Have you any wool?

Life is good!  Sometimes win wins come into my life.  When win wins come knocking, I am answering the door.  What's the latest win win you ask, well. . .



It starts here.  My needlework partner in crime aka Carmen is having a fund raiser for the Momentum Dance Lab. 








This is the back of the Wool piece, luscious wool and check out those pennies. ( Nice blanket stitching around those pennies).

This Thimble Keep is one of Carmen's designs.  It is a shame blogger does not allow us to reach inside and touch.  These Thimble Keeps are awesome--Civil War reproduction fabric, wool inside, filled with emery and stitched to perfection. 












They have the look and feel of an antique!




This piece has a combination of needlework on the front and quilting on the back. 







Being a stitcher and quilter, Carmen designed this piece to be carried to gatherings. 





At our latest Jo Morton quilt class, Carmen shared the pieces.  As she revealed each piece the room was filled with ohs and aahs because each one just got better and better.  Win, win--treat yourself to a beautifully stitched, handmade, original piece of needlework and support the Momentum Dance Lab.

(Now, paws off of the Wool piece it is coming home with me to Thistle Manor). 

Fall is coming

Fall is one of my favorite seasons!  Life has had me distracted from my fall sampler--Birds of a Feather, Alphabet Sampler.

I am making s l o w progress.  A few letters have been added and to break up the monotony of the letters, I stitched one of the birds and started the border.

The bird is most interesting, I think it looks like a hummingbird!

Am still loving the sampler--its simplicity, the color of the linen, the size and shape of the letters and the quirky border.  Am confident my framer will help me choose "just the right frame," when it is time for framing.  It is still my goal to complete this piece (including framing) for Fall 2012.

Just in time. . .

My Soie d alger silk fiber has arrived,  No more excuses, time to finish another UFO.  Thanks Attic Needleworks for coming to my rescue (again).

Mail Call--new magazines

Ahh, look what the mailman delivered.  It is one of my favorite magazines.  This one features homes in Williamsburg. 

The cooler temps have me thinking about fall and this issue of Primitive Quilts is full of fall ideas.

I love magazines, I savor them.  AppleJack finds them in the bed, on the night stand, on top of my head, at the dinner table.

It is almost time for the 2012 edition of the Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament issue!  Of course, I am on the waiting list at the LNS for this magazine!

Fabric Stash

One of the neat things about taking the Jo Morton classes is my monthly visit to the Quilt Shop.  One of the bad things about taking the Jo Morton classes is my monthly visit to the Quilt Shop.  There are always wonderful new fabrics and patterns and notions.

A new to me fabric is brushed flannel.  WOW!  Brushed flannel is incredibly soft and the colors are gorgeous.  This piece is by Primitive Gatherings.

Of course, I added a couple of Jo Morton fat quarters to my stash.  The red one is from the Carolina line and the yellow fabric on the right is from the Annandale line (I think).

I was almost out the door when I found this bin of fat quarters on sale for a $1.00.  You guessed it, I added a few to the stash.  I even enabled helped Carmen find a few.

Quilt Shops are dangerous to my financial health!  But. . . those stars will look great in a patriotic piece and the red fabric is just waiting for a Valentine's piece.

I've been framed!

Since this blog is named Samplings from Spring Creek, it seemed past time to stitch this piece.  This is one of the houses from Carriage House Houses of Hawk Run Hollow.  Kathy, the framer always helps me select the best frames.  

The gold and diamonds in the frame are a nice compliment to the design.

This is Sarah Hook, one of the Carriage House tombstone angels.  Once again, Kathy helped select just the right frame.  Don't the swirls in the frame make a nice compliment the swirls in the design?

Looking forward to stitching more tombstone angels.  

Jo Morton Framed

Jo Morton Little Women Club #11 Framed

This is September's quilt.  It is tiny!  One of the completed nine patch blocks is 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 inches.  The cheddar setting fabric for this quilt is a nice addition.  This is the teachers work in progress and she is auditioning fabric for the borders.  She is thinking of using the sunflower fabric for the outer border.  

Here is what Jo writes about Framed:

I just adore these mini Nine Patches.  They make such sweet projects, and all your friends will be impressed with your results.  I've made several quilts with the mini Nine Patch blocks over the years, some things you just don't get tired of.

An alternative bonus project to framed is called Glimmer.  Glimmer is also a nine patch quilt.  (The nine patches are sewn together--there is no setting fabric).

Framed is one of my favorite quilts.  However, looking into my crystal ball, my friends are going to be impressed with larger, bigger nine patches; 1 1/2 by 1 1/2 is not in my immediate future.

Jo Morton Eggs and Bacon

Jo Morton Little Women Club #11 Eggs and Bacon

Today was Jo Morton quilt class.  You are correct, I did not make this quilt, the pictured quilt is the teachers quilt.  It is awesome!  My schedule has been super busy, I did not select fabric, no cutting, no sewing, no quilt.

The half square triangle inner border adds more dimension to a already challenging quilt.

If I have not already said this, the teacher is a very precise quilter!

This is also the teachers quilt, a Jo Morton Friendship Quilt.

For show and tell Marilyn brought another of her applique quilts.  Aren't the fabrics divine?  

As Marilyn was talking about this quilt, I believe she incorporated both English paper piecing and appliqué.

Another show and tell called the One Hundred Yard Dash using jelly rolls.  While showing this quilt another quilter shared a funny story about someone who had pre washed a jelly roll.  Can you picture the results of pre washing a jelly roll?

Block of the month 

More block of the month--wool appliqué

And one more block of the month

Now for some rationalization:  No one in the class had their eggs and bacon quilt!  Yes, I do feel better.  Call it the summer heat, school starting, the challenge of the quilt or just busy schedules.  Next months Jo Morton is called Framed.  

True Colors

Since receiving the Fall edition of A Primitive Place magazine I have had this corner coverlet image stuck in my head. 

This coverlet design from Heartstring Samplery has also been stuck in my head. 

Both designs remind me of Great Grandmother Sarah Miranda.  I have not read the book by Mitch Albom entitled The Five People you Meet in Heaven but. . . if I were putting together by bucket interview list Great Grandmother Sarah Miranda is definitely on the list.  I have a long list of questions for her. 

All marriages are interesting.  There are two people with different ideas sharing a life.  Sometimes those ideas are diametrically opposed.  Great Grandfather John Palmer and Great Grandmother Sarah Miranda had different political ideas!  I can only image the fireworks. 

Grandmother Sarah Miranda had a loom and wove many blankets and coverlets for her home, children and grandchildren.  As she was selecting colors for the coverlets, she would choose the colors representing the different political parties.  Hmmm, am sure the color choices did not go un noticed by Grandfather John Palmer.

So. . . with these coverlet designs dancing in my head, an election year, and marriage compromises made by grandparents I am pulling fibers for the coverlet designs.  One will be blue, the other will be red.

Memories

Have you ever fell in love with a product and then read an announcement that it was not going to be produced any more?  I have a growing list:

1. Birds of a Feather linen.  
2. Treasures Magazine
3. Needlework designs by Anne Brown and Kathy Barrick
4. Spirit of CrossStitch Festival
5. The closing of my favorite needlework shop--Homespun Corner

Okay I'm going to stop-I'm depressing myself.  Gosh, I miss all these!  The Birds of a Feather linen was /is just the nicest linen.  I loved stitching samplers using this linen.  (I have a couple of pieces of this linen in my stash waiting for that extra special sampler).  I believe there were only six publications of the Treasures magazine--the samplers in this magazine were awesome.  

Anne and Kathy I know you are out there--you can start designing anytime--your stalkers followers still love your designs!

The Spirit of CrossStitch Festivals were so much fun.  Great projects, great designers, great time to meet friends.  

When Homespun Corner closed I went into withdrawal.  I miss everything about this shop--Anne, the owner, the incredible inventory, the models, the Gathering on the first Saturday of the month, and the list goes on and on.

Because fall is on its way and is one of my favorite seasons, I have started stitching the Birds of a Feather Alphabet Sampler--I am calling it my fall sampler because of the colors.  The original sampler was stitched on 32 count Birds of a Feather Sparrow.  My sampler is being stitched on 30 count linen (I bought a kit and I think the linen I am using is a Weeks linen).  I am using Weeks Dye Works fibers Caper, Onyx and Putty.  

My stitching time has been limited the past couple of weeks, I do hope to have the sampler completed and framed in time to enjoy this fall.

Your time to share--what products, designs, shops, magazines, festivals do you miss?

Late bloomers

Music City is beginning to see a change in the temps!  It is wonderful!  The temps are still in the high eighties and low nineties and the temps dropped to fifty during the weekend, it was refreshing!  As the seasons begin to change so does Next Year.  The weeds are growing like crazy and I have been a neglectful gardener.

The leaves on Miss Oak Leaf Hydrangea are beginning to turn crimson.  I leave the bloom heads on for the birds.

The knock out roses are starting their fall blooming period.  Yes, that is the daylily bed in the background which needs weeding!

The rain lilies coming blooming after a summer afternoon thunder show.

Some new feline friends I met during the weekend.  

I have been working on the Birds of a Feather Alphabet Sampler, hope to have enough progress to share this evening.  

Feeding my Stash

JJ's Collectibles was having a Christmas in July sale and I was feeling the need for some retail therapy.  For some rationalization, "I wasn't that bad."

Yes, I know the Fall edition of Sampler Antique Needlework Quarterly Fall 2012 has been released, I'm a little behind.  This magazine has been around for a few years and it is still one of my favorites.  The samplers are beautiful, the articles interesting, the stitching illustrations easy to follow.  (And they include a shop listing to further entice me to feed my need to add to my stash)

Having made the decision to stitch tombstone angels, I thought Ghoul, by Plum Street Samplers  would make a nice addition to the tombstone angels.  I took  Sarah Hook to the framers on Saturday and I am sure seeing Sarah framed will provide some incentive to stitch Ghoul.  Isn't this just the perfect fall/Halloween/tombstone design?

Sometimes, simple designs are the best.  I'm thinking of using the fiber Hickory Sticks by Crescent.  This is a design which calls for some aged linen.  Lydia was a dear aunt, this sampler will allow for some modifications and additions to allow my Lydia to tell about her life.

Beth, at Heartstring Samplery has been adopting elements from coverlets to needlework.  This one will be a nice companion piece to her American Eagle design.  Remember the coverlet from the Primitive Place magazine?  

Now, I need to speak to the postal clerk who is having difficulty with the words "do not bend." 

Where dreams come true

My Primitive Place Magazine arrived today.  WOW!  Included with the magazine was a special edition called Textiles.  This is a photo of a bedroom inside the special edition.  Ahhhh, this is truly a bed where dreams could come true.  A coverlet on the bed, coverlets in the corner cupboard and a hooked rug hanging over the bed. 

The corner block of a coverlet complete with the year it was woven.  Hmmm, my creative juices are flowing,  Great Grandmother Sarah Miranda was born in 1855, is it possible for me to convert this design into needlework? 

Samplers hung over a simple desk.  Perhaps I will hang the Adam and Eve samplers over the antique desk AppleJack refinished.

Oh drooling over the pages of this magazine will give me endless ideas.  AppleJack is shacking his head and holding onto his back, he sees furniture rearranging in his near future. 

Dog Days

"Dog Days" are the hottest, most sultry days of summer.  In North America, Dog Days are most commonly experienced in the months of July and August.  Since we had eight straight days of temps in the triple digits in June, I think the Dog Days of summer started early for 2012.  I am blaming the hot weather on my lack of motivation and ability to get anything accomplished. 

So. . . to get myself motivated, I started a new project! 

This is a Birds of a Feather design appropriately named Alphabet Sampler.  Looks simple enough, a nice easy project to help me beat the heat and get back on stitching track.  Famous last Betty words, "this should not take long."  

Hopefully will have time to put needle and fiber to fabric while chilling and watching some of the Olympics.  My Saturday "To Do" list has been long and unproductive.

I began my to do list with a trip to the Metro Vehicle Inspection Center for emissions testing.  AppleJack had told me to arrive early to avoid a long wait.  I arrived at 7:00 a.m. to learn the Saturday schedule begins at 9:00 a.m.  Hmmmm, thanks, AppleJack.

The Dog Days (hot day time temps and afternoon showers) have the weeds and grass growing at super speeds.  Cranked up the lawn mower, got one half of the lawn mowed before the afternoon showers forced me inside.  Am sure the neighbors and community will be impressed with the half mowed lawn.

Off to the framer with one of the Chartmakers Tombstone Angels and Carriage House, Houses of Hawk Run Hollow.  Cathy, the framer once again came to the rescue with excellent frames selections.

Tried to find some matching silk fiber to finish a project, but the dye lots did not match.

This weekend is a tax free shopping weekend and with the numbers of shoppers at the mall and in stores I was beginning to think it was Christmas instead of Dog Days!  

David Austin Roses

Look what the postman delivered!

Coming home to this every afternoon would be delightful!

There are so many varieties

This is going to be a hard fun decision