A Stitching Day

It's another cloudy, dreary Autumn day here in Northern Illinois. On days like this, all I want to do is park myself on my sofa in front of my television with my favorite DVD's and stitch. And guess what? That's my plan for the day!

I have a Christmas project that I want to finish up and then I plan to work on these little Thanksgiving doorknockers for my Etsy shop next:







Allison from Works In Progress blog left a comment for me the other day asking me a few questions about my work. I hope she doesn't mind that I quote her here. I thought I'd post my replies for everyone to read:

So you and your mom sew together sometimes? Did you start out learning from her?
Lucky, lucky you....and I love her little Baby project.

Yes, my mom and my grandmother taught me how to stitch when I was about 8 years old. I've had a needle in my hand ever since!

How on earth are you so prolific? How many hours a day do you stitch? I know it's not your full time job...your commercial pattern work must be...

I have a passion for threads and fabric and an extreme desire to create objects of beauty from raw materiels. I've always liked "making things up", creating my own patterns rather than following someone else's pattern. That's not to say that I don't work from patterns because I do. I love to stitch from my vintage Iron-On Transfer collection, but I find much satisfaction and joy in taking an idea from my mind and manifesting it into a tangible item or pattern.

In general, I stitch about 3 or 4 hours a day, some days more and some less.

No, the items I make for my Etsy shop is not my full time job. That is an outlet for my desire to stitch. My commercial pattern design work is what I do fulltime. I work with manufacturers such as The DMC Corporation, Kreinik Manufacturing and Zweigart. I do kitting designs for Bucilla/Plaid Enterprises, I work with magazines such as The Cross Stitcher and Just Cross Stitch and I work with leaflet companies such as Imaginating Inc. I've been designing needlework patterns fulltime for well over ten years and have had literally 100's of designs published. If I have any readers who haven't seen my design work, please hop over to my main Kitty & Me Designs website and click on "My Art" to see what I do.

Thank you Allison for your lovely compliments!