2021 Calendars

This year, I have two 2021 calendars.  The first is my annual Crazy Quilt Calendar featuring 13 high quality photos of crazy quilt projects that I did awhile back:

It's a beautiful calendar filled with eye candy and inspiration for anyone who enjoys all things pretty!

The 2nd calendar is my 1st annual Cross Stitch Calendar, this one featuring 12 cross stitch Biscornu patterns, one suitable for each month of the year.

 

Each pattern is 50 stitches square and the calendar booklet includes Biscornu finishing directions.

The designs are perfect not only for Biscornu pincushions but also for ornaments.

The full size calendar pages feature all US and Canadian holidays as well as the season changes.

Both are available now.

Magcloud - Print and/or PDF download:  https://www.magcloud.com/user/kitty-and-me 

Etsy - Print only:  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! 

2016 Holiday Issue of Crazy Quilt Quarterly Magazine

I hope everyone had a safe and Happy Labor Day weekend!

I thought I would share a sneak peak of the special 2016 Holiday Issue of Crazy Quilt Quarterly Magazine:

Our cover artist is Lisa Boni!  Thank you Lisa!  This issue is filled with eye candy and special holiday stories from our contributors.  Also included are tutorials for quick and easy gifts, tree ornaments and simple cookie recipes!!  Yes there's more, but I thought I'd just give a quick teaser!!
This issue will be available on October 1st.

Also, in case you missed my post last week, the 2017 Crazy Quilt Calendar is now available:

 And don't forget, the Autumn 2016 issue of Crazy Quilt Quarterly magazine is now available:

Finally for today, Saturday was our 28th wedding anniversary.  Scott and I went out for a nice dinner and then came back and sat our deck to enjoy watching the birds!  It was a nice evening.  Here is our wedding photo:

September 3, 1988, the most wonderful day of my life!

Now Accepting Ads For The 2017 Crazy Quilt Calendar!

We are now accepting Business Card Ads for the 2017 Crazy Quilt Calendar!!!

Please take advantage of the special price of $25.00 (offer is available only for this publication) to promote your business.  Deadline for Ads is Friday June 24th!  Please email me to place your ad.

2017 Calendar Contest Reminder

Just a quick reminder everyone!!!!  The Crazy Quilt Quarterly magazine staff is holding a contest for the 2017 Crazy Quilt Calendar!!!  Click on the image below and check out all the details!  There are prizes for the winners!!!!

This is the 2015 Crazy Quilt Calendar:

And this is the 2016 Crazy Quilt Calendar:

If you need some ideas, hop over to Magcloud and take a look at them!

Pillows Finished

I finally got around to finishing up these last two pillows that I stitched:

These are both in my Etsy shop.  At the moment, I'm stitching up a couple of little door hanger pillows and when I finish that, I'll be starting on my block for the 2016 Crazy Quilt Calendar!  Yes, it's time to get that together!!  I've sent out my invitations and the girls are so excited!!  All are bouncing off the walls.

But I'll have more information on that down the road a way.  For now, it's like 0 degrees outside and I can live without that!  Tomorrow is supposed to be colder! 

Some New Projects

I've been stitching, just not blogging much!  As Summer winds down, which it already is, I'll be online more often.  It's been a cool Summer here temp-wise so I spend a lot of time out on the deck, enjoying the birds and the breeze!

I finished this door hanger piece yesterday morning:

I'm planning on a sewing day either tomorrow or Wednesday so I'll get this sewn up and share another picture of it when it's done.

In the meantime, I pulled some lace and trim pieces for this block:

I think I'll take this out on the deck and start stitching on it.

In other news, as a reminder, the 2015 Crazy Quilt Calendar will be available on September 1st!  That's only a couple of weeks away!!!!

Finally, I will be getting back to working on my list of Crazy Quilt Resources.  If you have any links that you would like me to add to the list, please leave me a comment.

Announcing The Calendar Crazy Quilt Artists!

All of the blocks for the 2015 Crazy Quilt Calendar are in!  And they are so beautiful!  As promised, here is a list of the lovely and very gifted artists who were so generous with their time and talent to contribute a design so that others can enjoy a year's worth of Crazy Quilt eye candy!

 Here we go:

January:  Mary Anne Richardson
February:  Nicki Lee Seavey
March:  Maria Muldar
April:  Kathy Shaw
May:  Pat Winter
June:  Cathy Kizerian
July:  Brenda Sandusky
August:  Gerry Krueger
September:  Terri Lee Takacs
October:  Betty Pillsbury
November:  Connie Eyberg
December:  Allison Aller

And the cover design is by me, Pamela Kellogg.

Please click on the links to visit their blogs or Flickr sites!

The calendar will be released on September 1st.  I asked the girls to hold off on posting about their blocks until that time but please, be sure to revisit their sites once the calendar is released.  They will share their stories and more photos of their blocks!

In the meantime, here is my latest finish:

I'll sewing this into a pillow and adding some hand crocheted trim!  Please stop back to see it finished later this week.

Advertisement Space In 2015 Crazy Quilt Calendar

I'm working on the 2015 Crazy Quilt Calendar.  Blocks are already coming in and wow!  Gorgeous eye candy!!!!!  As soon as I have everyone's blocks, I will announce the artists who have contributed their work to help promote crazy quilting!

I will be advertising the calendar in a needlework trade magazine which should help to get it into retail needlework stores.

I have 6 advertisement spaces available in the calendar.  If anyone owns an online store such as an Etsy shop and sells supplies and embellishments for crazy quilting or handmade crazy quilt items, or if you teach online crazy quilt classes, please email me to reserve your space.  The ad size is 3 1/2 X 2 inches. 300 dpi JPEG. Spaces are $40.00 each and available on a first come first serve basis.

The Color Yellow

I finished up my block for the 2015 Crazy Quilt Calendar that I'll be publishing later this year.  I've taken photos and sent them off to Jason, my editor.  Since he works full time, I want to send him the projects as soon as they're ready to give him as much time as possible to put things together.

I'm so excited about this project.  I have the loveliest contributors, Crazy Quilt artists who do absolutely stunning work so this calendar will be pure, concentrated eye candy!  Stay tuned for updates!

My friend Michelle suggested that I do something yellow.  I don't know why but I don't do a lot of yellow projects.  It's not that I don't like yellow.  It's a very happy color!  So the other day when I had some free time, I pieced a few Crazy Quilt blocks and one of them is....yes, yellow!

The rose piece in the center is from my collection of vintage hankies.  I'll start stitching on this later this evening.

I don't think I'll have time for a blog post tomorrow.  I'm going to go and visit my aunt for awhile.  I'll be back on Monday with an update on this block.  Have a great weekend everyone!

2015 Crazy Quilt Calendar

Today's post will be just a bit of babble I'm afraid.  I had hoped to have some photos to share but I just haven't been able to accomplish much the past few days.  My phone line was down again yesterday so I spent another 20 minutes pushing buttons on my cellphone trying to get someone from the phone company out here to fix it once and for all.  Why is it you can never just get a real person to talk to?  Anyway, it seems to be good now.  But stuff like that throws me for a loop and then it takes me awhile to settle down and focus again.

I do expect to have some photos tomorrow. I finished up my purses and I have some new things from mom and Kathi to share.  Hopefully I can get all that done tomorrow.

I'm working on my tutorial for the next issue of Crazy Quilt Gatherings magazine.  Just about done with that and hope to get it all typed up next week.

I'm still working on organizing my bead cart.  I'm a very neat person so I don't know how it got so messy!   I think I just get into stitching and forget to take the time to neaten things up and then all of a sudden, I have what feels like an overwhelming, disorganized mess.  But I'm about 1/2 done with my beads.  I had to stop at Michael's this morning for a few more packages of tiny zip lock bags.  It had to be Michael's because I had a coupon.  Remember what I said about craft stores and coupons!  Always, take a coupon with you!

I thought I'd talk a little more about my 2015 Crazy Quilt Calendar.  I invited 12 crazy quilt artists to contribute a block.  Obviously, 1 artist for each month and then I'll do a design as well.  I asked each artist for a specific theme based on their unique style of crazy quilting and I think it'll be fun to see the interpretations as the designs come in.  I plan to release the calendar at Magcloud on September 1st this year. 

The purpose of this project is to help promote crazy quilting, to promote the individual artists that I invited and to offer a calendar with pure, beautiful, crazy quilt eye candy!  I promise, the eye candy will be amazing!  I will include bios for each CQ artist as well as links to their blogs, Etsy shops and any other links that they would like me to include.

Well, I guess I'll get offline now and finish up my tutorial and then work on my beads some more.  I'll be starting my block for the calendar in another day or so too.  Lots of fun things are going on!  Oh yes, and Flea Market season starts next month!  Oh, how I love Flea Market season!

Cutting Fabric Pieces

I spent my morning getting my latest purse blocks all ready to sew together.  I pulled lining and backing fabric and have everything measured out and cut.  Tomorrow, after my chores of course, I will sew these together:

I also have this little cat doll to sew up:

Also, while I had my fabrics out, well some of them, I sewed up this block:

My very dear and long time friend Lula has a birthday coming up in April.  She loves her I Phone!  So I thought I'd make her a cellphone pouch.  Years ago, Lula sent me a little embellishment pack from Embellishment Village.  Are they still in business?  It's been so long since I've been to a Quilt Show that I have no clue anymore!  Anyway, the little kit is for making a seascape so I'm going to use it on this block.

I also (on my beloved treadle machine) pieced my block for my 2015 Crazy Quilt Calendar.  I can't share that one though.  I asked everyone to keep their blocks a secret until the calendar is released.  Yes, typical publisher!  But that's how it works and that's how it's always been.

So for now, I'm going to get offline and go stitch.

Stitching, Rearranging And Planning

I've been busy the past few days, stitching, rearranging and making plans.  Taking over Pat Winter's beautiful Crazy Quilt Gatherings magazine is giving me a fresh start.  As I mentioned, I'm planning on buying a new computer this Summer and I'm going to repaint my little room pink and decorate it with roses.

I'm trying to reorganize my stash a bit.  I want to make room for a stitching chair and stitching lamp in one corner.  That way, when Bubba wants to watch football, I can come in here and stitch and listen to music or watch a movie.

This room is only 9 1/2 foot square.  It's tiny so it'll be a challenge to contain my stash but I think with an all in one scanner/printer, a small computer (be it a laptop or desktop) and a small corner desk, I should be able to manage.

I like small spaces.  I like the coziness and I never did want my work room to look like a work room but it's become a challenge because quite honestly, I love my craft supplies!

I took yesterday off, printed up a coupon for JoAnn's, Hobby Lobby and Michael's.  I got all dressed up in a nice sweater, my St Patricks Day earrings that my sister made for me, my real pearls that my aunt and my cousin gave me for my birthday, put on my beautiful faux fur coat, grabbed my Lord Of The Dance CD and took myself shopping in my new little car.         

I needed some large snaps for my most recent purses which I need to sew together but I honestly didn't need anything else.  Other than getting out and getting some fresh air.  Trust me though, I found something in each store to use my coupons on!

When I was all done, I took myself to McDonald's, bought a large Shamrock shake and drove to the park by the lake, listened to my CD and enjoyed a peaceful 1/2 hour knowing that soon the weather will warm up and I can get out on my deck!

The robins are back!  Yes!!!!  Along with the grackles, the starlings, the cowbirds and the red-winged blackbirds.  The squirrels are eating like crazy and I'm starting to see them with nesting material so although it hasn't quite sprung yet, Spring is quite near!

Have I gotten chatty or what?  There are some days when I just don't know what to talk about so I post photos of my stitching and leave it at that.  And then other days, I can't seem to stop typing!

Well, before I go any further, and speaking of stitching, here is a photo of my Little Girl With The Seashell block:

That image is one of my favorites.  It's from the collection of Pat Winter.  I've always loved it and have wanted to do a purse design with it for quite some time!

I crocheted some trim for the bottom with gold palettes and I pulled out a vintage lace collar to use on the bottom.  I'm not sure the collar will work but I'm going to give it a try.  Will have to wait and see how it looks once I get this sewn together.

If this collar doesn't work, I have plenty of other vintage collars and lace pieces that I can use. 

In other news, I putting together a 2015 Crazy Quilt Calendar.  It'll be an eye candy calendar and although I'm not going to give any secrets away, I can tell you that it will be gorgeous and filled with the beautiful work of some wonderful crazy quilt artists!!