Blast from the (Lizzie*Kate) past!

I began Lizzie*Kate in 1996. It was supposed to be a hobby...a little extra income while being a stay-at-home mom to 2 busy daughters. And then things took off at our first summer needlework market. What a surprise and a great blessing this business has been! This pic is in front of the old Lizzie*Kate office doorway...otherwise known as the basement!

Here's my original logo - I haven't updated it (perhaps I should?). It was a quick pencil sketch that I filled in with a handy marker. I meant to refine it a bit, but ran out of time, or perhaps forgot in the hustle to get to my first market.

Since then, my daughters (Sarah "Lizzie" and Ali "Kate") have turned into lovely young women, my husband Alan has joined me full time in the biz, and it seems we've all gotten almost 20 years older. Strange how that happens...

Back in the 1996, my very first design was Hats Off to Halloween. I took 20 designs to my first market and this one was the top seller. Originally, I was hand stenciling the custom frames to go with this one - what was I thinking? I was thankful to hand that responsibility off a few months later to a great frame company.

Anyway, I was looking for a great Halloween saying for a new Halloween chartpak this fall. The "Hats Off to Halloween" phrase kept popping into my head. I found my self sketching ideas, and realized I could, indeed, use this phrase again...almost 18 years later!

A lot of things have changed since the original Hats Off to Halloween. The speckled Heatherfield fabric (which everyone loved) was sadly discontinued. The frame company is no longer in business. Even the copper-y cover paper is no longer available! Alas, nothing stays the same....

So here's quite a different "take" on this fun Halloween sentiment! It's brighter than the original and has lots of spunk! We decided to include an addtional "bonus" project...a little "one night" stitching wonder!

We're also offering a new (optional) funky geometric button pack. Look closely and you can see the 3 square buttons on the big designs - 2 on hats, and one on the letter "N".

Hats Off 2 will be available in your favorite needlework shops by the middle of July. We're still waiting for the publishing (and then we'll be busy sacking), and can't wait til those gorgeous little button packs from Just Another Button Company arrive in the mail.

More quick Halloween fun is coming soon, so get your spooky stitching groove on. It's Hats Off to Halloween!

My food blogger "internship"

Have you ever wanted to try out a different job...just for a day or two? I'm always wondering what it would be like to visit my friends in their workplaces and experience their work days.

Earlier this year, we visited our daughter Sarah in her "workplace" at Lane Tech College Prep High School in downtown Chicago. It was such a beautiful old building, bursting with 4200 hormonal high schoolers. Sarah works hard to keep their minds on ART!

And would you believe...Ms Wain's classroom just finished their spring semester this week. Can you spell "SNOW DAYS"?

Last week I got the chance to "intern" with our other daughter, Ali in Kansas City. She works from home in her airy loft in downtown KC (near the City Market for my Kansas City readers).

Ali's a busy food blogger and this summer she's trying to juggle her regular workload, while shooting her very first cookbook. So I volunteered to drive 3 hours to KC (and bring her Dad, too) and "intern" in the kitchen for a few days. 

Ali doesn't cook and photograph every day, but for our visit she planned 2 days in a row of nonstop cooking, cleaning, photographing...and a little eating.

Everyone's always asking me what a food blogger does. How does Ali earn a living as a food blogger? What you see on her blog (gimmesomeoven.com) is just part of the job. She spends tons of time on social media (not for fun - for WORK!), editing photos and writing copy, negotiating contracts with food companies, networking with other food bloggers, traveling on sponsored foodie trips and lots more...with tons of experimental cooking and tasting inbetween.

Here's her pristine white kitchen BEFORE we started. Here's a link about how she acquired this beautiful new kitchen. http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/white-kitchen-remodel-white-cabinets-white-appliances/

Here's the same kitchen counter (in real messy life)as we're getting started on our busy day. Ali had shopped early that morning and the dining table was full of groceries when we arrived. Check out the window corner in the top background. That's where she does her photography.

We made some beautiful vegan nachos...yes, VEGAN nachos. No off-limits dairy products in this recipe! Personally, I thought it was a LOT of work to make this "faux cheese", but I'm sure Ali's vegan readers will appreciate this. I was the sous chef for the day, so please notice the beautifully sliced jalapenos and cherry tomatoes and...oh yes...the carefully selected "pretty" chips I chose - no broken chips allowed!

Here's Ali actually photographing the nachos above. She works with natural light in one corner of her loft. She's standing on a ladder for just the right angle.

We also made a yummy salad...and ate the beautiful results several hours later. 

Alan did about a million dishes (forgot to take picture) and squeezed in some honey-do projects and emergency grocery trips during the day. Basically it was wash, dry, use, repeat, wash, dry. use, repeat with pots, pans, food processor, blender, cutting boards, knives and utensils, etc. I kept busy with sous chef responsibilities, with numerous conversations like this:

Me: Do you want cherry tomatoes or Roma tomatoes cut up? How do I cut them? What size should the pieces be? How many do you need? Do I have to take the seeds out?

Ali: I want the cherry tomatoes, but only the big, blemish-free ones, cut in half.

We were all tired by the end of each day. I never found my way to the sofa, but Alan and Ali's official photography assistant, Henry, squeezed in a quick nap.

Time for the Red, White and Blue!

It's time for a little July 4th decorating....with the emphasis on "little", because I don't own much July 4th decor. Sure I have bunches of patriotic Lizzie*Kate designs, but they don't live at my house. They're travelling the country in trunk shows, sitting at my LNS, or even stashed in the office or attic.

If you're in the mood for 4th of July stitching, here are a few quick patriotic stitches. These are all quick and fun, and you'll have plenty of leftover time for your favorite holiday activities...or inactivity!

K59 A Little Liberty Kit

This "Little" Kit is quick and summery. Kit includes 30 ct. natural linen and some teeny red beads for flower centers. Grab some threads from your stash and stitch this in a couple evenings or a weekend...easy!

S107 Buzzy String 

This is our newest patriotic design! It has some patriotic motifs, but it's not "limited" to July 4th, so you can enjoy it all summer long.

S96 Land That I Love Now and Then Snippet

This is an oldie...and a newbie! We originally designed Land That I Love many years ago (the bottom design). Recently we updated the design (still loved the saying!) and gave it a facelift. The Now and Then Snippet includes both designs...take your pick or do them both!

Like I said, I don't own much July 4th decor. I remember having more when my kids were young, so I'm not sure where it went.

Whatever...free downloadable art to the rescue! I had a spare 8" x 10" frame. I did a quick online search for FREE downloadable July 4th art and came up with a zillion options. I chose this one, printed it on some white card stock and stapled it in the frame. I can change it out for other seasonal printables later.

Want to see other July 4th Lizzie*Kate designs? Here's the link for more patriotic goodies!

http://lizziekate.com/july4.html

Happy Tingly Weekend!

Is everyone ready for the holiday weekend? It sure creeped up on us...yikes!

We did the cemetary decorating last night with my Mom, and we're headed off for a short family visit tomorrow in nearby Lyons to visit their beautiful, historic, small town cemetary. Yes, I do love poking around the pretty old place and it's a good excuse to get some family together! And my niece has a little toddler (city boy from KC) who can't wait to see all that farm equipment...up close and personal!

I want to share some updated info on the TINGLES! Our new Double Flip series just released last week, and lots of you are merrily stitching your way through the first parts...the remainder of the Tingles will be available in July. Inquiring minds want to know!

Want to add a little more "tingle" to your Tingles? We've been working with the creative gals at Just Another Button Company to make a fun tingles button pack.

It's a set of 20 little buttons...perfectly color coordinated to match the Tingles. They're not meant to replace the olive and black buttons that come with the Tingles. These little gems are an optional tingly addition! Some of them replace little stitched elements, and some buttons just add more funky fun! There's an awesome button placement graph from JABCO with clear instructions. We'll post it to our website soon.

Contact your fave needlework shop to order. We'll be shipping our first batch (hot out of the button oven) on Monday, June 2.

We love it when stitchers customize our designs and choose alternative fabrics! Several speedy stitchers have sent us pics of their Tingles, using beautiful overdyed fabrics from Picture This Plus. This pic is using Cauldron linen, and another stitcher is using Fossil Linen. Both are fun, spooky colors that really make our Tingles tingle! I suspect the ladies at Picture This Plus are going to be busy dyeing these great colors.

Finally...we've had several stitchers contact us directly to "solve" the Tingles greeting puzzle? Have you found the hidden message in the series yet? Leave us a comment with your guess!

Wishing all of you a wonderful, relaxing, safe holiday weekend...and hopefully some time for your favorite cross stitch projects. I know I'll be bringing home another batch of my favorite farm-fresh eggs from my family farm trip tomorrow. Thanks in advance to my favorite free range chickens!

Equal time for cats and dogs at L*K

It's time again for some furry designs! We never want to play favorites, so we've given equal time to our canine and feline friends.

So...in numerical order, here are the new pet String Snippets!

S113 Doggy String

Lots of fun doggy motifs, bright colors and 2 darling puppies make this a fun stitch.

S114 Kitty String

More colorful kitty-friendly things, and 2 curious kitties add up to lots of feline fun.

And for a little Friday fun...here's a pic of my new office. It's truly a room with a view! 

As I said in an earlier post, we're building a house! After many dormant, cold winter months with a lonely hole in the ground, the house is taking form this spring. The framers are almost finished, and we're doing once (or twice) daily visits to check progress.

After years of having our office in our backyard, we're making a change. This house won't have "room" for an office, so we'll be renting a little office/warehouse. We'll share a little home office (above) but the warehouse and shipping will happen from a different site. Darn...we'll have to commute again!

Here's what I'm learning on my first home-building experience...it's a work in progress!

Here's a pic of us a couple days ago. We were called to worksite during the day (thank goodness we're self-employed and flexible) and met with builder and head framer to discuss some issues and changes.  A few sketches on the walls later...we made decisions and everyone returned to their respective jobs! (My husband Alan on left, builder Brad in center and awesome framer Dennis on right).

I'll keep you posted on further house updates. Coming soon...windows!

Busy Bees invade L*K!

I've been a bit obsessed with BEE motifs lately, so why not design a chart dedicated to my buzzy friends? We're calling it Busy Bee (#165).

I had so much fun designing and stitching all of these BEE models. They're all packaged together as a chartpak, and come with 2 antique gold charms...little crown (on top of hive in left design) and golden bee (on round box). We put a gorgeous pic of some flowers on the cover background, so the bees would feel right at home.

Another new design coming soon uses a winning saying in our recent Inspiration Contest. We are using the 3 winning sayings in upcoming Inspiration Boxers, and this is the first! Don't Cry Because It's Over B48.

It was so much fun to create and stitch a design using the saying chosen on the Blog Contest. This is a great saying from Dr. Seuss and I think it's a winner, too!

Like the other Inspiration kits, this comes with 30 ct. natural linen, and a bonus design. We also included a bee charm (more bee obsession!) and some tiny beads to use on the bonus project.

If you need more BEES and a more "inspiration" in your life, contact your favorite needlework shop and add these to your stash.

Meanwhile, the busy worker bees at Lizzie*Kate with be buzzing with activity as we prepare all the goodies for their debut!

One more thing...here's a closeup pic of the covers on the new Tingles Double Flips. They are so pretty and funky, and even a little psychedelic! We're busy attaching little button packs inside each one, ready for their date with the USMail. Get ready for some Halloween fun!

Mothers and midwifes!

I'm hooked...absolutely loving the PBS Masterpiece Theater series Call the Midwife!

This wonderful series has it all...life, death, humor, sadness, resourceful midwives, compassionate nuns and babies...lots and lots of babies!

If you haven't caught this series on PBS Masterpiece Theater yet, here's a brief summary. It's a period drama set in the 1950s (love the costumes, hair, etc.) in the poor east end of London.  It's based on the memoirs of a real midwife.A group of awesome midwives are BUSY attending to the women of the poverty-ridden neighborhood. There's definitely no shortage of pregnant bellies in this series! 

The midwives are based in the local nunnery...many midwifes are nuns, but some are laypersons and they share the same space and calling to serve other women.  What makes this show special are the relationships between the ladies...the nuns and other midwives, the midwives and birthing moms, the moms and babies...it's all there! There's a lot of joy in here, but it's not overly sentimental. Life and death go hand in hand in this drama. 

Bonus: The midwives travel by trusty bicycle, strapping their birthing kits on the back as they bump down the road! It's hard to believe this was the 1950s!

Which brings me to the REAL purpose of this blog post. I have a new Mothers design coming out! It's called Mothers (what else?), #164.

This saying has been on my "list" for years, but it finally made it to the top. It's a little late for Mother's Day stitching this year, but aren't Moms important every day of the year?

I stitched the model on some pretty overdyed linen from Picture This Plus called Legacy - how appropriate!

I'm premiering my new collaboration with the gals at Just Another Button Company with this design. They asked me to design some L*K inspired buttons for their collection. After brainstorming lots of interesting button themes, I decided on...well, a button that looks like a BUTTON!

This unique button has 4 drilled holes (new thing for JABCO) so you can attach it using an X or anyway you prefer. The outside color on the button is darker than the middle, so it looks dimensional. We'll offer these buttons in lots of other colors soon. If you don't want to use the button, I offer a stitched alternative on the graph.

I also had some fun designing a couple of pointy hearts...use them for pin pillows, sachets, or just sit and admire them. They're quick one evening projects and super sweet. I stitched them on a rosy tinted neutral linen called Earthen (also from Picture This Plus).

This chartpak is still at the printer, but we're planning to ship to needlework shops on May 12. Yikes! That's the day after Mother's Day and I can see where this is going....a weekend packing orders.

Have a great week, everyone!