New Releases Birds And Valentines

Valentine's Day is just around the corner.  I've worked up a new set of ornaments in the "Crazy" series.  These are worked with traditional Blackwork patterns coupled with bands of pretty pink hearts and flowers.  Kreinik #4 braid gives them sparkle.  Worked on 14 count white Perforated Paper from Wichelt, these designs can also be used as bookmarks or magnets.

With Spring coming, I'm looking forward to all the colorful birds that arrive with it!  My Seasonal Bird Borders are perfect for towels or tablerunners. 

I also have 2 scripture designs featuring pretty birds.  First, Song Of Songs 2:12 features a Robin on a nest of blue eggs with yellow daffodils and pink tulips.  

And then Rejoice In The Lord Always, Philippians 4:4 is accompanied by a Rose Breasted Grosbeak and pastel pink Cherry Blossoms.

My new releases are perfect for stitchers who enjoy classic and traditional cross stitch patterns.

Ask my patterns at your favorite needlework retail shop or find them here:

Kitty And Me Designs

Blackwork Fruit Designs

As I've mentioned, I'm in the process of republishing my older patterns in a new format.  It's been a long haul but I only have a few more to do.

I just finished up on these Blackwork Fruit Designs:

I don't know about anyone else but the Apple is my favorite!  I've always loved bright, red, happy looking apples!!!!

Anyway, these are available now as both a professionally printed pattern leaflet and as instant digital PDF downloads on Etsy.

Next, I'll tackle Garden Jewels.  Do ya'll remember that one?  It has Hummingbirds on it!!!

Glad Shamrocks Cross Stitch Pattern

I've had so many requests to republish Glad Shamrocks so here it is!!

©Glad Shamrocks Cross Stitch Pattern by Pamela Kellogg is a lovely sampler perfect for St. Patrick's Day or anytime of year. Victorian style sampler with a beautiful pink rose, shamrocks, violets and the verse "May Your Thoughts Be As Glad As Shamrocks". Also, a touch of blackwork!!

The stitch count is 110 stitch wide X 315 stitches high. On 28 ct Evenweave or 14 ct Aida, the finished size will measure: 7 3/4 inches wide X 22 1/2 inches high.

Large print, easy to read black/white symbol chart with colored backstitching lines.

DMC Embroidery floss and 1 color of Mill Hill Glass Seed Beads.



Available as a printed pattern leaflet or as an instant digital download on Etsy.



http://www.kittyandme.etsy.com/

Blackwork Christmas Rose Ornament Cross Stitch Pattern

I've just relisted my Blackwork Christmas Rose Ornament Cross Stitch Pattern.  This was my design for the 2005 Just Cross Stitch Ornament issue:

As you can see, I'm keeping quite busy right now.  I still have quite a few patterns to republish but I plan to start on the Spring issue of Crazy Quilt Quarterly magazine soon. 

Anyway, this is available in my Etsy shop as both a professionally printed pattern leaflet and as an Instant Digital PDF Download.

Never Ending Sampler Panel 4 Band 4

For those of you who love Blackwork embroidery, you'll enjoy Band 4 of Panel 4 of the Never Ending Sampler!

This is what we have so far:

Click on the image, save your computer and print in any graphic software.

Blackwork Valentine Cross Stitch Pattern

As you can see, I'm keeping myself very busy until everything is settled.  My muse is on vacation unfortunately but thank goodness for cross stitch huh?

Okay, I've republished my Blackwork Valentine design.  This was the Spring mystery stitch along for 2008.  If anyone missed it, it's available again:

Available as both professionally printed pattern leaflets and as instant digital PDF downloads in my Etsy shop:

http://www.kittyandme.etsy.com/

Hope everyone is having a good Sunday.

Never Ending Sampler Stitch-Along Panel #2 Band #9

Is everyone caught up on the Never Ending Sampler Stitch-Along?  Or are ya'll outside working in your gardens?  If you need some quiet time to cool off, here is Band #9 of Panel #2.

First, the entire sampler so far:

And here is Band #9 by itself:

For placement purposes, here it is with the Band #8 overlap:

Work this band with back-stitching.  This is a blackwork band.  You can work this band all in one color or you can work it in multiple colors.  Or you can work it traditionally, with black!  Have fun with it!

Blackwork Biscornu's

I've had so many requests for some of my retired cross stitch designs.  So I've decided to release them over on Magcloud.  I've started with the Blackwork Biscornu's because that was the most recent request:

As I have time, I will work up booklets with my other designs and list them at Magcloud as well.

In the meantime, this booklet includes Biscornu finishing directions written by Cathy Drolet.  It also includes my Tudor Rose Garden pattern.

A Few Vintage Hankies

Scott and I went to a little flea market (okay, it was a big flea market) on Sunday.  It felt good to just walk around and look at all the wonderful junk!  Sometimes, I wonder who buys certain things and sometimes I wish I had more money!

I was however honestly happy to find a few $1.00 vintage hankies:

These are pure, concentrated treasure to me!  Most of them still have the little label on them!  I'll be using these in future crazy quilt pieces.  That blue rose is screaming at me so that one will probably get used first!

I finished up a project that I stitched last week:

Yes, a little Cat Door Hanger.  I love this one.  The purple flowers on the top left are tatted flowers that I made with beaded leaves.  In the bottom right, you can see the blackwork fill-in that I'm experimenting with more and more.

Finally for today, my current project is this green purse block:

I'm ready to start adding the glitter (beads and sequins) to this piece!  Again, in the top left, you can see more of my blackwork fill-in.  I think I'll be making some more of those purple tatted flowers!

Blackwork Biscornus

I am starting to re-release my Counted Cross Stitch patterns.  They've always been so popular and I've had many requests for them.  I can't stand to turn anyone down and have decided to just make them available so everyone can enjoy them.

We've started with my Biscornu designs.  My seasonal Blackwork Biscornus have always been one of my most popular pattern sets:

These are now available at Magcloud in magazine format. 

I'd like to take a moment to say thank you to my new editor, Jason Dumont.  Jason is much better with graphics than I am and I'm thrilled to be working with him!  Thank you Jason!

Another Cat Doll

I finished up my St Patricks Day Cat Doll yesterday:

I hope to get this little guy sewn up over the weekend so I can mail him.  I'll share another photo when he's done.

I started one more cat doll as gift for another friend.  This one is purple:

I did another blackwork fill in design at the top using Kreinik metallic #4 braid:

I absolutely love this technique however, although pulling the waste canvas out dry, from small areas like my seam treatments is quite easy to do, larger fill in areas is not so easy.  With crazy quilts, because of the fancy fabrics and fancy threads, I can't wet the waste canvas to get it out more easily. 

Since one thing usually leads to another, I'm going to start looking for some kind of doable alternative.  Because this is fun and this is cool looking!

Green Cat Doll

I'm only doing 1 Cat Doll for St. Patricks Day this year.  This one will be a gift for a friend who loves my Crazy Quilt Cat Dolls:

I'm still experimenting with Blackwork style fill-in patterns and waste canvas.  Here's a closeup photo:

Blackwork embroidery is a beautiful way to show off the sparkle of Kreinik metallic threads.  Here, I used a #4 Braid.

This fill-work came from me wanting to put more embroidery on my crazy quilts but also wanting to use lots of lace and trims.  I truly feel that variety is the spice of life when it comes to crazy quilting.

Spring Lady Purse Continued

More embellishing to share with you today.  Here's an update on my Spring Lady Crazy Quilt purse:

I'm experimenting with Blackwork style fill in patterns on my crazy quilt pieces.  Here's a closeup of that:

You'll be seeing more and more of this in my upcoming projects.  And yes, there will be a book!

Irish Lady Pillow continued

A quick update on my Irish Lady Pillow:

And this is something that I'm going to be experimenting with more on upcoming projects:

"Fill in" patterns using my waste canvas technique.  Basically, Blackwork but in this case, I used a single strand of Kreinik metallic #4 braid.  Just a sneak peek of things to come.

4 Seasons Blackwork Biscornus

I'm posting quite late today! I was trying to get the graphic work ready on these new designs:




I was asked recently if I'd ever consider doing some Biscornu designs in Blackwork. Well, many of you know that I adore Blackwork so it was quite doable for me!

The designs are based on traditional Elizabethan motifs. There is one for each season. I don't include directions for finishing into Biscornu's. Those directions are available as online tutorials with a quick Google search.

You can find these in my Etsy shop.