Nightmare

Farewell Master, yet not farewell.

Where I go, ye too shall dwell.

I am gone before thy face,

a moment's time, a little space.

When ye come where I have stepped,

ye will wonder why ye wept.

Edwin Arnold

Nightmare Has Passed Away

I am saddened today to bring you the following news. Pam's nightmare has passed away. He lived a full life of 17 years. He lived a lot longer than the vet originally gave him. Please take a moment and send Pam your best wishes and support.

~Jason Dumont (Pam's Assistant)~

Wrigley

Here's a nice photo of Wrigley.  I just took it:

He's only been here 2 days but so far, he's a very good little kitten!  He hasn't bothered Nightmare and Lucy, he's doesn't seem to bother anything in the house, he plays with his little toys.  In fact, he's so cute.  He carries the little toy mice and birds around in his mouth.  I'm going to try to get photos of him doing that.

He wants to snuggle up to Lucy but she isn't quite ready for that yet.  There's less hissing from Nightmare and Lucy but it'll probably take a few more days before they warm up to him.

Elegant Cross Stitch Sentiments For Crazy Quilting

Just a quick reminder, because this weekend was a busy one, that my new book has been released!  

Elegant Cross Stitch Sentiments For Crazy Quilting can be found at Magcloud!

In other news, here a new photo of Wrigley:

He's laying on the chair under the kitchen table.  My Simba used to lay here just like this.

Welcome Wrigley

Scott and I adopted a little 3 month old kitten today.  This is Wrigley (after Wrigley Field in Chicago):

He's rather frightened but he's so sweet and gentle!  We'll be introducing Nightmare and Lucy to him shortly.  Right now, he's resting on the sofa with Scott.  They're be more photos soon.  I didn't want to overwhelm him with too many flashes at the moment.

In other news, Elegant Cross Stitch Sentiments For Crazy Quilting is now available!  Yeah!!!!

I'll have more photos of my new baby in the next day or so.  I just want him to relax and settle down a little bit.

Embroidered Westie Pillow

I sewed up my little Westie Pillow yesterday and added some yo-yo's and vintage mother of pearl buttons:

I used my reproduction vintage fabrics to border and back the pillow and a wide eyelet lace for a ruffle.  I didn't have enough fiberfill to stuff it and I didn't feel like running to WalMart yesterday so I'll pick some up over the weekend and I'll post another photo when it's completely done.

I was asked if I would stitch another one so I'll be tracing the design and stitching it again over the weekend. 

Embroidered Westie

My aunt asked me to make her a pillow with an embroidered West highland Terrier Dog.  I dug through my very large collection of vintage iron on embroidery patterns and I found this one.  It's a little Scottie dog but I altered the shape of the face a little bit and crayon tinted it:

I have a whole box full of reproduction 30's - 40's prints so I'll use some of them to finish this pillow.  I'll be sewing it up this afternoon!

Stitching Halloween Cats

If you've been reading my blog for a few years, you know I have a tendency to be all over the map!  I just from one thing to another and go back and forth like crazy.  There is a method to my madness but you probably don't see it.  That's okay, if you're amused by me, I'm doing my job!

My Christmas ornaments are just about done.  I need to put the little do-dads on the bottom and then I can post photos.  I expect to do that over the weekend.

In the meantime, I've started on a few Halloween Cats.  This is the first.  I finished stitching him up this morning:

This little black cat doll is one of 3 that I'm doing for Bowl Fillers.  I'll be putting pumpkins with him and we'll have to see what else I come up with!

In other news, I just wrote the introduction and Copyright pages for my upcoming book and sent the files off to my assistant Jason:

We're getting real close on this!

Also on my list of upcoming projects is Lesson 6 of my Color and Composition Classes.  I have a cool theme picked out for this one so stay tuned.  I'll let you know when I have a release date for that.  I expect it to be around the end of May.

Finally for today, I went grocery shopping and decided that I'd better have a box of Purina Kitten Chow here.  Scott has vacation time next week.  We're not going anywhere.  I'm hoping to get him to work on my house.  Anything!  Maybe he can clean and reseal the driveway.  But we may look for a baby kitty.  We'll see.

Shabby Cottage Roses

I thought you'd like to see one of mom's latest stitched pieces.  This is a hanging pillow with Shabby Cottage Roses:

I believe the embroidery pattern is from my collection of vintage designs.  I share with mom and I know she has some of her own so I'm not entirely sure. 

In other news, we're still looking to adopt a kitten.  We've checked with our vet's office numerous times and they haven't had any kittens come in yet.  We've checked with the various shelters in our area and to be honest, we're not thrilled with some of their policies.  Scott and I both feel that neutering a cat at 2 or 3 months old is just too young.  We understand why they do it and I'm certainly a firm believer in spay/neuter but that just seems too young.  It doesn't look like we'll have a choice though.

My vet's office called this morning and suggested that I check with Animal House Shelter in Huntley Illinois.  It seems that's the shelter they recommend so Scott and I will go there.  I've already filled out the adoption application and a lady called me just a little while ago to say that we've been approved.  So, sometime in the next couple of days, Scott and I will go up there.

It's very hard for me to do this.  Not to adopt a kitten but with so many that need a good home, it's just hard.  And quite frankly, I wouldn't be doing this if Garfield and Simba were still here.  I guess I can't think about adopting another kitty without thinking about them.  But I can't have them back so we have to give a new baby a good home.  I'll keep ya'll posted.

Crazy Quilt Blocks for Christmas Ornaments

I finished up the 3 crazy blocks I was working for Christmas ornaments.  Well, I finished the stitching but I still have to sew them together:

This one took me a little bit longer than the others because I did the tatted Christmas tree myself and then sewed it on and beaded it.

 I also did the tatted lace myself on the blue block.  I have a ton of vintage tatting but I like to do my own now and then so I don't forget how to do it!

And then here's the one you saw the other day:

I have these pretty little ornaments to hang from the point at the bottom of these pieces.  I found them at Michael's before Christmas last year:

I had planned on sewing these together today but I don't think I can squeeze one more thing in.  Maybe I can sew them up in the morning.

Vintage Greeting Cards

I'm almost done with my 3 Crazy Quilt Christmas ornaments and will have some more photos to share over the weekend.

In the meantime, I thought I'd share a pretty printable with you:

This image is from my personal collection of vintage greeting cards.  Just right click on it, save it to your hard drive and feel free to use it for your crazy quilts and other craft projects!

Crazy Quilt Christmas Ornaments

I got a little too close with the flash on this piece, but I was looking for a few small things to stitch and decided to do a couple of Crazy Quilt Christmas Ornaments:

I stitched this up last night and started another one this morning.  They will hang on the diagonal like I've shown here in the photo.  I have some little bell like ornaments to hang from the point.

I like to keep a drawer of "ready to stitch" blocks on hand.  Sometimes, I'll take a day and just sew a pile of things and then put them in the drawer.  That way, if I don't have time to sew a block, at least I have some things to stitch on.

Cottage Beach Seascape Bowl Fillers

I have some finishes to share today.  First, my Crazy Quilt Bird Pillow is done and it's so pretty!

I love the soft, wide cream colored lace that I used on it.

And my Seascape Bowl Fillers are done:

Everything is included except the bowl!  The Crazy Quilt Pillow, the seashells, the faux pearls and the hand dyed cheesecloth for lining the bowl!

Maria had asked me how I made the anemones.  I confess, I did not make those.  I'm fortunate to have a home decor store give me their outdated fabric and trim books.

So my anemones are nothing more than little tassels!

Marias Crazy Quilt Purse

One of my students, Maria, sent me photos of a lovely purse that she made recently.  I thought I'd share it here on my blog today:

As you can see, the back of Maria's purse is just as beautiful as the front!

I finished up my seascapes this morning.  All are sewn and stuffed and hand finished.  I'll get photos of those over the weekend.

In other news, the little black and white kitty that I posted yesterday was adopted before Scott and I could make arrangements to go see him.   They're will be other kitties.  Will keep ya'll posted.

Seascapes and Kittens

I've been working on my crazy quilt seascapes.  The 2nd one is finished and third one just needs the fishies.  Here's a photo of #2:

I'm going to turn the computer off in a few minutes and add the fish to #3 and then get them sewn together. 

In other news, it's been almost a year since I lost Simba.  I miss him terribly and after 4 years, I still miss Garfield.  But I can't have them back.  So Scott and I decided it was time to adopt a kitten.  And then we decided that we're going to adopt 2 kittens.

This little one is available for adoption:

He's 7 weeks old.  I've already filled out the adoption paperwork on this little guy.  His current name is Max but we'll be changing that.  I'll let Scott pick a name for this baby.

Also, I've been wanting a white kitty and have been watching this pretty mama kitty at Angel Wishes Adoption Center up in Madison Wisconsin.  She had her babies on Saturday and as you can see, there are white babies! 

So incredibly precious!  Of course, it'll be awhile before I can adopt one of these little ones but again, I've filled out the paperwork and been in touch with one of the volunteers so we're getting the ball rolling.  Our white kitten will be named Cupid.  I picked that name back at Christmas. 

Just thought I would share.  I'll keep you posted and let you know when I hear more from the adoption centers.