More Pink Kitties

I finished up a little block that I was stitching on over the weekend.  This is a little door hanger for a friend:

I didn't get to sewing up my little pink cat dolls over the weekend like I had wanted to.  Maybe I'll have time tomorrow to sewn them up a long with this.

My next project will be more pink kitties!  No, not dolls but rather a couple of pillows starting with this one:

The kitty in the teacup is from a vintage greeting card.  I have another block pieced with a vintage kitty image but I'll do this one first.

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:

Pat Winter's Gatherings Magazine

Just a quick note to let you know that Pat's Crazy Quilt Winter 2013 magazine is now available:

You can purchase it here at Magcloud.

I'm working on my little Pink Cat Dolls and will have an update over the weekend.  They're just too cute!

Genuine Handmade

It's no secret that I have an Etsy shop.  And it's no secret that mom and I make things constantly for our shop.  Like everyone else, we need an income and we need to contribute something of value to society.  Everyone needs a purpose.  And it's no secret that I self promote constantly and if someone or anyone doesn't like it, I don't care.  Quite honestly, I've beat my head against the wall trying to make my shop work.  Short of standing on my head and singing The Star Spangled Banner upside down, I've pretty much had my fill of playing all the online marketing games, social networking and SEO nonsense and trying to stand out through the unbelievable amount of online competition these days. 

I no longer have the energy for a traditional job.  I've done my time with that.  I put up with a lot of BS over the years and that includes when I was working night and day designing counted cross stitch.  From here on in, I do things my way and in my time.

Now, Etsy, in it's infinite greed wisdom, is allowing it's shop owners to mass manufacture goods.  REALLY?!  This has always been a huge no-no with Etsy!  Shops could only carry handmade items, vintage items and craft supplies. 

Honestly, do those of us who work our butts off to make quality, genuine handmade items need the extra challenge of trying to break through that kind of competition?  And I don't want to hear that "if my items are good quality, they'll sell".  My items ARE good quality!  My mother and I are expert needleworkers and seamstresses.  But for some reason, it's damned hard to get consistent sales despite the quality of our work.  Despite my good photos, excellent descriptions and customer service which is second to none!  Despite my online reputation and despite everything I've done to make at decent living at this.

It's almost as if Etsy is deliberately trying to weed out the little guy who can only produce so much work so fast.  Quality takes time.  And as far as I'm concerned, if someone wants mass produced junk, then go down to the Walmart!  Etsy has always been about handmade.  I guess they've gotten too big for their britches and lost the mentality that handmade comes from the heart. 

But mom and I haven't lost that mentality.  Our handmade items ARE quality, they ARE genuine handmade and they DO come from our hearts!

So with all that said, and Etsy, I hope you're listening to this Handmade shop owners opinion, I will share our latest quality genuine handmade items.

My mom has made 2 more pretty Handmade Hanging Hearts:

And here is my latest stitched cat doll:

And I'll be starting on this one as soon as I get off my soap box:

Okay, I do believe I'm done venting now.  I hope I didn't offend anyone but I just can't think of anywhere better to post my opinions than right here on my own blog where I absolutely intend to say what I want to say (without being offensive to my sweet blog friends). 

 

Little Pink Kitties

It's been awhile since I made some of my signature cat dolls.  When my friend Michelle suggested that I make some pink kitties, I thought it was a fun idea.  Of course ya'll know, I love pink!  So no one had to twist my arm for these!  LOL!!!!

I have 1 completely stitched:

And I started on this one earlier today:

I pieced 4 pink cats all together.  These will go in my Etsy store.

In other news, be sure to stop back on Thanksgiving Day.  I'll be broadcasting something special through out the month of December and plan to explain further in my Thanksgiving Day post.  It's something that's very dear to me, from my childhood.  I know everyone will enjoy it!