Calendar Blocks

I thought for today, I would share all of the beautiful blocks from the 2015 Crazy Quilt Calendar.  Since the blocks had to be cropped to fit the space, these are the complete blocks.

January by Mary Anne Richardson

February - Nicki Lee Seavey

March - Maria Mulder
(Maria does not have a blog)

April - Kathy Shaw

May - Pat Winter

June - Cathy Kizerian

July - Brenda Sandusky (Facebook)

August - Gerry Krueger

September - Terri Lee Takacs

October - Betty Pillsbury

November - Connie Eyberg

December - Allison Aller

Cover - Pamela Kellogg

Please take a moment to visit the blogs of these gifted ladies and congratulate them on their beautiful work!  The 2015 Crazy Quilt Calendar would not have been possible without them!

2015 Crazy Quilt Calendar!!!

The long awaited 2015 Crazy Quilt Calendar is now available!!!

Available at Magcloud

This calendar features the work of 13 contemporary Crazy Quilt Artists including:

Mary Ann Richardson

Nicki Lee Seavey

Maria Mulder

Kathy Shaw

Pat Winter

Cathy Kizerian

Brenda Sandusky

Gerry Krueger

Terri Lee Takacs

Betty Pillsbury

Connie Eyberg

Allison Aller

and myself, Pamela Kellogg

Some Crazy Quilt Finishes To Share

I hope everyone is having a nice weekend!  Scott is outside mowing the lawn and then he'll be starting the grill.  I bought some little steaks for dinner and some beautiful strawberries.  It's a bit warm outside but it'll be cold soon enough!

I have some finishes to share today.  First, I asked ya'll how I should finish this pretty piece.  It has a new home and the owner asked me to finish it into a plain pillow.  She has some vintage lace that she wants to sew around the outside:

This pretty Santa Claus door knob hanger also has a new home.  I just finished this up this morning:

The trim around the outside is not Christmas Tree Garland!  LOL!!!  It's crocheted trim made with fancy, fuzzy silver yarn!  You can find my article on making crocheted trim in the newest issue of Crazy Quilt Gatherings magazine:

Also, be sure to stop back on Monday September 1st for the release of the 2015 Crazy Quilt Calendar!

Purse Or Pillow?

Summer is winding down.  I've already trimmed back some of the plants that are done for the season.  We have a ton of Rose Of Sharon trees so when those are done, it'll take me about a week to trim those and the Lilac bushes.  My trumpet vine that I bought to attract my precious little hummingbirds will be ready to cut back in a couple of weeks too.  It's grown so much, that this year, we're going to have get a larger trellis for it.  Not sure how to get the old one out but I'm sure Scott and I will figure that out.  I had no idea when I planted it that it would over grow the trellis and drape itself all over my garden!

Our pumpkin crop has not done well this season.  We have 2 pumpkins despite the fact that the vines are growing into our neighbors yard.  Our neighbors pumpkin patch is growing into our yard but he has tons of pumpkins so I don't think we'll find ourselves "pumpkinless" this Fall!

I've been stitching on a few things too.  I did some Chicken Scratch hearts that I will sew into Crazy Quilt blocks.  I also finished up this block:

I asked for votes over at Facebook and I'm going to ask for votes here.  Should I sew this into a purse or a pillow?  At the moment, a pillow has the most votes but please leave me a comment and let me know what you're thoughts are.

Mom finished up a project too.  This pretty Cottage Style Pillow is made from a vintage tablerunner:

As you can see, Mom has embellished it with vintage lace pieces, beads, buttons and sequins.  A lot of nice things can be made from old embroidered pieces!

Vintage Beaded Baar and Beards Collars

Scott and I went to the Wilmot Flea Market yesterday morning and I found some treasure!  4 vintage beaded Baar and Beards Collars:

Can you believe, I only paid $10.00 for all 4 of them?  I bought one a few years ago at an antique shop and paid $20.00 for it.  And no, I haven't used it on anything yet.  But my plan is to make purses with these!

If you would like to read an article on the history of Baar and Beards you can find it here.  Be sure to scroll down a little bit to the bottom of the questions and answers section.

My current stitching project is just about done. I need bead the butterflies:

Here are a few close up photos:

The blackwork area with my tatted flowers.  Yes, I made the flowers myself.

The dangling hearts are embroidered with Watercolor threads from The Caron Collection.

I bought this pretty button with the violets from an Etsy shop.

Hand painted lace trim, embellished with sequins and beads.  The vintage lady image is embroidered with silk and organza ribbon.  I used seed beads for the green leaves.

I'll have this finished up either tonight or tomorrow and then I'll post another photo.