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  • mchenry illinois
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February 23, 2023
The McHenry Landmark Crazy Quilt Final Block from Kitty and Me Designs

 The final block of the McHenry Landmark Crazy Quilt! I just finished this yesterday.

Started in 2017, this is a traditional Victorian style Crazy Quilt pieced and embroidered entirely by hand on a cotton foundation fabric.
 
Each of the 30 blocks featuring a McHenry Landmark is 9 inches square. All lace is either vintage or antique. I used vintage Mother Of Pearl buttons to make the little spiders. The Victorians loved spiders, so each block has a spider and spiderweb.
 
The next step of the process is to assemble it. I will do this on my sewing machine! It will ...

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July 29, 2022
McHenry Illinois Landmark Crazy Quilt from Kitty and Me Designs

 I completed another block for the McHenry Landmark Crazy Quilt:

This is the Nicholas Bohr Stone House built in 1911.  It's located on Broad Street here in McHenry, Illinois where I live.  

This is the 2nd house that Nick Bohr built for his family.  He was a stone mason and plastered a lot of the of the historic homes and building in the early 1900's.

This is a traditional Victorian style crazy quilt that I started back in 2017.  Each block is 9 inches square and pieced by hand on a cotton foundation.  

Here is a photo of ...

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January 27, 2022
McHenry Landmark Crazy Quilt Block 31 from Kitty and Me Designs

Progress continues on my McHenry Illinois Landmark Crazy Quilt.  I've completed Block #31.  This building was originally known as the Fox Pavilion.  A dance hall built in 1931 to replace the original dance hall which burned down in shortly before this one was built:

This building eventually became McHenry's Roller Skating Rink.  Sadly, it burned down in May of 2021.

I have 9 more blocks to do for this quilt.  It's been a huge project, trying to preserve the memories of our landmarks here in McHenry, Illinois where I live.

Here is the entire quilt so far ...

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December 31, 2021
McHenry Landmark Crazy Quilt Block 30 from Kitty and Me Designs

I just finished up another block for the McHenry Landmark Crazy Quilt.  This is the McHenry Brewery built in 1868 by George Gribbler:

Here's an older photo of it:


Much of the original building has been replaced but it's still in operation!

Here's the entire quilt so far:

There will be 10 more blocks so I still have a little way to go!


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December 27, 2021
The McHenry Crazy Quilt Block 29 from Kitty and Me Designs

I pulled out the crazy quilt that I've been working on for a few years featuring the landmarks of McHenry Illinois where I live.  I still have a few blocks to go but this is the old Iron Bridge over the Fox River.  It was built in 1881 and replaced with concrete bridge in 1976:


The colors are brighter than they look here.  I need to get a new digital camera so for now, I'm just using the camera on my cellphone.

Here's the entire quilt so far:

Click on the photos to enlarge the images.

This ...

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June 5, 2021
McHenry Crazy Quilt Update from Kitty and Me Designs

 Block 23 of my McHenry Crazy Quilt:



This is our first High School built in 1924 on the east side of town.  In the late 1960's, a 2nd High School was built on the west side.

Each block is 9 inches square.  The vintage photos are printed on fabric sheets that run through my printer.

The blocks are pieced entirely by hand on a cotton foundation fabric.

There will be 40 blocks all together.

Most of these buildings are still here although a few have burned down (a long match in my opinion).

I have to get some more ...

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April 18, 2021
The McHenry Quilt = An Update from Kitty and Me Designs

I was finally able to get back to a little crazy quilting!  If you remember, I started a traditional Victorian Crazy Quilt a few years ago.  The purpose is to document the historical landmarks of McHenry Illinois where I live.

I plan to hang it in my home and use it to promote The McHenry Area Historical Society.  I'm  a board member and the editor of the Facebook page.

So I just finished block #19:

This is the very first Mill in McHenry owned by The Owen Brothers.  It sat on Green St.  Of course it's not there ...

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April 24, 2020
Reruns from Kitty and Me Designs

First, thank you to everyone for your kind messages.  I will survive.  I always do!  Things will definitely get better once I can buy a house and have some space and access to my things.

So, until then, I'll post photos of my stitching and things I made prior to all the chaos.  I'll call them "reruns"!

I know you've seen some of the blocks for my McHenry quilt.  I started this a few years ago when my former husband was going through cancer treatment as a way to keep my mind busy.


The photos on the ...

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November 23, 2019
McHenry Historical Crazy Quilt Block #20 from Kitty and Me Designs

Another block for the Mchenry Historical Crazy Quilt - this is the Samantha Button house built in 1854 and located on Waukegan St. Again I couldn't find a historical photo so I grabbed a screenshot from Google earth and oldened it in Photoshop.

Samantha Button was the daughter of William McCollom one of the very earliest settlers to McHenry Illinois. She was born in 1830 and came to Mchenry with her family in 1834. The only building in town was a log cabin located on the present site of The Riverside Hotel.

Her family continued west and made their ...

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November 7, 2019
The McHenry Historical Crazy Quilt Block 19 from Kitty and Me Designs

This not a great photo but I've complete block #19 of my McHenry Historical Crazy Quilt:

I finished it yesterday and it was rather cloudy and dreary so the colors are a bit off.



This is the Methodist church on Main and Center St. in McHenry, Illinois.  The original Methodist church was on Elm St. This is the 2nd church. It was built in 1859.

I couldn't locate a vintage photo of it so I grabbed a screenshot from Google Earth and "oldened" it in Photoshop.  It took me awhile to age the photo.  There are electric lines ...

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October 24, 2019
Block 16 of the McHenry Historical Crazy Quilt from Kitty and Me Designs

I completed another block for my McHenry Historical Crazy Quilt:

Block 16 of my McHenry Historical Crazy Quilt. This is the Gage House, a hotel built by the Hon. George Gage in 1858. Later it became known as The Parker House but sadly burned down in 1890. It was replaced by the current Simon Stoffel building.

This quilt is a work in progress recording the early history of McHenry's historic buildings. It's worked in the traditional Victorian style, pieced by hand on a cotton foundation using traditional fabrics and colors. All embroidery is worked by hand as well ...

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October 17, 2019
McHenry Crazy Quilt Update from Kitty and Me Designs

I've been working on blocks for the McHenry Historical Crazy Quilt.  I started this project a few years ago:

I have 15 blocks completed with at least another 25 to go.  Click on the image to see it close up.

The blocks are 9 inch squares.  The photos are (mostly) antique pictures of old buildings in the City Of McHenry where I live.  In a few cases, old photos just don't exist so I grab screenshots from Google Earth and then "olden" them myself in photoshop.

The blocks are pieced entirely by hand on a cotton foundation.  The ...

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  • mchenry illinois
  • Page 1 of 1 ( 12 posts )