Gifts

Did you ever walk down to get your mail only to find that it wasn't worth your energy? Well yesterday was not one of those days!

I received two goodies packages yesterday. The first package I opened was from Janet. Janet is one of my online friends and a long time fan of my cross stitch designs. Actually, I think Janet has been with me almost as long as I been designing!

Here are the wonderful gifts that Janet sent to me:



A gorgeous little tape measure, some heart and flower charms, some B/C Ribbon pins and a Bedazzler for embellishing my crazy quilts! I was actually looking at those the last time I was in Michaels. They have so many pretty little rhinestone studs now and I was thinking that it would be fun to have one for my quilts!

Thank so much Janet for thinking of me! I love everything!

The next package that I opened was a gift from my husband. I was in here checking my email last week and he was here chatting with me. An email came up from Ebay saying that the Crazy Quilt book by Penny McMorris was listed. As you know, I've been wanting that book for a long time but being a bit frugal (cheap) to pay the secondary market price, I was hoping to find it at flea market or estate sale.

Anyway, he told me to bid on it and I told him what they go for and that I didn't want to pay that much and he said to go ahead and bid on it because he was paying for it. Wow!

So here it is, my very own copy, a gift from my dear husband:



The same seller also had a copy of the out-of-print Crazy Quilt Stitches book by Dorothy Bonds so I bought that one for myself. I know you're probably laughing at that because you know, I tend to use the same 5 stitches over and over on my quilts. Not to worry, that will be changing!

So rather than stitching last night, I read my CQ book. How facinating! I must say, I knew it was loaded with treasures and it most certainly is! I could look at the pictures of the quilts all day long and never get anything else done. There is so much to see!

I'll admit though, I was a bit disturbed (more like grossed out) by the quilt with the real taxidermifed chipmunks on it. Personally, I prefer to see my wildlife running around and playing in my backyard. I mean honestly! Those Victorians had some really weird and rather morbid tendencies!

These lovely gifts were the highlight of my day yesterday! For now, I'm off to finish up my Bucilla project and then I'll be working on Maxine's quilt this afternoon. This evening, I'll do some more stitching my B/C Awareness purse so I should have some nice photos for you tomorrow.

Breast Cancer Awareness Purse Update

As promised, I have an update for you on my Breast Cancer Charity Purse:



Many of my readers have told me that they don't care for the color pink but I must tell you, it's one of my favorite colors!

Anyway, I'm still working on the seams and having a great time doing it!

The lace with the velvet ribbon in the center is a vintage piece. It was in a bag of old lace that I bought in Dubuque Iowa the very first time that Scott and I went to Galena. This charity purse has been in the back of my mind for awhile so I was saving that trim specifically for this project.

The lace to the right of the pink ribbon was a gift to me from Susan N. It's another piece that I've been saving for something special.

I haven't decided yet on what to do to the left of the vintage trim so later today, I'll probably start on some beading.

I guess that's all I have for today. I need to get going on my design-work for the day. The sooner I get that done, the sooner I can stitch on this!

News From Kitty & Me

As Sharon would say, grab a cuppa and settle back while I share some updates and news.

First, I met with Maxine yesterday and we re-evaluated what to do with her quilt. She loves what I've done so far. Since she wants to hang it in her shop and make it available for purchase, we have to consider her investment and be sure that it will be profitable for her.

My suggestion to her was that I add a few more large "points of interest" here & there to balance it out and then scatter a few more small floral motifs here & there. She agreed that my idea sounded great so that's what I'll be doing.

I can probably complete it in another week if I focus the majority of my attention on it. This coming week however, I have a huge pattern job to do for Bucilla so I will put Maxine's quilt on hold until the following week when I can really focus on it and get it completed for her.

When I finish this quilt for her, she another one that just needs some repairs. Wait until you see that one! It's absolutely beautiful! And it won't take me too long to repair it as the damage isn't too extensive.

In the meantime, I decided to start a purse project that I can work on in the evenings. You know I need to stitch or I just don't feel good! Anyway, I pulled this block from my drawer of ready to stitch projects:



As you can see, it will be a Breast Cancer Awareness purse. The pink ribbon is one of my own cross stitch designs. I'd like to say a special thank you to Kim, my dear friend and model stitcher who kindly took the time to stitch this up for me.

When I complete this project, I'll be listing it in my Etsy shop and donating a portion of the proceeds to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. I'll be starting on this project later today.

If anyone is interested in the charted Breast Cancer Ribbon design, you can find it in my Etsy shop.



All proceeds from the charted design will be donated to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

If you've been following my blog all week, you know that I've been listing some of my previously discontinued charted designs in my Etsy shop. I've also listed several of the designs that are currently on my main website. They are there for a limited time only. Once they are gone, I will be discontinuing all past designs permanently. I strongly suggest that if there's something you want, to order it now. Again, all designs currently on my main website and in my Etsy shop will be permanently discontinued.

I've decided to drop my main website down to one page only. Since I blog everyday, there's no point in maintaining a regular website. We will eliminate all pages including my complimentary designs. If you're still wanting The Millennium Cats patterns, download them now! What will be there are links to my blog, my Etsy shop and my Flickr site. The web address and my email address will remain the same.

On a final note, my mom has been de-stashing her sewing room again and has asked me if I would sell some of her cross stitch and quilting things for her. Rather than clutter up my Etsy shop with everything, I decided to list her stuff on Ebay:



I'll be working on doing that this afternoon. What I don't get listed today, I'll do throughout the week when I have time. If you're interested in seeing what I have, you can search by my username "kitty-and-me" .

Ok, I guess that's the news for now. I doubt I'll have time to post an update on my B/C purse tomorrow. We're going to a flea market in the morning and then to my sister's house in the afternoon for my niece's birthday. I'll have an update for you on Monday and hopefully, will have some cool flea market finds to share with you!

Patterns Now Available

These patterns are now available in my Etsy shop:







And yes, I do accept PayPal.

Flag Boy Cellphone Pouch

I took a break from Maxine's quilt and decided to stitch up a little patriotic cellphone pouch. Here's what it looked like before I started:



My husband worked late last night so I had plenty of stitching time and actually completed it:



I'll get this sewn up next week sometime and add it to my Etsy shop.

I'll be seeing Maxine later today so I should have a update for you tomorrow on what we're going to do with her quilt.

Are you finding the progress on that quilt interesting or boring? I'm assuming that you prefer to see my original creations. I would love to hear your thoughts.

I'll admit, I'm a bit all over the map these days with so many projects going on. I never got any flowers planted in my yard this year. Thank goodness for my perennials! At least I have some flowers.

I still have to paint the steps, the interior front door and do some stenciling in my living room. And I want to order my valances for the windows. That will be awhile yet as I have x stitch work to do too. Other than my room here being a bit messy, my house is clean so I am a happy camper!