Kitty And Me Designs

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Friday, December 30, 2005

Key To My Heart Block Completed!


Valentine Block Day 8
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.
After running my vacuum cleaner, doing a load of laundry and running to the bank, I worked on this all afternoon and completed it!

I added the cherub button beneath the blue applique, I embroidered the seam on the bottom left and beaded that, then did the vine next to it and added the hearts and some more beads. I don't know why the red hearts look so bright. They are the same exact color as the big heart in the middle.

Anyway, The gold heart in the middle of the big red heart is a pin that I found at a flea market over the Summer. I had to cut the pinback off with wire cutters. I sewed that on and then added a teeny tiny gold heart charm inside of that.

I'd love to do the finishing on this next week but we'll see if that happens.

Valentine Block Day 7


Valentine Block Day 7
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.
This is coming along nicely isn't it? I was digging around in my charms yesterday and I found the little red heart and then I remembered that I had the key charm. I've had that for about 10 years now! I bought it for a cross stitch project but it didn't work so I've had it in my stash all this time.

Anyway, this block will be titled, "Key To My Heart". I had some gold chain so attached that to the charms and I think it looks really cool!

It needed more yellow at the bottom. For some reason, I don't have alot of yellow do-dads so I used more of the little pastel colored flowers that I used by the butterfly.

Now to work on the bottom left-hand corner. That needs more of the blue so I'll have to figure out what to do there.

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Valentine Block Day 6


Valentine Block Day 6
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.
I haven't accomplished much on this lately. But I did add my signature in the upper right-hand corner and then I beaded the blue braid.

I hope to have another update on this shortly.

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

I'm back

I had wanted to post yesterday but after 4 days of non-stop holiday action, I was rather tired and didn't accomplish much.

I had a lovely birthday (yes, I'm a Christmas Eve baby) and a very nice Christmas. Scott took me to see King Kong on my birthday. Wow! I loved all 3 hours and 7 minutes of it! Then he took me into town and let me pick out a new pair of earrings. We went to my parent's house in the evening where we visited with them and exchanged gifts with my aunt and uncle and my cousin.

Christmas Day, we went back to my parent's house for a few hours and then came home. I received some lovely gifts, including a box full of crazy quilt goodies for my birthday from my parents and a beautiful new 30's style quilt for our bed that my mom made for me. I've already taken some photos but still have to transfer the pics to a CD. I'll post them as soon as I can get those photos transferred.

In the meantime, I thought I would share several of the CQ blocks that I made as gifts and couldn't post until now.

Hummingbird CQ

VintageBlock

If you still need more Crazy Quilt eye candy, be sure to visit Chloe's Place to see Linda's Peacock Quilt! Wow! It's gorgeous!

I don't have much new added to the Valentine block but if my energy remains constant, I might do some stitching on it later and then I'll post an update tomorrow.

Friday, December 23, 2005

Until Monday....

I wanted to take a moment and wish everyone a happy and safe holiday season. I probably won't have time to update the blog until Monday.

Scott will be taking me to see King Kong for my birthday tomorrow. Then we'll go over to my mom's house for a bit in the evening. On Christmas day, we'll be going back to my mom's house for a few hours and then home again. It should be a nice weekend.

I hope you all have a great holiday! I'll be back on Monday with an update on my Valentine block!

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Valentine Block Day 5


Valentine Block Day 5
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.
A bit more progress to share today.

I did beading yesterday. I added the flowers to the curly vine at the top and then I did more beading on the applique.

I'm not quite sure where to go with it next. I have to run to WalMart to pick up a few things first. Maybe while I'm out, I'll get some inspiration!

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Valentine Block Day 4


Valentine Block Day 4
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.
I decided to handpaint the butterfly yellow and then I added a bit of orange to the edges of the wings. I beaded it with some 3M Swarovski crystals and some tiny gold glass seed beads.

I also added the feather stitch above the butterfly along with some lazy daisies and I beaded that and then I added trim above the heart and began work on the vine at the top. I'm going to continue on with that now so I expect to have another update for you tomorrow.

Monday, December 19, 2005

Valentine Block Day 3


Valentine Block Day 3
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.
I did some stitching yesterday and started beading the applique on the bottom. I'll add more beads to that, I just haven't decided on what yet.

I also did a vine along side the heart and added some little flowers to that.

I'm trying to decide on whether or not to handpaint the butterfly. I think I'll paint it yellow. If I don't like it, I have plenty more in my stash.

Saturday, December 17, 2005

Valentine Block Day 2


Valentine Block Day 2
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.
I somehow managed to sit still for a few hours yesterday so today now, I have something interesting to show!

I handpainted an applique and some tiny daisy trim. I believe that trim is left over from my wedding dress which my mother made. Anyway, I sew the little daisies around the heart and then beaded them.

I added some cream colored lace and beaded that with some tiny heart beads. I think they're quartz or some natural stone that were dyed. My friend Lula sent them to me years ago and I've been saving them. I don't know why or for what, I just couldn't bring myself to cut the string and use them. But I knew they would be perfect for this project so I cut the string and sewed some on!

I added sequins and the blue braid as well. I'll probably do some beading on the applique next.

Friday, December 16, 2005

Valentine Block Day 1


Valentine Block Day 1
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.
I looked through the rest of my lace stash but I didn't find anymore pieces of crocheted rick rack. I'll be keeping my eyes open for more of that next time I'm out and about in the antique malls and flea markets.

In the meantime, I did start on the Valentine block. I appliqued a red heart on using the freezer paper technique. After cutting the foundation fabric to get the freezer paper out, I added a bit of fiberfill to make the heart puff out, just like I did with the red hat. Then I whip stitched the back closed.

That's about as far as I managed to get on this. I do have time to stitch now, but unfortunately, I've been a bit restless. It's due to the holidays and the weather as well as the time of year here.

The short daylight hours, the cold and snow all get on my nerves. I feel like all I've done is shovel the driveway!

This isn't at all unusual for me. I usually start to feel better by mid-January, when I can see that it's starting to stay light out longer. That's only a few weeks away. In the meantime, I'll work on this when I'm up to it and post photos as I go along.

Thursday, December 15, 2005

Crocheting on Rick Rack

It wasn't until earlier this year that I became aware of the art of crocheting on rick/rack. I had never seen it before or even heard of it until I bought a boxful of lace at a flea market. At the time, I really didn't think that much of it. I just washed and pressed everything and put it in the lace drawer for use someday on a crazy quilt.

After reading my post yesterday, Linda did a search and found this article on crocheting on rick/rack at about.com.

If you look closely at the photo there, you'll see that the pattern matches the one I posted yesterday.

Here are 2 more pieces in my lace collection:

Lace4

On the small piece, the rick/rack is woven and then crocheted on. I think these are really interesting. I'll have to go through my collection (and yes Gina, I do have quite the collection of lace now not mention fabric, beads, buttons and other do-dads) and see if I have any others.

Linda, I'm sorry, I don't have any darker paper here at the moment. I'll try to pick some up over the weekend.

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

For Linda


Lace3
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.
Linda asked me if I would put some colored paper behind my lace. I didn't think about that but it does make it show up more.

I'm rather facinated with this one and am hoping that maybe Linda or Gina or someone knows how this was done.

It looks like crocheting on rick/rack. The little rick/rack. I've never seen anything like this before and I think it's cool looking. Anyone have any ideas on this?

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

More Old Lace


Lace2
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.
A bit more of the old lace that bought at the flea market in November. I really like the piece in the middle. It looks like ferns.

Monday, December 12, 2005

Old Lace


Lace1
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.
You may remember me mentioning the big bag of lace that I bought at the last flea market that I went to. It's all washed, starched and pressed now. It didn't come out quite as clean as I had hoped but I'll probably handpaint some of it so it won't matter.

It took me 3 days to starch and iron it all! Here are three of the unusual pieces from "me plunder"! I'll share more tomorrow.

Saturday, December 10, 2005

More Tatted Ornaments


Tatted Ornaments2
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.
Here are few more. I did some wreaths too but I used a pattern for those.

I used a variety of different threads for these. Some crochet thread, some pearl cottons. I really love tatting with the varigated threads. I like to watch the colors change!

Sorry they're not straight in the photos. I used the scanner instead of the camera.

Tatted Ornaments


Tatted Ornaments1
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.
Today, I thought I would share a few of the tatted ornaments that I made to tie on gifts. I made a ton of these last January!

I kind of just made up the trees. Maybe I'll work up another one and write down the directions as I go to post here.

In the meantime, I used fabric glue to attach them to the fabric, then I sewed the sequins on and then finished them like doorknockers. And I haven't forgotten that some of you are still waiting for those directions! I'll get that posted as soon as I have time to sew some more together.

Friday, December 09, 2005

Staying In Touch

I still haven't gotten back to stitching yet. Been tying up some loose ends and I have a small job for Bucilla now and then I should be able to get started on my Valentine block. I just wanted to keep the blog updated so you don't think I disappeared again!

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Stash Additions

I was up at my local needlework shop, Welcome Stitchery in Crystal Lake, Illinois today. The needlework industry has been bombarded with primative style designs and although I don't have any particular problem with that if someone likes those sort of designs, I just don't care for them and I'm actually rather tired of looking at them.

So I didn't buy any patterns, which is fine. After all, I'm a designer so I have a computer full of the style of designs that I like! I'm not into stitching counted work these days though. So what I did buy, was some pretty Watercolor threads from The Caron Collection. I like to use these on my crazy quilts.

WatercolorThreads

And now one of these days, I have to get back to crazy quilting!

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Crazy Quilt Online Course

For those of you interested in learning how to crazy quilt, Sharon B. is offering a 6 week online course. Enrollments are now open here.

Monday, December 05, 2005

The Red Hat Crazy Quilt Completed

Today, I thought you'd like to see the Red Hat quilt which was finished in the same manner as the Victorian Poinsettia quilt.

RedHat1

And here is the quilt label:

RedHatLabel

Sunday, December 04, 2005

The Victorian Poinsettia Quilt Completed

One of the things I was trying to complete during my absence, was the Victorian Poinsettia quilt.

Poinsettia1

As you can see, I bordered it with a red fabric and then a lace border around the block. The lace had to be sewn on by hand which is very time consuming. I bound the edges with a different red print, one that had some metallic gold on it. The binding is sewn onto the front of the quilt by machine but on the back, it is handsewn on with blind stitching. Again, rather time consuming.

PoinsettiaLabel

Finally, I added my quilt label and finished it off with a pretty trim, again, all sewn on by hand.

Saturday, December 03, 2005

The "Lucky" Quilt

I apologize for disappearing for such a long period of time. Been caught up in holidays and such, trying to get things completed and out of my way so I can get back to my work. If I disappear again, it'll probably be the same thing. But as you all know, things should settle down come January.

Hopefully today's post will make your wait for my return worthwhile!

Earlier this year, I started a quilt based on one of my cross stitch designs titled, "Patrick". It was a small complimentary design but always one of my favorites.

Patrick

I'm particularly fond of St. Patrick's Day. Not sure why, I've got a few ounces of Irish in me but not alot. I think I just like the whole "shamrock and green" thing. St. Patrick's Day marks the beginning of Spring here in the US and Spring is my absolute favorite time of year!

I wanted to do a larqe wholecloth crazy quilt, with a cat in a hat and the shamrock theme. So I based my cat idea on my Patrick cross stitch design. I knew I wanted him in an oval in the middle of the quilt with crazy patch around him. What a challenge!

I first cut my foundation fabric and then marked the center where the oval would be. I then did my foundation piecing around the outside.

My fabrics include, velveteen, brocades, cottons, satins, foiled netting and batiks. Once I had the foundation piecing completed, I focused on the cat.

Lucky3

The cat and the hat are hand appliqued as is the ribbon. My mother gave me a buckle from her stash and she crocheted the shamrock on the hat which I then hand dyed. I embellished it with a satin flower, some small white flower buttons and real green feathers. Those are tricky to sew on!

The next thing I did with the cat was to hand color him. I used oil pastels to give him some fur and highlights, working in layers and heat setting as I went along with my iron. Then I embroidered his little face. This was mostly done freehand except for marking where the eyes, nose and mouth belonged. I then embroidered the whiskers and foo-foo hairs. Last but not least, I added the organza type ribbon, tacking it in place along the edges with blind stitches. The shamrock charm is vintage. I found it in April at a quilt show in a booth that carried antique and vintage embellishments. It was perfect!

I then put the cat to the side and embellished the quilt. It took me 3 months! I loved every minute of it! I made the pansies from a canvas type fabric using the pattern in one of Judith Montano's books. There are a ton of ribbon flowers on here which I did while housesitting for my sister. The silver leaves are actually hand dyed, half purple, half green. It may be a bit hard to see here but it shows well in person.

This quilt is loaded with beads, new and vintage buttons, charms, vintage jewelry pieces, ribbon, yarn and ribbon embroidery. I used the feather stitch on many of the seams mostly because it's my favorite stitch but there are a few others as well.

When the embellishing was complete, I used a basting spray to hold some quilt batting in place behind the oval with the cat. I then hand appliqued that in place and added some vintage lace that I hand dyed around the outside and embellished that with sequins and beads.

At this point, all that was left was the finishing. I layered it with quilt batting and a backing fabric of a dark green cotton and used the green velveteen for the binding. I tacked all three layers with buttons on the back and added my quilt label. The finished size is 29 inches square. And here is the completed quilt:

Lucky1

To see a larger photo of "Lucky", please click here. To see a few more photos of this quilt, visit my Flickr photo album here.

Sunday, November 20, 2005

More "All That Jazz" Blocks completed!

If you'd like to see more completed "All That Jazz" blocks, visit Linda's Chloe's Place and Sharon's In A Minute Ago blogs. These are gorgeous!

Saturday, November 19, 2005

Taking A Break To Amuse My Readers

I'm in the middle of cleaning the carpeting in my living room. Every year I say, this is the last time I'll have to do this but it always seems like I end up doing it the following year. So I won't say it this time.

I really hate carpeting. In fact, "hate" is not a strong enough word for how I feel about carpeting. I'm a hardwood floor girl. I walk around barefoot all the time and I love how the wood floors feel under my feet!

We've put hardwood in everywhere now except for the living room. That room is going to be a big job. All new windows, new flooring, a new interior door and for some unknown reason, there is a drop ceiling in there. Scary. We've yet to figure out why but judging from the rest of some of the things we've found in this house (built in 1937) I'm sure there's some "pain in the butt and very expensive" reason for it! So we plan to replace that with a real drywall ceiling. And we plan to put it where it belongs! Which is not where it is currently!

So, that's what I'm doing. I'm about 3/4 done but needed to rest my back a minute.

The Red Hat block is completely done now except for the sleeve and my quilt label. I have the machine work done on the Christmas block but still have to hand-sew the binding down on the back and then of course the sleeve and label. They're looking great! And I'm thrilled with how they turned out. I will have photos for you soon.

The reason I don't just take photos and post them as I go along is because I'm out of USB thingy's on the back of this computer. And my printer in here is older so it doesn't have the film card thingy's on it. (Don't you love my techie terms?) Now I know I can get a USB thingy that has lots more USB thingy's on it, but it's much easier for me to just pull out the laptop and the printer that goes with it and transfer my pictures to a CD that way. Ok, so it's not easier really, but that's how I do it. It's actually a bit time consuming so I wait until I have a bunch of pictures on the camera. And you'll all sleep better tonight knowing that information! Ha, ha, ha!

Ok, I hope I've amused you with my sillyness. I'm going to finish up this cleaning project and then relax a bit in my bathtub. I think I'll pull out some of my Quilting Arts magazines and drool over the pictures!

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Working On Quilts

I finished the first part of the handsewing on the Christmas Block and the Red Hat Block. What I did was sew sashing around the outside of the block and then I handsewed flat lace around the edge where the CQ meets the sashing. I mitered the corners of the lace. That all has to be done by hand and it's rather time consuming.

The next step is to layer them with quilt batting and a backing. Then the binding can be added. Part of that is done by machine and part is done by hand.

Traditionally, Crazy Quilts didn't have batting inside. But to me, a quilt of any type, is not a quilt without 3 layers. The layers will then be tacked together using buttons on the back. The buttons look nice and give the tacking extra stability.

Once that's done, I can put the sleeve on for hanging and add my quilt label.

If you'd like to see a pretty Autumn quilt, visit Vicki's Turkey Feathers blog.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Handbags

Again, I don't have anything visual to share with you today. But I found a cool online Handbag Exibit through the CQ Crazy blog.

"A Girl Can Never Have Too Many Handbags" is full of handmade handbag eye candy! Many are knitted or crocheted but some are CQ and there are other techniques as well. Be sure to look at all of them. The photos load fast on dial-up!

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Nothing New To Share Today

I'm still working on the finishing process of the Red Hat block and the Christmas block. There's alot of handsewing involved.

Since I don't have anything new to show you today, I thought I'd send you over to Allison Aller's Works In Progress blog.

Allison is sharing a "challenge" project that she was involved with called "Quilts Across The Pacific". There are some beautiful fabric art projects here so please take a peek.

Sunday, November 13, 2005

Flea Market Find


Trim
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.
My husband and I braved the 50 mile per hour winds here today and went to a Flea Market & Antique Show. Thankfully, most of it was indoors!

I didn't find any transfers, but I hit the lace and trim jackpot!

I visited one of my favorite dealers. She usually has some vintage laces and trims, vintage clothing, linens and so on. When she saw me, she asked what I was looking for today so I told her I was mostly looking for lace and trims. She pulled a shopping bag out from under her table and she said I could go through it and pull out whatever I wanted.

It was packed to the top with all sorts of neat lace and trims so I asked her what she wanted for the whole bag.

Are you sitting down? She only wanted $15.00! Naturally, I couldn't pass that by! I gave her the money and went on my merry way.

When I got home, I was blown away by all the wonderful things. Not only was it filled with vintage lace and trims but also, some embroidered tablerunners, some doilies, some placemats and other wonderful vintage things. Not all in perfect condition, but all usable in one way or another.

It's going to take me forever to wash and press everything.

My favorite in the bag is this piece of trim in dusty colors. It looks like a rose to me and there are 3 of them repeated but it doesn't all fit on the scanner.

I will definately be using this on something special!

Saturday, November 12, 2005

Valentine Block


Valentine Block
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.
This will be my next block. It will have a Valentine theme to it.

It'll will be a few days before I can start it I think. I'm in the process of finishing the Red Hat block and the Christmas block into 15 inch wall quilts.
The machine work goes fast but there's quite a bit of handwork involved and that takes awhile to do.

Friday, November 11, 2005

Red Hat Block Completed!


Red and Purple Block Day6
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.
I don't know why the scan looks so dark. It's not. It's really bright and colorful!

Anyway, it's complete now! I covered the last two seams with embroidery and beading, I added my signature at the bottom, a red hat charm with a purple ribbon at the top right and a silver butterfly to the left of the hat. Oh and I beaded the edge of the hat so it looks like a bit of fringe.

This block was so much fun to do! If my day goes according to plan, I will start on the finishing process for this block as well as the Christmas block.

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Red Hat Block Day 5


Red and Purple Block Day 5
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.
I went and added another daisy to the vine at the bottom and I think that finishes it off nicely.

I then added some cream colored applique daisies (yes, I had some in cream) to the top right, added a vine and beaded that.

I added some glass leaves to the hat along with some tiny purple flowers and then did a border across the bottom of the purple sequined braid and added some bugle beads.

Oh and I added some more beads to the lace above the purple sequin braid too!

If all goes well, I might complete this project tonight, but no promises yet!

Monday, November 07, 2005

Red Hat Block Day 4


Red and Purple Block Day 4
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.
After looking at this block alot over the weekend, I decided that the seams need to be covered with cream colored things rather than red or purple. I started by adding daisies with some curly vines and beading them. Looking at it now, I think it needs one more daisy. I'll add that later before moving on to another area.

I put alot of thought into making my blocks look balanced. A good way to do that is to repeat things like the background fabrics, stitches, threads and beads. I will probably repeat the daisies on the other side of the hat but I'm planning to use some of my little daisy appliques. I have to get them out and see if they're white or cream. If they're white, I'll have to handpaint a few of them.

Sunday, November 06, 2005

Red Hat Block Day 3


Red and Purple Block Day 3
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.
Well, all I managed to do on this yesterday was to finish beading the bottom edge of the lace piece at the top.

By the time I finished my errands and cleaning and visiting with my parents for a little while, I was kind of tired. It was cloudy and windy and raining outside too so I curled up on the sofa and watched TV.

I expect to work on it some more later today.

Saturday, November 05, 2005

Red Hat Block Day 2


Red and Purple Block Day 2
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.
Excuse my dangling thread! I started beading the edge of the lace above the hat but then it was time for dinner and I had to put it down and didn't get back to it last night.

Anyway, you can see that I did a feather stitch along the right side and beaded that, then I added some beads and sequins to the lace on the bottom.

I like sequins, but you have to be careful with them. They can make or break a project.

Today I plan to finish beading that top piece of lace and we'll see where it goes after that.

I have to say, I really loved doing the hat! I don't think I'd ever hand applique a big traditional quilt, but a little bit of hand applique is alot of fun and it's a really cool technique for a crazy quilt block!

Friday, November 04, 2005

Ralph

I wanted this share this photo with you that my friend Sylvia sent me yesterday.

RalphFramed

Sylvia is kind enough to allow me to use her beautiful cats as models for my x stitch designs. This is Ralph. I did the design several years back. Sylvia just had her piece framed and I thought it was so beautiful, I asked her if it would be ok if I blog it and she said yes.

I've since retired the design so it's no longer available but I thought you would like to see how Sylvia had it framed. I love how the matting brings out the colors in the morning glory flowers!

Thanks again Sylvia, for allowing me to use your beautiful babies as models for my designs!

Red Hat Block Day 1


Red and Purple Block Day 1
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.
Well, for those of you who guessed "Red Hat Society", yes! You are correct!

It's not that I'm into that. I've haven't quite reached the right age yet, but I thought it would be a really fun theme to do and so far it is!

I did the little hat with red velveteen using the freezer paper applique technique. For instructions, click here.

I removed the freezer paper from the back by cutting a small slit in the foundation fabric and the background fabric.

To give the hat a 3D look, I added a bit of poly fiberfill before whip stitching the opening closed.

The hat will be embellished more but I'm holding off for the time being until I decide on what embellishments I'll be using on the rest of the block.

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Embroidered Bird


Embroidered Bird
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.
Some of you may remember that a few weeks ago, I traced a few of my transfer designs onto some fabric. I stitched up another one and completed it last night.

I had stitched this design earlier this Summer but used different colors this time.

BluebirdPillowcase

When I have time to sit down at my sewing machine, I'll take photos as I go and post directions for finishing a doorknocker. That will be happening soon. I have a bunch of things that need finishing!

For now, my next project is the Red & Purple Crazy Quilt block. Does anyone else want to take a guess at what the theme for that block will be?

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Red and Purple Block


Red and Purple Block
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.
Thank you everyone, for your lovely compliments on my Christmas Block. I'll be making that into a wall quilt, just this block alone. It'll be a little while yet though. I don't have alot of sewing time. But when I complete it, I'll post a photo here.

It isn't as dark as it looks in the scan. It's lighter and brighter and I'm sure you'll be able to see that when I get the finishing done and take a photo of it with the camera rather than using the scanner.

In the meantime, this is my next block. Does anyone care to guess what the theme will be for this one?

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Christmas Block Completed!


Christmas Block Day 8
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.
I added my signature with some more curly q's and beads. I also figured out how to bead the lace on the left. I added some curly q's to the poinsettia with some seed beads and I added some more beads to the Maidenhair stitch.

My husband doesn't care for crazy quilts, but he did say that this one is very pretty and Victorian looking. Since that's what I was going for, I guess I did good!

Monday, October 31, 2005

Happy Halloween!

I thought I'd share a few festive photos that I took yesterday around my house.

First, I thought you'd like to see the pumpkins that we carved to sit in the pots on our deck. We put tealights in these at night and they look so cool out there!

Pumpkin1

Pumpkin2

Next is a photo of my Garden Window. I decorated it with some real pumpkins, so artificial purple grapes and two of my little vintage kitty figurines.

HarvestGardenWindow

Last but not least, a photo of my black cat Nightmare. Yes, he's sitting on my kitchen table but he's so beautiful sitting there so I took a picture of him.

Nightmare3

Happy Halloween!

All That Jazz In 3D


All That Jazz 3D
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.
Before I sent my block off to Sharon, I took some photos of it with my digi camera. Now that I discovered that the camera has a flash (ha, ha, ha!) I've been able to take much better photos!

I thought I'd post this photo so you can see how 3 dimensional crazy quilt blocks are. The dimension is usually lost when scanning but it really pops with the camera!

Sunday, October 30, 2005

No Update On Christmas Block Today

I've had quite a bit of x stitch design work lately and have been trying to get caught up on that so I haven't had alot energy in the evenings to stitch. I've been just kind of sitting and watching TV although without baseball, I can't find anything good to watch!

Gina asked me what I plan to do with the blocks I make. I plan to sew them into small wall quilts.
I'll border them with fabric and will probably do a tatted edging to frame the actual block and then bind them. The nice thing about tatting is that I can connect the ends so that it's all one piece!

Friday, October 28, 2005

Christmas Block Day 7


Christmas Block Day 7
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.
Does it seem that this block is moving in slow motion? I've struggled with it a bit, although I am pleased with how it's coming out, I'm just not sure on the embellishments like I usually am.

I had wanted to bead the lace piece on the right so I tried several different things and nothing seemed to work. Perhaps it's not meant to be embellished any further.

I did add some tiny gold seed beads to the centers of the rosebud appliques and I did a feather stitch in gold with red and green bugle beads at the top right. I think that looks pretty cool. I also added some more small brown pearls to the antique lace piece at the top.

I plan to add my signature next and then we'll see where it goes after that.

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Tree Ornament

I don't have an update for you today on my Christmas CQ Block. I was kind of tired yesterday when I finished my work so I just sat and watched TV last night. Despite being a Cub fan, I'm very pleased that the White Sox won the World Series. Although, I'm a little sad that baseball season is officially over now. Whatever will I watch?!

Anyway, instead, I thought I'd share with you a Christmas ornament that I made earlier this year using one of my iron-on transfers. A WorkBasket transfer.

Tree Ornament

I stitched this on plain muslin, using DMC varigated green for the branches. I added some bugle beads for the candles, big red sequins for the ornaments and star sequin for the top of the tree.

If you'd like see this same design done in Redwork, visit Turkey Feathers blog. Specifically, this post.

Vicki used this design on valances for her kitchen. Very cute! Vicki also offers several free holiday patterns including this little tree on her Patternbee website so please take a peek!

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Christmas Block Day 6


Christmas Block Day 6
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.
This block seems to be flowing a little easier now.

I added some gold beads to the antique lace piece at the top. Then some gold braid to the antique lace on the right along with some tiny rosebud appliques. I did a feather stitch on the left seam, tatted some tiny rings without picots and sewed those on and then beaded that.

I also added the little Christmas piece. This was an earring that I bought at a flea market over the Summer. I took the clip off of the back so that it would lay flat and sewed it down.

I mentioned yesterday that I was thinking of hand coloring the poinsettia with oil pastels but Kay Susan suggested that it was fine the way it was, that it was a perfect focal point so I think I'll take her advice and let it be. I do want to add some little pine branches or curly q's but I want to finish embellishing the seams first before I do that.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Christmas Block Day 5


Christmas Block Day5
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.
As you can see, I didn't accomplish much on this block yesterday. I did the Maidenhair Stitch on the left side of the poinsettia and added a few beads and that's about it.

This block seems to need alot of thought. One would think a Victorian style Christmas block would be easy but instead, I find myself staring it for long periods of time, trying to decide on what to do next.

I do know that the poinsettia needs to be toned down a bit. I will probably hand color it with oil pastels once the stitching is complete.

Hopefully, I'll have more to share tomorrow.

Monday, October 24, 2005

Christmas Block Day 4


Christmas Block Day 4
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.
I didn't get a lot of stitching time in over the weekend. I cut back the garden and that took alot of time. It looks really boring outside now without my plants.

But I did add a few little red glass flower beads to the crocheted peice at the top along with some glass leaf beads and tiny brown pearls.

Am planning on working on this a little later today. I either need to soften the poinsettia a bit, or I need to bring some the of that color into the rest of the block.

Friday, October 21, 2005

Christmas Block Day 3


Christmas Block Day 3
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.
I didn't get as much stitching in last night as I had wanted to. But I did add some red poinsettias to the curly vine. I did lazy daisy stitch flowers with a Watercolor thread from The Caron Collection, added a few lazy daisy leaves with a DMC Perle cotton and then filled them in with some Mill Hill beads. They're not quite as sparkly as I wanted them but they were the only color I had that worked with the over all block.

I have some green holly leaf sequins which I hope will work with the poinsettia in the center. I'll give those a try later today.

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Christmas Block Day 2


Christmas Block Day 2
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.
I did some more stitching on the Christmas block last night. I finished the poinsettia and added some glittery gold beads to the center. I added another piece of lace as well. I chose this piece because of the nice soft curve that it has. That sharp point that was there kind of bothered me. I think this piece was from a lace collar and I believe it's rather old. It came in a big bag of vintage laces and crocheted pieces that I found at a flea market over the Summer. I also started some curly vines at the bottom of the poinsettia. I really like the movement of curly vines. The bottom needs some more red so we'll see what I come up with for that.

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Laren's Blackwork Shirt

Laren at The Needle's Excellency, has made a lot of progress on her blackwork shirt. She's reached the point of contruction and it's going to together beautifully! Be sure to read the historical background of this project here.

Christmas Block Day 1


Christmas Block Day 1
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.
I finally started this block. I actually did the outline of the poinsettia on Monday, using the tissue paper technique, but I did it in metallic gold and it didn't show up against the gold crushed velvet in the scan so I didn't post it yesterday. I started the satin stitching last night.

I also added the piece of antique lace which I bought at a flea market this past Summer. That was an ecru color which looked rather muddy with this block but I really liked the way the piece looked so I pulled out my dyes and I gave it that aged yellow cast which seems to work well with the fabrics on this block.

I think I forgot to mention the fabrics for this block. The center piece is a crushed velvet, the metallic gold is some type of a foil fabric and the other 3 fabrics are cotton with gold metallics and glitter.

I have some chores to do (do they ever end?) and then I'll be working on this later today so I should have an update for you tomorrow.
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