The second piece arrived

Bells by Jeanette
Originally uploaded by The Mad Stitcher.

In March I received the second stitched piece for my quilt. It came from Jeanette in Alberta, Canada. And again the stitching is beautiful. She chose my favorite colors of red and green and this is so wonderful that I want to make it into a pillow! (See how perfectly it matches my sofa fabric!) I'm afraid that cutting it down will take away from the piece. But it was stitched for my quilt so I will see when I actually get to making this square.

<>Jeanette also, graciously agreed for me to share her words:

Stormy's Crazy Quilt Project
Thought out and voiced by Stormy
Captured Thoughts from the CBB

Dearest Kathy:

This piece is submitted with the greatest respect and I hope this will show you how much I wish to 'honour' you as the wonderful person that you are.

May the 'bells' of your life be as full as the se with Love, Joy, and Peace throughout your life here on Earth.

Hugs,
Jeanette

Thank you, my dear friend. You know how much I love it.

My first piece

Sunflower by Ness
Originally uploaded by The Mad Stitcher.

In February I received my first stitched piece for my Friendship Quilt. It came from Ness in MN. It is so beautiful and from her note I know that she spent a lot of effort choosing just the right design, fabric, and colors for me. She has graciously allowed me to share what she wrote in her note to me. (All the notes are going to go in a scrapbook with the quilt.)

Her note reads:

Dear Kathy,

I hope you like this square for your quilt. It's from the Garden Alphabet freebie by Ellen Maurer-Stroh. I picked "S" for Stormy, as I've thought of you w/ that nickname since the old TWBB. The sunflower reminded me of your sunny pic (smiling blonde). I chose opalescent fabbie because I know you like it's sparklies. (I do, too!)

Best Wishes,
Ness

Thank you, Ness! I do appreciate your time and your thoughtfulness in stitching this for me.

My Friendship Crazy Quilt

Last Fall I decided to do a Friendship Crazy Quilt. I have been putting info in my blog but decided I needed to start a separate one just for this. So I am reposting my original info and will go from here.

My thanks goes to Pam Kellogg (http://www.kittyandmedesigns.blogspot.com) for her help and inspiration and Vikki Clayton (http://hand-dyedfibers.com) for her help and advice on getting started.

I have started by moving my original post from my website over here. Over the next few months I will try hard to keep you all updated on my progress.

Crazy Quilt Gidelines

I was asked to post this to help those of you who have offered to stitch a motif for my Crazy Quilt. Basically it is *anything goes* but a few guidelines might be helpful.

1. No time limit
2. Any fabric--color, style, etc--of your choosing
3. Any style--as simple or elaborate as you like
4.Any size--within reason, of course! Just something small for the quilt!
5. Any shape--this is going to be a crazy quilt, after all!
6. Design something yourself if you wish or use a motif from something already published--your choice
7. Please include your name (at least first name) and where you live--ie Stormy, Chesnee, South Carolina
8. Let me know what I can do for you in return




--------------------------The Original Post----------------------------

Another thought....

Yes, I know that's dangerous for me but....

Recently several things have converged to get me thinking about this so I thought I would ask for opinions.

As you know a couple of weeks ago I attended my annual stitching retreat/workshop in Myrtle Beach which is hosted by by LNS owner Nancy Hall (The Stitch & Frame Shop) and Meg Thompson Shinall (The Flower Thread Company). This was my third year attending but many ladies (and gent) have been attending since it's inception about 6 years ago. In March some of us decided to do *Friendship Squares* for Meg and Nancy. Each square was to be 4 inches square and edged with a buttonhole stitch so they all could be joined together in a wallhanging. Some of us stitched published designs and some of us designed our own but the wallhanging turned out beautifully.

Then I saw a thread about Pam Kellogg's Crazy Quilting and I discovered what it really is as opposed to what I had always *thought* it was.

Well, last night during one of my sleepless periods I began thinking about all the wonderful friends I have made in the last few years--not only from across the US but also from the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Finland, and many, many more places that I don't mean to leave out. But you get the idea. Because of my health issues and travel difficulties I will never meet most of these friends unless they come here. But I value their frienship none the less.

So all things converged and I began to think how neat it would be to have a *friendship quilt* of my own. With small bits stitched from as many different friends and as many different places as possible. I would then add these in with pieces I have stitched through the years and never *finished* and all the tidbits of lace and ribbon and buttons that I have never thrown away. (I am such a pack rat!) I probably won't have to actually buy anything except maybe backing fabric--if that!

So what do you think? Is this a crazy idea or what? Would any of you be willing to stitch a little something for me--no rules...no edgings...no particular fabric, style, etc.--just something from you and signed, of course. In return I would gladly stitch something for you--a similar square or bookmark or ornament or whatever you would like to have from me. There would be no deadline as this will definitely be a long term project but I really think I would like to do this.

Opinions?"