September Free Blog Background

If you like my blog background, you can use it on your blog too!  Perfect for September with the apples and bees.

Paste this code into your HTML gadget thingy:


<style type="text/css">
body { background-image : url("https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4355/36899566775_d1c858ba3a_o.jpg "); background-position: center; background-repeat: no-repeat;  background-attachment : fixed; }
</style>

<script type="text/javascript">
var div = document.createElement('div');
div.setAttribute('style',"position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 30px; z-index: 50; width: 150px; height: 45px;");
div.innerHTML = '<a target="_blank" href=" "></a>';
document.getElementsByTagName('body').item(0).appendChild(div);
</script>

This is for Blogger/2 Column Blogs

Never Ending Sampler Stitch-Along Panel 2 Band 17 (End Of Panel 2)

Hi everyone!  I hope you all have been enjoying the Never Ending Sampler Stitch-Along!

I have the final band for Panel 2 today!!!

Here is the entire sampler:

Here is Band #17 by itself:

Work this band with straight stitches and French Knots, Colonial Knots or Beads.

This is Band #17 with the Band #16 overlap for placement purposes:

I'm going to give ya'll a few weeks to get caught up before starting on the 3rd Panel.  I know everyone has been busy with Summer things and Back To School stuff.  Now that Fall is starting, I know there will be more time for stitching!

The 2018 Crazy Quilt Calendar Is Now Available!!

The 2018 Crazy Quilt Calendar is now available!  This year's calendar features 13 of my designs, each suitable to the month of the year.

2018 Crazy Quilt Calendar

Available at both Magcloud - http://magcloud.com/user/kitty-and-me

And at Etsy - http://www.kittyandme.etsy.com/

2018 Crazy Quilt Calendar

I mentioned a few weeks ago that we didn't receive enough entries to put together a 2018 Crazy Quilt Calendar.  Heartbroken is not a strong enough word to describe how I feel about this.

Not only am I saddened for the girls who took the time to work up their submissions, but I'm saddened for my readers as well. 

The entries are featured in the Winter issue of Crazy Quilt Quarterly magazine which will be released on November 1st.  Each entry is beautifully displayed on it's own page along with a nice bio written by the artist.  From the 8 entries, my staff and I chose 2 winners, a grand prize and an editors choice winner.

The grand prize winner will receive a 1 year subscription to Crazy Quilt Quarterly magazine starting with the Spring 2018 issue.  The Editors Choice prize will be a publication of the artists choosing from my Magcloud publications.

Each entrant will receive a print copy of the Winter issue.

For the 2019 calendar, I've decided drop the contest and go back to choosing artists for the 13 designs.  This will ensure enough designs to create a beautiful publication.

In the meantime, for 2018, I've decided to put together a calendar using my own designs.  This will give my readers a pretty calendar for next year.  It's not what I wanted to do but it'll be pretty.  I will be working on it this week and will release it as soon as I have it ready.

These are the calendars from 2015, 2016 and 2017:

2015 Crazy Quilt Calendar

2016 Crazy Quilt Calendar

2017 Crazy Quilt Calendar

If you're missing any, they are all still available at both Magcloud and Etsy and very much worth the beautiful eye candy!

So that's my news for today! 

Cross Stitch Breast Cancer Awareness Ribbon

I did this as a free cross stitch design quite a few years back and thought with October, Breast Cancer Awareness month coming up, that now would be a good time to rework the printable page:

Free Cross Stitch Breast Cancer Awareness Ribbon

Right click on the image, save it to your hard drive and print it in any graphic software.  It will fit a standard 8 1/2 inch X 11 inch sheet of paper.

Never Ending Sampler Stitch-Along Panel 2 Band 16

We're getting to the end of Panel 2 on our Never Ending Sampler Stitch-Along!

Today I have Band #16.  Here is the sampler so far:

Here is Band 16 by itself:

This band is worked with cross stitches, back stitches, satin stitched flowers and french knots or beads.  But I would like to you try the Colonial Knot instead french knots. The Colonial Knot comes out more consistant in structure than french knots do.  Here is a link to Sharon B's Pintangle blog where you can find the Colonial Knot Tutorial.

Here is a close-up of the little satin stitched flower:

Finally, this is Band 16 with the Band 15 overlap for placement purposes:

2007 Cross Stitch Christmas Mystery Has Been Re-Released!!

If you missed out on the 2007 Counted Cross Stitch Christmas Mystery Project, I'm happy to announce that it is now available again:

Obviously, it's no longer a mystery (although there may be a new one in the near future) but it's here now for those of you who missed out on it the first time around!

Available at both Magcloud:  http://magcloud.com/user/kitty-and-me
and in my Etsy shop:  http://www.kittyandme.etsy.com/

New Facebook Group for Crazy Quilters

Hi everyone,

For all the Facebookers out there, there is a new group for Crazy Quilters:

Friends Who Like Crazy Quilt Quarterly Magazine and Crazy Quilting is run by long time crazy quilter, Karen South.  If you don't know Karen, she does beautiful work!!  Be sure to see her article in the Summer 2017 issue of Crazy Quilt Quarterly magazine!

Available at Magcloud

Do hop over and join Karen's group!  You can share photos of your work, discuss your projects and Karen offers some very nice give aways too!

Never Ending Sampler Stitch Along Panel 2 Band 15

Today I have Band 15 of Panel 2 of the Never Ending Sampler Stitch-Along project!!

We're nearing the end of the Panel 2 now!!

Here is the entire sampler so far:

And here is Band #15 by itself:

This is worked simply with cross stitches and backstitching.

And here is the Band 15 with the Band 14 overlap for placement purposes:

Have a great weekend everyone!

Free Autumn Crazy Quilt Blog Background

While I was waiting for some things to upload, I worked up another free Crazy Quilt Blog Background.  This one is for Fall:

I know it's a little early but it popped into my head!  Anyway, copy the code below and paste it into your HTML Gadget thingy!!  This for Blogger/2 column blogs.

<style type="text/css">
body { background-image : url(https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4420/35660346023_7c1e260cac_o.jpg); background-position: center; background-repeat: no-repeat;  background-attachment : fixed; }
</style>

<script type="text/javascript">
var div = document.createElement('div');
div.setAttribute('style',"position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 30px; z-index: 50; width: 150px; height: 45px;");
div.innerHTML = '<a target="_blank" href=" "></a>';
document.getElementsByTagName('body').item(0).appendChild(div);
</script>

Never Ending Sampler Stitch Along Panel 2 Band

Today I have Panel 2 Band 14 of the Never Ending Sampler Stitching-Along.  Here is the entire sampler so far:

And here is Band #14:

This band is worked with cross stitches, back stitches and a large fan stitch.  Use beads or french knots on the bottom of the fan.

Here is a closeup of the fan:

And here is the overlap pattern for placement purposes with Band #13:

Happy Stitching Everyone!

New Cross Stitch Sampler

I've been working on a series of new cross stitch patterns inspired by bible verses.  There's so many that I love so I have my list and work on the designs as I can.

I just finished up John 15:5 I Am The Vine :

The 5th design in my Counted Cross Stitch Series titled, Inspirational Sampler. Inspired by the bible verse, "I Am The Vine, You Are The Branches" John 15:5, this design is worked with Sampler Threads by The Gentle Art but I have included the DMC equivalents. On 28 ct over 2 fabric threads (or 14 count Aida) the stitched area will be 6 5/8 inches wide X 10 inches high. The stitch count is: 94 X 140. 

Available at Magcloud:   http://www.magcloud.com/user/kitty-and-me

And at Etsy:  http://www.kittyandme.etsy.com/

Free Crazy Quilt Blog Background

I've been playing around with creating my own blog backgrounds.  I've done a couple but this morning, decided to do a crazy quilt design.

If you would like to use this on your blog as well, please be my guest:

Copy and paste this code in your HTML gadget:

<style type="text/css">
body { background-image : url(https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4339/35553708674_0a26d16e49_o.jpg); background-position: center; background-repeat: no-repeat;  background-attachment : fixed; }
</style>

<script type="text/javascript">
var div = document.createElement('div');
div.setAttribute('style',"position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 30px; z-index: 50; width: 150px; height: 45px;");
div.innerHTML = '<a target="_blank" href=" "></a>';
document.getElementsByTagName('body').item(0).appendChild(div);
</script>




I'll do a few more when I have time.  I only know how to do these for Blogspot.  If you have a different blog venue, I'm afraid I can't help.  If you have any trouble with this, please let me know.

Enjoy!

2018 Crazy Quilt Calendar Announcement

Due to lack of submissions, we will not be publishing a crazy quilt calendar for 2018.  For the same reasons, we also will not be publishing a 2017 Holiday issue of Crazy Quilt Quarterly magazine.

All submissions that we did receive will be published in the Winter 2017 issue of Crazy Quilt Quarterly magazine.

I apologize for any disappointments that anyone has.  The calendar has always been popular and the Holiday issue was very popular last year too but I can't publish either one without enough content.

If anyone missed it, the Autumn 2017 issue of Crazy Quilt Quarterly magazine is now available!

Order from Magcloud:  http://www.magcloud.com/user/kitty-and-me

or from Etsy:  http://www.kittyandme.etsy.com/

Never Ending Sampler Stitch Along Panel 2 Band 13

Today I have Band 13 of Panel 2 of the Never Ending Sampler Stitch Along.  First, here is the entire sampler so far:

For this band, I'm introducing a new stitch for you to learn.  This is the Detached Chain AKA Lazy Daisy Stitch:

The Detached Chain is a loop type stitch.  These are fun to do and they go fast!  If you need help with directions, please visit Sharon B's Stitch Dictionary for detailed instructions.

Here is the "overlap" chart for placement purposes:

Have fun with this little stitch.  We'll be using it again down the road!