Time for an Update

Sometimes I just don't feel like blogging. Most of the time I'd rather be stitching. The Mad Tatter was kind of irritated this weekend; she said her favorite bloggers weren't blogging lately. I think that was a subtle message for me to post an update. What do you think?

If you watch Flosstube then I'm sure you know that everyone has a dough bowl. I was recently gifted a dough bowl. I'm working on projects to fill my dough bowl. Here's one that just needs to be finished:





This delightful stitch was designed by Heartstring Samplery.

I thought it might look nice with this design from Blackbird Designs called Darling Buds of May. Sadly, it also needs to be finished!





Since I spent most of Saturday and Sunday working in the yard planting vegetables and flowers, I designated today as a finishing today. I did get a few things finished, but it always takes longer than you think it's going to take.

First project finished is this sweet little strawberry biscornu from Catherine Theron. I had finished the Hornbook scissor fob last year. I still have to finish the matching needlebook.



Then I worked on finishing the smalls for a class piece from Betsy Morgan called Gathering for Winter. The pincushion was finished in class. Today I finished the scissors sheath and fob. Here are photos of the front and back:







I finished off my day with a little more stitching. I recently purchased the pattern for the Blue Sampler Band from iStitch Designs. The designer releases a section of the chart each week. I was quite behind. I'm now caught up through Week 4. Two more weeks to catch up and then I'll be ready for Week 7 which will be released on Friday!



I hope to have more finishes to share with you later in the week! Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Day

After a long week of being out of town for work, I spent today doing something that makes me happy. Our local needlework guild hosted Jackie du Plessis this weekend.




Today and tomorrow morning we are working on Fair Maiden. Before lunch today, we made thread waxers with some beautiful buttons that Jackie supplied.




The beautiful ribbon that Jackie selected wasn't the width she had in mind, so we are joining two narrow pieces of similar ribbon on either side of the slightly wider ribbon. We're joining the ribbon through the picots on the sides.



Looking forward to learning more tomorrow!

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to the Mad Tatter!

Spring is Here!

I visited the Mad Tatter today; her yard is blooming. Her crabapple tree in the front was packed with blossoms.




These are her favorite Virginia Bluebells. If I'm not mistaken, these plants have been growing on the side of the house for more than 50 years!











She also has a small wildflower bed; these plants have been here for more than 50 years too. The Trillium isn't quite blooming yet.




So glad that Spring is finally here!

I'm close to finishing With My Needle from Goode Huswife.




I just have to stitch her face and her arms. The thread color doesn't seem quite right though; I'm worried she will look like a ghost! Will check at Stitchville next weekend for other options.




The weekend is almost over. Sigh.

Some Gifts

It's always good getting together with our Indy stitching friends. Spending the weekend with them is always a treat. We figured out over the weekend that we've been traveling to Indy since 2013 to take stitching classes with them. Some of them have traveled to Minnesota too.

I received some stitching gifts while I was in Indy. The guild had drawings for door prizes each day. I won a door prize on the first day of the class. This plastic stitch starter is from Blue Ribbon Designs. The case was made using Blackbird Designs fabric. See the cute bag it was wrapped in?




Sue gifted me one of her handmade scissors fobs. It has a swan charm at the end and it's made with pink crystals. This fob will match the Tulip Tray, a project from Sherri Jones which we took in Indy a few years ago. Thanks Sue!




Molly gifted me this sweet wool pincushion. She also sent a box of chocolates for the Mad Tatter. She is always so thoughtful!




Chris made several of these barrel pincushions using designs from Betsy Morgan that were published recently in Inspirations Magazine. I loved this one with the apples and the apple blossoms.







We did visit the local needlework/quilt shop in Noblesville, IN called Always in Stitches. I found a great piece of linen (not pictured), a fat quarter of some bee fabric, and this seam ripper tool that Vonna talks about.




Lots of fun and friendship. More tomorrow!

More to the Story

Yes, there is more to the story! I meant to post again on Tuesday, and if not Tuesday then on Wednesday. When it didn't happen on Wednesday, I should have posted an update on Thursday. Unfortunately I left you hanging until Friday. Sorry about that!

Our first class with Betsy in Indy was the Virgin Queen Stitching Wallet. You can see pictures of it on her blog. It's a beautiful piece that was inspired by a leather sewing kit Betsy found in an antique store while traveling in North Carolina. Betsy's piece is covered with blackwork motifs in a variety of colors.

Like many of Betsy's classes, we stitched up one of the Smalls so that we could finish it in class. For this class we stitched the front and back panel for the needlebook. Betsy used some historic blackwork designs for this piece. I was able to complete my finishing in class!













I have to trim my ribbon tails yet!

On Saturday we spent the morning reviewing the finishing instructions for Virgin Queen.

In the afternoon, we worked on a companion piece - the Virgin Queen Stitching Pocket. The inspiration for the construction of this piece was a purse that Betsy owned. More blackwork motifs; this design included some personalization for the Needle in Hand Sampler Guild.

Our "small" that we finished in class was a scissor fob.












I'm getting pretty good at making tassels if I may say so myself!

I was really excited for Sunday's class. I've always wanted to stitch and finish this piece. It's Maria Katarin's Mexican Reticule. The motifs are based on an 1844 Mexican Sampler in Betsy's collection. We stitched and finished the ruler. It's sew cool!







And look - another tassel!

More tomorrow. I promise.

May Day

It is the first of May, but here in Minnesota we're calling "mayday"! Why you ask? Look at what was falling from the sky today!




Three inches of snow were recorded at the airport which is about 15 miles west of us. Enough Mother Nature! Bring on Spring!

Speaking of Spring, look at all of these colorful ice Drops that the Mad Tatter has been busy making.













Aren't they fun? She loves tatting them and it's so much fun looking at all the different color combinations.

She also tatted some white ones for me. I think these will look really nice on the Christmas tree!




Where have I been? Well, I spent this past weekend in Indianapolis with my stitching friends. Betsy Morgan was in town and we took three classes with her - Virgin Queen Stitching Wallet, Virgin Queen Stitching Pocket, and Maria Katarin's Stitching Reticule.

More tomorrow!

So Close

I'm so close to finishing this one now that I can't stop!

With My Needle

This is not what I should be working on. I really should be working on pre-work for an upcoming class. I can't help myself though; it's calling my name!




Goode Huswife - With My Needle

Spring Fling - Day Three

Alma and Barb always bring their newest releases with them. Here are some of the projects that came out at Nashville.






















On Sunday morning, they had one more surprise for us. Alma took motifs from the original sampler and created a new sampler which she used to record some family history. She encouraged us to include some of our own family history when we stitch it. Here is Alma's sampler...



Did I share this picture with you? These are the two projects from Friday and Saturday. The smaller sampler will fit in the frame we painted. We also have the pattern for the drum pincushion.




My friend Chris finished stitching the smaller sampler while we were there, over one nonetheless!




Our guests and our hosts! Barb, Deb S., Deb C., and Alma!




Here's my finished box. After arriving home I added a fabric covered padded bottom to the box using some Blackbird fabric that I had in my stash.







It was a wonderful weekend!