Sunday, March 10, 2024

A Day with the Primitive Hare

My Partners in Crime (PICs) and I spent a lovely day yesterday at Welcome Stitchery in Blue Earth, MN with Isobel Argante from the Primitive Hare. The Primitive Hare is a cross stitch designer from northern Italy. Her friend and model stitcher, Elisabetta, came with her. They had been at the Nashville Needlework Market and then came to Minnesota for two days of classes before returning to Italy.


We had such a fun day. Isobel is just delightful and very funny. She brought a large trunk show of models with her.





We received two special designs, both Minnesota themed! The loon design was kitted for us on Isobel’s Boleyn linen with DMC. Additional linen was available for purchase for the Minnesota design.


Such a great opportunity to meet Isobel!





Sunday, February 04, 2024

Valentine Display

I’m continuing to stitch along on One Nation from Samplers Not Forgotten. Not enough of a change to post a progress photo, maybe next time.

Today, I’ll share with you a picture of some valentine stitches. I have them displayed in a shadow box to keep them away from the dogs.




 


Saturday, February 03, 2024

A Productive January

Where did January go? It came and went very quickly. Here in Minnesota it has not been a normal winter. We received a little snow and experienced a few really cold days, but for the most part the temperatures have been above normal, our ground is brown and dry, and most of the days have been overcast and gloomy. A little snow would be nice to brighten things up a bit!

January was a very good stitching month for me. I finished stitching three projects: 

  • Early Christmas Morning from Blackbird Designs
  • Savio E. From Rovaris
  • Floral Cup Pincushion from Samplers Not Forgotten
During January, I also worked on two SALs that are ongoing. Happy to report that I am keeping up with these:

  • Tona’s Randje
  • Erica Michael’s Sampler Book
Then there were several WIPS that I spent time with; I should be able to finish all three of these in 2024:

  • Village of Hawk Run Hollow (9 blocks done, 3 to go)
  • American Welcome from Plum Street Samplers
  • O Joyous Day
I had two new starts:

  • One Nation from Samplers Not Forgotten
  • KSSG 20th Anniversary Pillow from Samplers Not Forgotten
Pictures to all of the above can be found in my previous January posts.

Now, I’ve been holding out on you. I also fully finished two items in January. It’s been hard to take really good pictures because of our gloomy weather. Here they are:

Early Christmas Morning from Blackbird Designs


I don’t do drum finishes, so I followed instructions from an old Loose Feathers design of theirs (the Peacock Pincushion.) You take strips of wool cut to the desired height and roll them tightly until you get the desired width of the pincushion. You then finish the stitched pieces around the wool shape - hard to describe. Not perfect by any means, but I am happy with it.

My second fully finish is the Floral Pincushion from Samplers Notforgotten. I am super pleased with how this turned out.


So that’s January in review! I hope that February will be just as productive! Until next time, here’s a little selfie from Rosie and me.




Monday, January 29, 2024

WIP - American Welcome

Gave this piece a little love recently. This design, from Plum Street Samplers, was a retreat piece in Amana last spring. Not available to the masses yet, but I imagine it will be sometime this year! I’m somewhere half to two-thirds finished. There’s a lot of stitches in that water section!



January has been a good stitching month for me!

Sunday, January 28, 2024

New Start - One Nation and Bouquet Kit

My stitching friends and I will be seeing Kimberly Nugent from Samplers Not Forgotten in April and May. We all had The needlebook pattern for One Nation in our stash and so we decided to try and stitch and finish it by April. This is my start:


I also started a small pincushion pillow that Kimberly designed for Kindred Spirits 20th Anniversary. Meager start, but I’ll get back to it.


We’re enjoying the football games today! Great time for stitching.

Tuesday, January 23, 2024

WIP - Village of Hawk Run Hollow Update

Last weekend I finished up those two top blocks, center and right. Just three more blocks to go now!




Sunday, January 21, 2024

WIP - Randje Progress

Tona’s Randje has been posted through week 17 and I’m all caught up!