Stitch-Con 2021

We’re here and we’re ready to go!

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to the Mad Tatter. She is 89 years young today!

When we were young, she used to tell us that everyone put their flags out for her! Happy Flag Day!

Garden Friends Sewing Bag

June has been a productive month for me. I have another finish!

Barb and Alma, the Blackbird Designs gals, last visited Stitchville in 2019 for Spring Fling. It’s always fun when they come. The project that year were some of the designs that can now be found in the Sewing Club book.

Here are some of the pictures from that retreat to show you what the finished pieces will look like.

Yesterday, I finished the stitching on the Garden Friends Sewing Bag (bottom right). The stitching is finished for all of the parts so now I need a finishing day.

The little twirp, aka Lizzie, was playing a game of “catch me if you can” and I snapped this photo of her in the flower bed. If she wasn’t so darn cute...spoiled dog.

Pulling out another WIP for today’s stitching. Will share pictures soon. Enjoy the day!

The Strawberry Patch

You know the saying “The early bird catches the worm” - well in my case, “the early bird finishes the WIP.”

I’m not an early bird, but I was awake this morning before dawn and couldn’t go back to sleep, so I decided to make the most of it. I finished the stitching on this design quite some time ago, but wasn’t sure if I wanted to stitch the name that was charted or if I should personalize it. Personalization won out.

The young lady memorialized in this sampler will be celebrating her 89th birthday on Monday!

Closing in on another Blackbird finish. You might see another post from me tomorrow. Hope you have a great weekend!

Summer Jubilee by Blackbird Designs

This was a WIP that I started last year. I was about a third finished. Between last weekend and this weekend, I was able to finish it.  Summer Jubilee by Blackbird Designs on R&R 18th Century Blackbird linen. Unfortunately, the linen color is a little washed out in this photo.

And check out this major score from Deborah Harry’s. I’m sure you will recognize immediately why I had to have this project bag.

The weekend went by too fast.

Blackbird Designs Stitch-A-Long

So, I was sitting in my stitching chair, minding my own business. I had to get up for something and then this happened.

Our little Lizzie is 11 months old already.

Popular flosstubers, Brenda and Laura, have dubbed the first weekend of every month as the weekend to stitch all the Blackbirds. I have probably stitched more projects from Blackbird Designs than any other designer. I’ve taken many classes with them over the years too. I never get tired of seeing or stitching their designs. Here’s a picture walk of just some of the projects I have finished.

I will be back tomorrow with a new Blackbird finish!

Hardanger Finish

After almost a year and a couple hundred hours of stitching, the Hardanger I have been working on is finished! These pieces will be used for the blouse of a Norwegian Bunad costume. (I’m not sewing the blouse, I only stitched the Hardanger inserts.)

In case you’re wondering what a Bunad is, here’s a picture of one. 

And here is my finished Hardanger. The cuffs for the blouse are on the left, the collar is on the right, and the placket in the middle is for the front of the blouse.

I’m feeling rather accomplished right now.

And tomorrow we return to cross stitch!

Zooming and Stitching

Busy weekend. 

About six weeks ago I saw a post on Facebook for a class with Isobel from the Primitive Hare. I had nothing planned and thought it was a good opportunity to experience something new. Isobel lives in the mountains of northern Italy on the border with Austria. The participants on the Zoom call were from the U.S., Italy and Finland and the class was conducted in English and Italian. Isn’t technology amazing? When the project is finished it will be a needlebook. The rose that will be attached was made and painted by hand. There’s quite a bit of stitching to this piece and it will take me awhile to finish it. I enjoyed it.

Recently, I’ve been working more on the Hardanger that I’ve been stitching for my cousin. I’ve been working on it on and off for about a year and I’ve decided that I just need to get it done. I finished the placket that goes on the front of the blouse.

I’ve never done the tooth edging before. This book from Yvette Stanton was a big help. If you do Hardanger, you may want to consider adding this book to your library of needlework books.

Hopefully, next time I post, I have all four pieces finished.

Thanks for stopping by!

Spring Fling

Kicked off the month of May by Zooming for Stitchville’s Spring Fling again this year. This year’s featured designer was Cathy Habermann. I’ve taken a few classes with Cathy H and learn something new every time.

During our class we went through the instructions for finishing her new teaching piece called Pieceful Spring. Cathy likes to collect ribbons and that’s what inspired her when she designed this project. The pillow is made up of five bands stitched on alternating colors of linen and then they are pieced together. The seams are embellished with some top stitching. I look forward to stitching and finishing this project!

Of course, I had to have a little fun with Cathy. We all know how much she loves flamingos!

During our Zoom call we could share our past finished from Hands on Designs. I pulled everything that was finished out of the vault (there are a few more stitched things that aren’t finished yet!)  here’s my lovely collection of Hands on Design finishes!

Have a good week and thanks for stopping by!

What Happened to April?

That went by fast. I didn’t stitch much. After finishing up the Merry Cox piece in early April, I was rather unsettled on the stitching front. I started a new sampler from La D Da and then set it aside. Then I started O Joyous Day from Blackbird Designs and set it aside. This past week I put a few more stitches in Snooty Parrots from Barbara Ana, but not enough significant progress to share. Sigh.

If you watch Flosstube you know that many stitchers are dedicating the weekend to stitching Blackbird Designs. It has been fun looking at all the pictures posted on Facebook and Instagram! We’ll see if I join in the fun before the weekend ends.

Today is also the first day of Maynia. I don’t partake, but I enjoy watching all the WIPs, new starts, and progress reports. Someday, I’d like to be totally crazy and start 31 new projects.

Also today, I will be Zooming for Stitchville’s Spring Fling. Sad that we have to Zoom again this year, happy that we are still getting together even if it is via Zoom! Cathy Habermann is this year’s designer/teacher. Love Cathy’s upbeat personality and always learn something from her.

No stitchy photos to share, so how about a picture of our very spoiled little girl!

Easter Weekend

This post was meant for last weekend, but I never got it posted. Sometimes, I’d just rather stitch than post to this blog! The holiday was a little closer to normal; my mom joined us (first time in over a year) and my two children were here. My mom and my daughter are fully vaccinated, my son just received the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, and I will get my second vaccine this week. My husband is scheduled for his first. We just need to get the son-in-law scheduled. Anyway, we took time to snap this photo of my daughter, the Mad Tatter and me.

The Saturday before Easter I purchased this chest at a shop that recycles wood furniture. I thought it would be a nice place to display needlework and it also provides storage for items not on display. What do you think?

Look at this other great purchase I made on Etsy! It came all the way from Norway. These beautiful Hardanger earrings are a little bit larger than a quarter. It was packaged up so nicely. 

I’ll leave you with another snap of Lizzie. She doesn’t realize that she’s too big to be a lap puppy!

A Petite Regal Sewing Set

I had the good fortune to be able to take a class with Merry Cox today via Zoom thanks to the Orange Coast Sampler Guild. In some situations, the pandemic is not such a bad thing because many guilds and other needlework organizations are offering classes and lectures via Zoom!

I’m almost always guaranteed of a finish with Merry when she sends the project in advance. If I have my stitching completed before the class, I can easily finish the project. Merry’s finishing is straightforward and easy to follow.

Without further ado, here is A Petite Regal Sewing Set by Merry Cox.

I have a few more things to share and will try to post again in the next day or two.

Lizzie says hello!