Live Within They Harvest Free Pattern

 Today, I have a new little free cross stitch pattern for you.  

I've always loved the little verse "Live Within They Harvest".  I was thinking of Thanksgiving when I designed this:

You can download the PDF file here.

Autumn Cross Stitch Patterns Just Released!

 I just released my newest Autumn Cross Stitch patterns!

First, I have a couple of traditional, classic designs for Thanksgiving:

And this is my latest addition to the Crazy Ornaments series:

And of course, the newest designs in the Colorful Cats series:

Finally, Gingerbread The Colorful Cat is now available through me:

You can find all of my patterns in my Etsy store.  Be sure to use Coupon Code:  STITCH1

Coming Soon!

 

Two More Cross Stitch Pattern Re-Releases

I've heard that some stitchers were looking for Poinsettia Teddy.  Thanks for the reminder!  *wink*

Here he is:

Poinsettia Teddy Cross Stitch Pattern

Also available is the Give Thanks Cornucopia:

Give Thanks Cornucopia Cross Stitch Pattern

I still have a few more to put together and I have some new things coming soon!!

Thank you!

As the Thanksgiving weekend comes to a close, I want to take a moment to say thank you to all the wonderful people I've met online over the years!!

Since 1996, I've met so many wonderful, creative people!  People who love to stitch as much as I do.  Cross stitchers and crazy quilters, art quilters, embroiderers.....I'm always amazed at the creativity I see online every day.

And to everyone who has supported me, Kitty And Me Designs and Crazy Quilt Quarterly magazine, a huge thank you goes out to all of you. 

I wish everyone a very happy and safe upcoming holiday season!!!

Don't forget to use Coupon Code:  Christmas2018 to save $1.00 off your next purchase in my Etsy Shop!!

Thanksgiving Turkey Blogger Blog Background

If you like my Thanksgiving Turkey Blog Background, you can use it on your own Blogger Blogspot blog.

Thanksgiving Turkey Blog Background

Copy and paste the code below into your HTML thingy:

<style type="text/css">
body { background-image : url(https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4474/38043717761_76cf9aa2cf_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 Blogspot 2 column blogs.

We Gather Together......

I finished up my pink cat dolls.  Well, I finished stitching them.  I'm going to try to sew them together after I get back from getting groceries tomorrow:

As always, these will be so much cuter when I get them sewn and stuffed.  The cats never look like much at this point.  But they ARE pink!  And I do love stitching in pink!

Is anyone else here in the US looking forward to Thanksgiving?  I love Thanksgiving!!!  And it used to be a bigger celebration than it is now.  These days, it kind of seems like we go from Halloween to Christmas and completely forget to take the time to be thankful for what have. 

When I was in grade school, (eons ago), we always sang We Gather Together.  That was back in the day when no one had a problem with religious songs being sung in public schools.  Anyway, I found a nice version of that song on YouTube so I'll leave you to listen to it:

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing everyone a very happy & safe Thanksgiving weekend!

Vintage Gingerbread Cake Recipe

First, I'd like say thank you to everyone who left a comment for mom yesterday.  I'll help her reply to your messages tomorrow.

I tried a new Gingerbread recipe yesterday and thought I'd share it here.  The recipe is from my grandmothers 1945 cookbook called, "The American Women's Cookbook":

There are 3 recipes for Gingerbread Cake in this book.  I just love the way Gingerbread makes my house smell!

SUGAR & MOLASSES GINGERBREAD CAKE

1/2 cup Molasses
1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Shortening (melted)
1/2 cup Sour Milk (to make sour milk, add 1 Tablespoon Vinegar to 1/2 cup milk)
1 Egg
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 cup Flour
1 teaspoon Ginger
2 teaspoons Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg

Mix all ingredients in order given.  Bake in a 350 degree oven in a shallow pan or muffin tins.

The recipe doesn't say how long to bake this but I made mine into cupcakes and baked for about 18 minutes.

This is a very sweet gingerbread cake.  I made a double recipe and ended up with 24 cupcakes.  I added sprinkes and cinnamon sugar to the top before baking.

Autumn Decor

First, I would like to take a moment to say thank you to my sweet friend, Allison Aller for being my guest blogger yesterday.  I hope everyone enjoyed meeting Allie and seeing her gorgeous Place Quilts.  Allie is the queen of landscape crazy quilting and I so much appreciate her willingness to be my guest.

I've been quite busy with my projects lately.  I tend to start a bunch of different things in a bunch of different mediums, both here at my house as well as at Mom's!  So for today, I'll share my latest in Autumn Decor!

This is my Crow On A Pumpkin centerpiece:

And my Harvest Cornucopia centerpiece for Thanksgiving:

I've been experimenting with soft, muted and understated colors.  I love the bright colors of Autumn but am finding that soft colors are more soothing to me.  Definitely cottage in style and tone!

Kathi has been playing with her collection of roving and other needle-felting supplies.  We've been to 2 fiber shows this Summer and are going to another on Saturday.  Here are her latest Autumn Home Decor projects:

Check out her hand-felted leaves!  Those are gorgeous!!!!  And I love how she added a tiny black spider to them.  I have a 3rd one here but haven't done the photos yet.

My Autumn Cuff Bracelets are done so I'll try to have photos of those for you tomorrow.  I'm so pleased with how they came out!  I used elastic in them so not buttons or other fasteners to mess with!  Stop back to see them.

I'll leave you with a photo of a tiny visitor to my home last night.  I went out on the front porch for a few minutes before I went to bed and found this precious little creature sitting on my window frame:

If you've never seen one before, this is a Praying Mantis.  They're totally harmless and usually rather elusive.  I was so thrilled to see one that I had to grab my camera and capture his visit!

Treasures From Galena

We didn't spend much in Galena this past weekend.  Had to be thankful just to be able to go.  I picked up a few treasures at the antique mall:

Isn't that pretty?  I love vintage embroidered linens!

A vintage Aunt Martha iron-on embroidery transfer pattern.  I'm always thrilled when I find a vintage pattern that I don't have in my extensive collection!!! 

I'm trying to decide if I should use that doily or cut it up for my crazy quilts.  I'm leaning towards using it on my dresser.

I bought these for my crazies.  Perfect cutters!

I have a weakness for these beautiful crocheted doilies with the pansies on them.  I have a few that mom made for me and a few that I've picked up over the years in my treasure travels.  The pansies are very pastel on this one.  So pretty!

The beads came from Galena Beads.  One of my favorite stores in Galena!  They were buy 1/get 1 so I was able to get a lot for my money!

So that's what I bought in Galena!  Money was tight but that's ok.  We were just happy to be there.

In other news, I added a few new things to the shop.  First, check out Kathi's new hand-felted pumpkin patch:

Isn't that precious?!!!  It's an original creation and all hand felted.  Those pumpkins are absolutely adorable!

Then I added one of my "trash to treasure" projects:

This was a junky old metal wall pocket that I picked up at the junk store.  Cute but kind of ugly.  Not anymore!  I filled the pocket with a pumpkin, berries and harvest flowers.  The crow sits atop the pumpkin.  Very soft and shabby chic!  Both are available here.

Yesterday, I started playing with some Autumn cuff bracelets.  Quite different from Debi's tutorial.  I'll have photos soon.  These are fun!  Unique techniques!!!

I'm also working on my next Creatively Coping with Depression article.  This one is taking me awhile but it's quite extensive and rather difficult for me to write.  I'll have it ready soon.

For now, have a great day everyone!