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

The Blog Of Cross Stitch Designer Pamela Kellogg
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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.
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