Special Holiday Edition of Crazy Quilt Quarterly Magazine

I know how much everyone loves Crazy Quilt Quarterly magazine so I was thinking that it would be fun for everyone if we put together a special Holiday issue.  This won't be the Winter issue, this will be a special Christmas issue.

It will be a little bit different from the quarterly issues.  I'm looking for submissions ladies!!!  Here is what I'm looking for:

Christmas or Hanukkah Crazy Quilt blocks, high quality photos at 300 DPI.  To go with it, I would like a short story of a favorite Christmas memory and a vintage photo of you.

Think nostalgia, old fashioned, warm fuzzies, cozy holiday memories!  Think of years ago when our mom's put so much silver tinsel on the Christmas tree that you couldn't see the ornaments!  LOL!!!  Think of grandma's house, the smell of cookies baking and hot chocolate.  I know it's a little hard to think of Christmas right now with Spring coming but I need time to put this together.  I think it'll be a lot of fun for all of us.  I love the idea of sitting down in the afternoon with a cup of tea and reading through everyone's favorite Christmas memories and of course, seeing all the crazy quilt eye candy!!!

The deadline for submissions is May 1st.  The issue will be released in September.

There will also be some nice cookie recipes contributed by my mother a few other surprises!

All contributors and advertisers will receive a complimentary digital copy of this issue in September.

I'm hoping to get lots of submissions!!!

And in case you haven't heard, my new book is out:

You can find it at Magcloud!

A Valentine For Mom

Well, my new computer is down again!  Every time I get a Windows update I have trouble getting it to reboot!  Win 8.01 is the worst version I've ever seen!  I have the Geek Squad coming later this afternoon to fix it and to upgrade to Windows 10.  I pray that takes care of the problem once and for all.  Honestly, I'd love to go back to Windows 98 or even XP.  I never had a stitch of trouble with either one of those versions!

Anyway, I'm on my "slower than Molasses" laptop right now.  I thought I would share a photo of the little cross stitch ornament that I made for my mom for Valentine's Day:

It's a little complimentary design that I found online.  I used Sampler Threads to stitch and some metallic blending filament in the peacock.  I hand dyed the fabric myself.

I just finished reading Killing Lincoln.  Excellent book!  One of the best I've read in many years!!!  There was a lot more going on than what I knew about!

On the genealogy front, I'm still stuck on my 3rd great grandmother, my great, great grandmother and my great grandmother.  I really don't know where else to look for more information on them.  My 3rd great grandmother was a cousin of General William T. Sherman of the Civil War.  I can't say that I'm bouncing off the walls over that, I'm just trying to figure out who her father was.  I thought if I could figure that detail out with my 3rd great grandmother, then perhaps I could figure out what the deal is with my great great grandma Phoebe and my great grandma Adria.

I guess I'll work on that for a little while.  But first I have to the get the stupid tax stuff together.

Crazy Quilt Seam Embroidery

I haven't been doing much in the way of stitching lately.  I've taken some time to work on my family tree and I've been having a great time with that despite being so incredibly stuck on my 3rd great grandmother!

I've also taken some time to do some reading.  There's been a lot of books on my "want to read" list so every afternoon around 3:30, I make a cup of tea and read a few chapters.

I love history so my current read is "Killing Lincoln" by Bill O'Reilly.  This also helps to put me in the 1800's "state of mind" which is where I'm focused right now on the family tree. 

In thinking about when I get back to stitching, I thought I'd start working up a few seam treatment patterns.  Most of you know that I mostly use Waste Canvas to embroider the seams on my crazy quilts and when I get a bee in my bonnet about some new ones, I chart them out on my computer.

For today, I have 3 flower borders that I thought I would share here in case I have any waste canvas girls out there!

Right click on the image and save to your computer then print it up and enjoy!  If you use these, please send me photos!!!  I may include them in an upcoming issue of Crazy Quilt Quarterly Magazine!

Antique Mall Find

Yesterday was such a nice day here.  Sunny and about 40 degrees.  We decided to take our Model A out for a little ride.

We took it up to the antique mall in Volo, Illinois.  Not far from us.  We hadn't been there in awhile and thought it would be nice to walk around.

I wasn't looking for anything and I didn't plan on buying anything but you know how sometimes, something jumps out at you.

Well, this is my little find of the day:

I've been collecting pretty little vintage cat figurines for many years.  I don't buy them very often but sometimes I see one that just calls to me.

I love the soft colors of this one and his pretty little face.

In other news, Milagro Millie is doing so well!  I just took this photo today:

She's still very little and rather squirrely but her tail fluffed up a lot and she's so incredibly sweet!  I had her spayed back at Thanksgiving, she's had all her shots and she's doing great!

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!