Midwest Shop Hop

For the third year in a row, some of our local shops are sponsoring a shop-hop. The participating shops are Welcome Stitchery in Blue Earth, MN, The Stitchery Nook in Osage, IA, and Shanty Stitchers in Beresford, SD. Every year they team up with a designer who designs a three-part pattern just for the shop hop. Each shop offers one of the complimentary three parts just for visiting, between June1 and August 31. (Note that the chart will be available for purchase at one of these shops beginning September 1).

This year’s designer is Cathy Habermann from Hands on Design. Cathy and Bill (Mr. HOD) did their own little “shop-hop” last weekend, visiting with stitchers at all three shops on Friday and Saturday.

We did not make the trek to Shanty Stitchers; it’s about a four hour drive for us, we will get there later this summer. Cathy and Bill were there on Friday morning. We started out our day at the Stitchery Nook. Collected a third of the pattern, did some shopping, and enjoyed lunch at the restaurant/bar next door. When we were finished we got back on the road and headed to Welcome Stitchery. Cathy and Bill were there from 4pm to 6:30pm. There was a nice turnout of stitchers! We collected the second part of the design and did a little shopping. Cathy shared details on how she painted the board that was used for finishing. She brought a long a small trunk show of some of her most recent designs.

We have always been big fans of Cathy and her designs and have learned so much from her regarding finishing over the years. Five years ago, she was at Welcome Stitchery for their grand opening. At that time, her flamingo designs were a big hit. The “flamingals” made an appearance then, and at several events since!

From Bristols to Quakers and More

Time to catch up! I’ve been so busy with stitching events and family doings. I don’t always have time to update the blog. Will try to catch up this week. Let’s start by closing out the month of May!

My PIC and I traveled to the Attic at the end of May for the “From Bristols to Quakers and More” weekend. This was the Attic’s sixth Bristol event. I had attended the very first one (see my posts from June 2021), but had not returned for any of the others until now. Always so many needlework retreat options to choose from and we can’t do it all! (But we sure try…)

We arrived on Thursday to allow for ample shopping time at the Attic. It’s such a wonderful place. It wasn’t too terribly crowded either.

There was an abundance of linen to shop from and models a plenty to feed the stitcher’s soul! Of course, I’m always drawn to the red samplers!

I’m a huge fan of Samplers Not Forgotten…

And I had to take a picture of the patriotic designs!

There was so much more! If you ever have the chance to visit the Attic, you must go!

The Bristol to Quaker event started on Friday evening. We were very fortunate to hear from Becky Scott of Witney Antiques. Becky shared information on the new book they recently compiled on Bristol Samplers:

It’s 214 pages long and I can’t wait to dive into it. Copies are available at the Attic if you need to have one!

On Saturday, we first heard from Claudia Dutcher. She, of course, is an expert on Bristols. She shared that as we study about George Mueller, the orphanage, and the samplers, we continue to learn more and more. One of the most interesting comments was that approximately 15,000 samplers would have been stitched by the girls that went through the Bristol orphanage. Today, we have located only about 200 of those samplers. Hopefully more exist and they just haven’t been found yet!

Claudia shared several charts with us, but I am most looking forward to stitching this “Quaker Rag” an unfinished Bristol Sampler.

I failed to take pictures, but we also heard from Jennifer Richardson of Violets and Verses, and from Shelly M., owner of a Bristol Sampler. Jennifer recently found a Bristol that was stitched with wool (very, very unusual). Shelly shared her story on her journey to purchase a Bristol Sampler. Their stories were so interesting! Shelly’s sampler has been charted by Cozy Egg designs and is called 15 Friends.

After lunch, we were fortunate to hear about Masonic Samplers from Linda Hadden of the Sampler Guild in the U.K. My PIC and I are both members of this guild and cannot speak highly enough of their weekly zoom meeting. We have learned so much about the study of samplers!

On Saturday afternoon we also heard from Michelle at Tabbycat. She shared a brief and engaging history of England in about three minutes. (I wish she would have been my history teacher in high school!) She prepared us for the transition from Bristol to Quaker by talking about the Protestant Reformation in England.

Michelle shared this red sampler with us. You know I love the color red and I’m looking forward to stitching on Tabbycat linen!

Our weekend event ended on Sunday morning. Vickie Jennett presented on American Schoolgirl Quaker Samplers, and she and Maegan presented us with a lovely Quaker sampler to stitch. Of course, there was a perforated paper project too!

We weren’t able to take pictures of the antiques, both Bristol and Quaker, but there were many on display to admire. Such a collection of knowledgeable people, both the presenters and attendees.It feels like I only scratched the surface on everything we learned and experienced - it was such a great weekend! Educational and enjoyable. Hoping there will be another event like this again next year!

So blessed to have met Linda and Jacqueline from The Sampler Guild in the U.K.!

The iconic entrance to the Attic!

Thanks for stopping by!