Primitive and Victorian Halloween Home Decor

Yes, there are times when I go from one extreme to the other.  I love my simple old fashioned embroidery and I adore my crazy quilting!  So I bounce back and forth between the two styles.  Simple embroidery is easier for me to take out and deck to stitch so I do more of it in the Summer months.

For today, I have a Primitive Halloween Pillow and a Victorian Crazy Quilt Halloween Pillow to share:

Next, I'll be stitching up the model for Lesson 7 of my Crazy Quilt Color & Composition Course.  Hmmm...wonder what the theme will be!  Only I know! 

Crazy Quilt Halloween Pillow

I finished up this Crazy Quilt Halloween Pillow yesterday morning:

I'll sew this up in another day or two and list it in my Etsy shop.

I also thought you'd enjoy seeing a new picture of my little Wrigley:

He's such a sweet little kitty!  I love it when he sits in the beanies!

Halloween Hanging Pillows

I spent a day sewing last week and I was able to get my Halloween Hanging Pillows sewn together:

I have 2 more Halloween projects to finish and then I'll do some Christmas things.

In the meantime, after rearranging my cupboards in the kitchen this morning, doing laundry and washing my floor, I played around a little with my graphic software.  I haven't really done that in a while.  Anyway, I made these printable tags with roses:

Please feel free to print them up and use them on your gifts or for your craft projects!

Motifs from Elegant Cross Stitch Sentiments For Crazy Quilting

I have some finishes to share but I need to take photos of them so I'll post those tomorrow.  In the meantime, I thought I'd share the motifs that can be found in my new book, Elegant Cross Stitch Sentiments For Crazy Quilting:

Click on the images to see a larger version of them.

Also, for anyone looking for my cross stitch patterns, they have found a permanent home in Jason's Etsy Shop.  Pam Kellogg's Cross Stitch Patterns can be found here.

Jason will continue to add my patterns as he has time.

Lesson 6 - Color and Composition Course

Lesson 6 of my online Crazy Quilt Color and Composition Course is now available:

Strawberry Fields covers freehand vines, spider web and spider and how to make a motif stand out.  These crazy quilt classes are available at Magcloud.

 A special thank you to my assistant and editor Jason for doing such a great job with my books and lessons!

Silk Neckties For Crazy Quilting

I ran uptown today to pick a few things up from the grocery store and decided to stop in the resale shop which is next to the grocery store.  I don't always stop in there, just once in a while.  Sometimes I get lucky and sometimes I don't.  Today I got lucky!

I found 2 beautiful silk neckties for only $2.00 each:

The tags said 100% silk and made in Italy!  They looked like perfect crazy quilt fabric to me!

You may not think that there's a lot of fabric in a necktie but there really is once you take them apart:

These are really easy to take apart.  Just clip the stitches on the back for the tag and remove that.  Then, clip the stitches to open up the tie.  Take out the lining and stabilizer fabric and press with your iron.  If you find some at a flea market, resale shop or garage sale and you want to wash them, you can do that by hand in cold water with a mild detergent.  Hang them to dry.

These really go a long way for crazy quilting and the designs are really pretty if you can find silk ones!

Halloween Crazy Quilting

I've been working on some Halloween things for my Etsy shop.  These are my newest crazy quilt pieces:

My next project will be a Halloween pillow. 

Decorative Embroidered Pillows for Fall and Halloween

Well, I think I'm finally caught up on listing our new Decorative Embroidered Pillows!  Here are mom's newest projects:

And these are the Halloween pillows that I made:

Mom also made a pretty set of 4th Of July Bowl Fillers:

I'm working on some Halloween Crazy Quilt projects now and I still need to type up Lesson 6 so I can get it to Jason.  It won't take me long!

Decorative Embroidered Pillows for Fall

As much as I hate to say it, Fall is coming.  Yes, I prefer to stay in Summer mode but mom and I have to think ahead and work a few months in advance.  So, here are mom's latest Decorative Embroidered Pillows:

These are beautifully crayon tinted and then hand embroidered.  I love the way mom finishes her stitched pieces!

I have some coming too.  I just have a little more hand finishing to do on mine.

In other news, Lesson 6 of my Online Crazy Quilt Class is all done!  I just have to type it up and send it to Jason.  Sorry for the delay but again, I've just been a little out of it since losing my Nightmare. 

Wrigley is doing well and I'll get some new photos of him to post soon.  He's so cute and so sweet!  His personality is very much like my Simba and my Francis.  So sweet and gentle and precious.  But he does have a bit of Nightmare's mischievous ways too!  The only one I don't see in him is Garfield.  That's okay.  Maybe there will be a little bit of Garfield's ways in my next baby.  Don't know when we'll adopt another but I know we will.  I love kitties too much not to have a houseful!

Student Crazy Quilt Block Lesson 5

I have another beautiful block to share with you today from my Crazy Quilt Color and Composition Class:

This is Jane's block.  I'm seeing such an incredible amount of creativity from my students now!  Jane did something a little different with her bird.  She has him sitting on a tree stump.  Awesome!  Also, noticed how Jane worked with the fabric at the top right and embellished it further with flowers!

The elements are all here, the button spray, the beaded leaves, the bird and an exceptional amount of creativity.  That's what I want to see.  My students are taking the elements that I give them and then taking creative license with those elements!  Excellent job Jane!

Halloween Cat Dolls

I haven't made too many of my signature cat dolls lately so I thought I'd do a few for Halloween.  These are my traditional 6 inch Crazy Quilt Cat Dolls:

My Halloween Cat Dolls are available at Etsy.

Fall Decor 2013 On Etsy

I know it seems early, but I try to stay on top of things so I've started listing our Fall Decor for 2013 on Etsy.  These are mom's newest creations:

I have lots more coming and will add things as I can.

Crazy Quilt Gatherings Magazine

I was thrilled when Pat asked me to do the cover design for the Summer issue of her Crazy Quilt Gatherings Magazine!  I wanted to do something really cool and different so I decided on a cat!  After all, what says Kitty & Me more than cat!

Going back to my background in cross stitch design, I charted a pretty little kitty face and worked my crazy quilt project around that.  The pattern for the cat face is available in this issue.

And here is a photo of the quilt:

And a closeup of the kitty face:

If you would like to order a copy of Pat's beautiful Crazy Quilt Gatherings magazine, you can find it at Magcloud.

Lesson 5 Karin's Block

Just received this beautiful photo from Karin.  Her Lesson 5 block is complete and she did a wonderful job with it!

Karin did an awesome job with Lesson 5!  Notice her button spray to the right.  So much movement!  Every element is here with much creativity on Karin's part.

I am so impressed with how much improvement I'm seeing in only 5 lessons!  Imagine what everyone will be doing by the end of this class!

Another Student Block

I've been down the past few days with a nasty stomach bug.  I never get anything!  But this one was bad.  Thankfully, it's done now but I don't really have any stitching to share with you.  What I do have is another student block from Lesson 5.  This block was worked by Joyce:

How creative!  All the elements are here but Joyce added an extra element.  Check out the moon!  This almost makes me think "of a night-bird singing come away, come away!"  Okay, I got a little Stevie Nicks here but the first thing I thought of was that line from the Edge Of Seventeen.

Did you notice how well Joyce repeated the "circle" symbol?  This block is wonderful, imaginative and it feels very symbolic and magical.  So pretty!  And great job done!

In other news, I have Nightmare's ashes now, which always makes it feel so final.  Of course, they're never totally gone from us are they?  They simply become part of who we are.  I very much miss his beautiful little face.  I've always adored black cats.

Wrigley keeps me on my toes.  I bought him a collar with a bell on it but he doesn't leave it on.  He's really good at getting it off but for the most part, he's a good little kitten.  He plays a lot!  He carries his little toys around and he can be quite talkative!  I'll get some more pictures of him.  He's grown some.  He's gotten longer.  He's a real pretty boy!