A Little More Information On Crazy Quilt Gatherings Magazine

I thought I would take a few moments to give you a bit more information on my plans for Crazy Quilt Gatherings magazine. 

First, I have no plan to change the name at this time.  I love the name that Pat chose.  It sums up what the magazine is about.  A gathering of tutorials and eye candy by crazy quilters from around the world.  It's the sharing of ideas, techniques and projects.  What name could be more perfect than Crazy Quilt Gatherings.  The only change that I intend to make at this moment, regarding the name, is to add, "by Pamela Kellogg of Kitty & Me Designs".  I asked Pat if she was okay with me keeping the name and she absolutely was.  Thank you Pat!

My first issue will be the Spring 2015 issue.  I'm starting to make my plans now because I kind of like all my "ducks in a row" so to speak.  I would like to keep this beautiful publication in the same style that Pat has always done it.  Basically, I would like to add to it rather than change it. 

One thing that I need to do, for my own "ducks in a row" mentality is to have a set publication schedule.  The release dates will be as follows:

Winter issue will be released on November 1st, Spring issue on February 1st, Summer issue on May 1st and Autumn issue on August 1st.

Down the road a ways, I will add a tab at the top of my blog with helpful information for anyone who would like to submit projects and eye candy photos for publication.

For now, I'm going to need a little extra lead time for the first issue.  It's quite a way off yet but if anyone wants to contribute articles or photos, the deadline will be November 1st of this year.  Hopefully this gives everyone plenty of time to plan their projects.  Since it'll be the Spring issue, please think about pretty Spring themed projects!

Also, if anyone has suggestions of things they would like to see, I would love to hear them.  Please leave comments or send me an email.

In the meantime, Pat still has 3 more issues to fill with articles, tutorials and projects!  Please her your content!!!

White Peacock Purse

First, I want to say thank you to everyone for leaving me such kind comments regarding my latest endeavor.  I'm thrilled to be the new owner and publisher of Pat Winter's beautiful Crazy Quilt Gatherings magazine.  I will write more about that in a 2nd post for today but first, I want to share my White Peacock Crazy Quilt Purse:

As you know, I don't spare the embellishments on my projects!  That's one of the things I love about crazy quilting.  No rules, no limits.

I think I mentioned yesterday that I'm going to stitch up a couple of my Cat Dolls.  I'm doing a craft show in May and I think they'll do well.  I also have a few more brooches to finish up on.  I thought these would be nice for Mother's Day and for my craft show.  Please stop by again to see these projects!

Big Announcement!!!

If you're a crazy quilter, you are undoubtedly familiar with the beautiful work of Pat Winter.  And if you follow her blog and read her Crazy Quilt Gatherings magazine, you are probably already aware that she has decided to retire as owner and publisher at the end of this year.

I am excited to announce that I am the new owner and publisher of Pat's beautiful magazine!!!  I'm honored, I'm thrilled and I'm bouncing off the walls!!!!

If you're new to my blog, I thought I'd share a little bit of background in my needlework career.  My mother and grandmother taught me to stitch when I was about 7 or 8 years old.  I'm 52 now and have been stitching ever since.  I caught the counted cross stitch bug back in the 80's and when I couldn't find a pattern suitable for a gift, I decided to chart out my own idea.  I liked doing it and decided to chart out a few more of my design ideas.  Back in those days, I worked on graph paper with colored pencils. 

I did a design with a snowman and an original poem that I wrote.  This was 1989 and my husband was quite taken with it.  He suggested that I send it to a magazine to see if they might publish it.  I took his advice, on a whim actually, and sent to Leisure Arts.  I was floored when they called me several weeks later with an offer to purchase my design.  What a rush that was for me!

I continued to create more designs, on graph paper with colored pencils and submitted them to other magazines.  One by one, they sold.  Eventually, my husband told me I needed a computer so in 1996, we went out and bought a computer and I started designing full time.

I worked with many needlework magazines both national and international.  I worked with manufacturers including The DMC Corporation, Zweigart, Charles Craft, Kreinik, Bucilla and others.  I published many of my own designs and sold them in my Etsy store.

In 2002, a friend of mine sent me a copy of Quilting Arts magazine and in that issue, I discovered the elegant art of Contemporary Crazy Quilting.  I was well aware of the history behind Crazy Quilting.  I frequent antique shops and flea markets and have seen many of the Victorian examples that still exist.  I was always drawn to them because of my love for needlework but when I discovered, that my collection of treasures, old lace, beads, buttons and vintage jewelry, could be sewn onto a crazy quilt, well....I was hooked.  And I loved the freedom, the "no rules" approach to crazy quilting.

I retired from designing counted cross stitch in 2009 to pursue my love of crazy quilting and to have more of a hands on experience.  I love to stitch!  I need to stitch!  I need to create so I redirected my Etsy shop from my cross stitch patterns to my stitched items, along with handmade things by my mom and my sister.

One aspect of crazy quilting that always eluded me was keeping my stitches even and straight.  I guess I was so used to working on a grid that when it came to doing free hand stitching, I was lost!  It occurred to me that I could apply my cross stitch skills to crazy quilting and decided to try using waste canvas for stitching my borders.  Well, this opened a whole new world of charting patterns so I went back to my cross stitch software and started charting out border designs.  Elegant Crazy Quilt Seam Treatments was born!  It was huge hit with other crazy quilters who struggled with keeping their stitches straight and even, so 2 more volumes came along. 

Then I did a couple of other instructional books and a 9 block class series called, Crazy Quilt Color & Composition.  All are published at Magcloud where Pat publishes her beautiful magazine.

When I read that Pat was going to retire, I inquired about taking over Crazy Quilt Gatherings.  It seems that the stars were in alignment for both of us.  I'm so excited!!!  But enough about me.  I just thought you'd like to know a little bit about my background.

I'll talk more about this exciting news tomorrow.  For now, a special thank you to Pat for entrusting her gorgeous magazine with me.  Please continue to submit your articles and eye candy photos to her for now.  She has 3 more issues to fill with your wonderful stitching and ideas!!!

Peacock Purse Almost Done!

I just finished sewing up my Peacock Purse:

All I have left to do is to hand sew the trims to the purse.  I'll do that later today and then post a final photo tomorrow.

I was going to start another purse since I have one more sewn up but decided to do a few of my little cat dolls for now instead.  I'm going to be doing a craft show later in the Spring and a few new cat dolls might go over well.  I mean, who doesn't like cats?  LOL!!!

Anyway, I had a few cat doll blocks all sewn up in my stash so I pulled them out this morning and will start stitching on those next.

In other news, I'd like to invite you to stop by again this evening for a big and very exciting announcement!!!  Well, I'm excited and I hope you will be too!  I'm bouncing off the walls here!!!

Peacock Purse Stitching Complete

I finished up the stitching on my Peacock Purse and I crocheted some trim and then did some tatted trim for it:

The crocheted piece only took me about 1/2 and hour to do but the tatted piece took a good 8 hours.  I just felt that's what it needed so I did it.

I hope to get this sewn together tomorrow and then I can do the hand finishing tomorrow evening.  When it's done I'll post another photo.

In the meantime, Mom finished a few new Easter Decor items:

I printed up some vintage Easter postcards on fabric for mom and she made the door hangers from those and then the bunny doll is made from a vintage quilt that I bought for her at a flea market last Summer.

I have another purse all pieced and ready to stitch on so I'll share that when I get started on it.

Peacock Purse Almost Done

I thought you would enjoy a little update on my current Crazy Quilt project:

The peacock's tail will overhang the side of the purse.  When I sew this together, I'll have to pin the tail feathers up so they don't get caught in the side seams. 

I have a little more stitching to do on this but I expect to have it ready to sew together tomorrow.

In other news, Pat Winter has released the Spring 2014 issue of her Crazy Quilt Gatherings Magazine:

This is available at Magcloud.

And the Shabby Lane Shops Spring issue is now available as well:

In this issue, I've shared my mom's Irish Soda Bread recipe which is absolutely to die for!  The magazine can be ordered through Shabby Lane Shops.

Shabby Lane Shops also offers a Free EMag:

If you love Cottage Style, you'll enjoy looking through this.  But be sure to pour yourself a cup of a tea.  You won't want to stop looking! 

Crazy Quilt Purses Finished!

Just a quick blog post for today everyone.  I've been on this computer for way too long today and I feel like I have tunnel vision! 

I finished up my latest Crazy Quilt Purses:

I should have taken photos of these hanging on my hall tree so you could see the beautiful vintage lace on the bottom of the blue purse and see how the tassels dangle on the 2nd purse.

I have some ideas for other styles that I'll start doing on future projects.  For now, I'm off to stitch on my peacock purse.

Needle Felted Easter Brooches

I mentioned last week that I had made some Needle Felted Easter Brooches.  I just love making these!  I used some tulle and some Angelina Fiber on these to give them an ethereal feel. 

In other news, I sewed up my 2 latest purses.  I still have to do the hand finishing and add the trim.  Be sure to stop back to see them completed.

And finally, my Peacock purse is coming along nicely.  I have the peacock done and just have to add the eye feathers.  Then for more embellishing.  Update photos coming soon!

Happy Birthday Wrigley!

Our little Wrigley is officially one year old today!

He's so beautiful and such a sweet little kitty!  His fur is very soft, like velvet and although he's a big boy now, he hasn't gotten his big boy voice!  He still sounds like a little baby kitty.  LOL!!!

Mom gave me a few new things to list over at our Etsy shop.  These are her newest door hanging pillows for Spring:

We are currently getting dumped on with snow again.  Geez, this feels like it's been 2 Winters!!!  LOL!!!  But I've certainly gotten a lot of stitching done!  Less than 2 weeks until March 1st!  It'll probably be June before all this snow melts!

White Peacock Purse

We had more snow last night and more is expected tonight into tomorrow.  This has been some Winter!  And I sure do hope that we're coming to the end of it!  Thankfully, the sun is out now. 

My White Peacock Purse is coming along.  I started doing some beading on it this morning:

The lime green patch on the left was just a little too intense so I added a lace overly on part of it which tones it down a bit.  The trim along the edge is a ribbon type yarn, gathered and hand sewn down.

Here are a couple of close ups of the beaded seams I was working on this morning:

I finished up a couple of pretty little Easter Bunny Brooches yesterday.  I'll have photos of those this coming week.  And mom made a few Easter door hangers so I'll share those this week as well.

Mystery Purse

Well, it looks like we have a correct guess on my mystery purse.  Before I give you the correct answer, here is an update photo:

And here are close up photos of the seam treatments so far:

So what is the theme of this crazy quilt purse?  Cris in MT guessed correctly.  It'll be a peacock!  A white peacock.  Be sure to follow my progress!  I have a unique way of doing peacocks on my crazy quilt pieces!

Any Guesses?

I finished stitching my current purse project:

Next week, I'll take a day and get my most recent stitched projects sewn up and assembled.

In the meantime, this will be my next project:

Does anyone want to take a guess as to what the theme will be?

Gypsy Purse

A little more progress on my Crazy Quilt Gypsy Purse:

And here are a couple of the seam treatments that I did:

My chores and my computer work is done for the day so I'm off to stitch on this until Scott gets home from work.  More progress photos coming soon!

Kitty and Me Designs on Pinterest

I was offered the opportunity to convert my Pinterest account from a personal account to a business account.  So now, if you follow me there, you'll see my pins posted by Kitty and Me Designs instead of Pamela Kellogg.  Kind of cool I guess but I confess, it did make me laugh.  It's really not much of a business.  More like a hobby for my mom and I.  We just like to make things and we just can't keep everything we make.  Anyway, just thought I'd share that little tidbit with you.

In other news, I started stitching on my Gypsy Purse but I didn't get very far so I'll share an update on that tomorrow.  For now, I finished a special order door hanger:

I don't take on too many special orders but this was a door hanger and I like making those so it's done and ready to ship to my customer.

I also made 2 more Needle Felted Brooches:

I printed up another sheet of vintage images yesterday.  Mom and I are planning on doing a couple of craft shows this year and I want to have a bunch of them ready for the shows.  I'm going to need some more roving soon.  I can order some from Etsy but there are Fiber shows in our area coming up so I hope I can attend those.  I'll have to ask my sister if she can go.  There's one in Grayslake Illinois in June and another in Jefferson Wisconsin in September.  I'll probably order some from Etsy and then buy way too much at the fiber shows because I love craft supplies and that's just the way it is!  LOL!!!

Lady In Blue Crazy Quilt Purse

It was a busy weekend.  Snow on Saturday so I had to have Scott take me in the truck to run my errands.  In case I haven't mentioned it, I've had enough Winter now.  They're calling for another 6 inches tomorrow and then more again on Saturday.  Geez, what is this?  Alaska?!!!!  We never get this much snow in McHenry!

Anyway, yesterday was my dad's birthday and of course the Super Bowl.  And the only thing about the Super Bowl that I celebrate is the end of Football season!  We did watch the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet over at mom's and I just love that!  All those sweet little puppies and then the kitty half time show.  Just precious!

Scott and I gave my dad a handmade Screech Owl Box.  My dad loves the birds and I thought it would be too cool if he could attract those beautiful little Screech Owls.  I am very much into buying handmade and very much into buying things that are made in the USA so when I decided on a Screech Owl box, the first place I went to was Etsy.  I did my search and found the perfect Screech Owl box at Bishgrg on Etsy.  My dad loved it and being a woodworker himself, he said the craftsmenship is excellent!

I did manage to finish up my Lady In Blue Crazy Quilt Purse:

In need to get up to JoAnn's or Hobby Lobby and pick up some purse handles.  I've used the extras that I had here.  So I'll get this sewn up as soon as I can get to a craft store.

This Gypsy Purse will be my next Crazy Quilt project:

I'll start stitching on this one either later today or tomorrow.  I have a few more brooches I want to stitch on too.

I added a couple of new things to my Etsy shop.  First, a pretty little hanging heart ornament handmade by Mom:

And a Cotton Batting St Patricks Day Ornament by me:

I guess that's my rambling for today!  More tomorrow....

Blue Crazy Quilt Purse

I made quite a bit of progress on my blue crazy quilt purse.  I have a bit more stitching I want to do on it and then I have a few do-dads I want to add:

I also finished a couple more Needle Felted Brooches:

Everyone tells me that I accomplish a lot!  I just like to stay busy.  It keeps me out of trouble!  LOL!!!

Oh and if you're wondering about the weather forecast for Northern Illinois, it's the same as it's been since Thanksgiving:  snow, cold, wind! Please tell me that February is only 28 days this year!