For the Love of Samplers

Just popping in with a little Show & Tell today.  This beautiful sampler was cross stitched by my daughter Heather (insert Mom bragging tone here).  Heather loves Repro Samplers, and this one was a Stitch Along that she took part in at The Stitching Post, our local needlework store (they also did the framing job for her).  It's called Birds of a Feather Mystery Sampler designed by Brenda at With Thy Needle and Thread. 

Heather changed the color of the alphabet, because she wanted the letters a little darker, but other than that, I think she followed the pattern.  I love the colors in this one!  Since Mom was willing to go pick it up from the framers, it's living at my house for a while until Heather's new house is built.  I seem to be housing a few of Heather's samplers, and come this summer when she moves into her new home, I'm going to have some empty spots on my walls!  I better get busy with some of the little things I'm working on...

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

Freebies for Redwork Lovers

If you love stitchery and are a fan of redwork, Alex Anderson is offering free redwork patterns during the Twelve Days of Christmas. You can download them here from her site. She started on December 25th and will continue to put one up each day until January 5th. Merry Christmas to us ~ Thanks Alex!

Enjoy the Day!
~ Dawn

A Little Inspiration and Therapy

It was a beautiful summer afternoon and a chance to spend some mom and daughter time, so Heather and I headed here yesterday. The temperature was perfect, with just a light breeze. As we arrived and started our walk to our destination, on the way we saw this rare surviving 18th century summer house.

As we got closer, there was this lovely garden on the grounds, and you know me, if there is a gate I just have to enter it!

These guys greeted me. I think they're Hollyhocks? Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

I loved this birdbath, with clam shells in the bottom, it's empty right now as we are in real need of some rain. But these little purple beauties were just gorgeous, so someone is taking good care of them!

I had to take a picture of this little focal point as this is what I want to put in the center of my garden. I already have a little sundial, and have been looking for just the right thing to sit it on. The paths in this garden were also shells and put me in mind of Williamsburg VA.

This is a view of the side of the building as we approached. The sky was just beautiful, so I had to snap a picture ~ I think I was starting to annoy Heather, but she was tolerant because she knows me :)

...And this is looking back over the garden and grounds.

We were at Montpelier Mansion in Laurel MD. Montpelier is a home that was built starting in 1781 by the Thomas Snowden family, some of the founders of Laurel MD. Montpelier is a lovely house museum to visit on any day, a beautiful example of Georgian architecture with many rooms restored to the period, but we were here today because every year they adorn the rooms of this wonderful home with needlework exhibits.

I took a few pictures inside, but as I was using my phone camera, I had some trouble with it wanting to flash when I didn't want it to, or it just wouldn't take some of the pictures that I asked it to ~ the obstinate little thing. This is an awesome counted cross stitch that looks like a coverlet. I was blown away by the redwork look.

I loved this little quilt in the cradle that was in the main bedchamber. I'm not so sure that it was accurate to the period, but I liked it anyway.

This needlework stand was really pretty and I loved the setting.

They also had a sweet interactive room for children and this was in the corner. There were many more lovely museum style needlework displays throughout the house, both new and antique, and we got to tour upstairs and down. A theme this year for this 14th annual Needleart Exhibit was Samplers, so I was in heaven. Between this exhibit, and seeing the beautiful works hanging in a friend's home recently (yes Tiffany, I was totally inspired), I'm sparked to pull out a sampler that I started a while back and put away. It would slow down my applique progress, but sometimes I need a little diversion to keep moving forward (does that make any sense?). Heather even bought some patterns from a vendor that was there.

If you are in the area and need a little diversion, or just some spectacular eye candy, check out the Montpelier Needleart Exhibit that's running 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. daily until Sunday, July 26th . Admission is $6 for adults, $5 for seniors, and $3 for children. A bargain for such good therapy! (And bonus ~ the little gift shop in an out building on the grounds is a Tea Shop, what more can you ask for?)

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

Carving Out Time to Stitch

How do you carve out time to stitch in your busy day? I like to carry handwork along with me when I have to be out and about. This little blue stitchery is the one I currently have in my car. I used to do a lot of waiting at dance classes, and football practices and would do a lot of stitching there. Now it is more likely to be doctor's offices or using up time when I arrive early for an appointment after running errands. I like to keep some kind of work, and a book in my car at all times. Although when the weather turns hot, I won't keep anything with blue marker in my car as the heat will permanently set the markings.

This is my little handwork case (aka a pencil box from Walmart's back to school section). I have had it for several years and it's perfect for throwing in my bag when I'm heading out the door. It houses my applique threads rolled onto bobbins for portability, needle threader, marking pens/pencils, needles, scissors...

I keep it stocked with supplies that just stay in this case, and I usually have at least one Dear Jane block in progress in here, and some applique.

The key is preparing the pieces ahead of time to have something in the wings ready to work on when the moment presents itself. These little pieces are usually my "extra" projects that I'm doing just for fun, so there is no deadline to get it done. It's more about the process than the project.

Today, I am running down to Virginia to spend the day with Lisa and Elsie. I will have a full day shopping at Ikea with them and going out to lunch, but my little handwork case will get thrown in the car as Northern VA is notorious for traffic jams that don't budge. You just never know, I may get some stitching time today after all ~ at least I'll be ready!

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

Jo Morton Club Progress

To start off our Jo Morton Club show and tell last night I had my Patriotic Strippy Stars (mainly because I didn't have my Holiday Inn project any further along). This can be found in the book Remembrances by Jo Morton. We've just gotten this great blue star print that I used in the border back in stock. Contact And Sew It Goes if you need some.

This is Luanne Lindeman's Holiday Inn. She used the center from Peppermint Twist (also in the book Remembrances), and a great border fabric from an older Jo line called Lexington.

Luanne also had this great little Nine Patch Strippy from Club 6 that she did with borders in the Providence Collection. Notice it's all completely finished, quilted and bound!

We all loved Karen Gladfelter's Holiday Inn with that great red frame with the dark cornerstones. I'm still loving the dotty background that she used for the center applique block!

Val Sanford shared with us her Churn Dash. This pattern was originally a JLW Club 1 project that was recently reprinted in Jo's book Yesterday's Charm. Val used a Windham Bundle to make it in Cheddar, Poison Greens and Blues. Jo had some great Poison Greens in a recent line called Courtney's Bouquet that would work well in this color scheme too.

This is Karen Watkins Holiday Inn with great traditional red and green center. Being a huge Baltimore Album fan, I just love the look of this one!

Karen W. also brought in her finished cross stitch Teapot block of the month for us to see. This is just adorable with the colors used and each block has wonderful button adornments! My picture just doesn't do it justice.

And for hand stitchery fans, Peggy Schaum shared this beauty that she did from a Kathy Schmitz pattern called A Bird's Life. I just love the blackwork, and we carry alot of Kathy's patterns (including this one) at our shop.

Last night I gave out the pattern for the last of the borders for the Holiday Inn project, so next month we will be showcasing the finished products. Keep on stitching!

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

Working Outside!

Well, the weather was beautiful this weekend, so we just had to get outside, and this is what we did! We had actually started these stone walls (they are raised planting beds) in the fall and then winter got here. So when the weather got up into the sixties this weekend, we just had to take the opportunity to get outside and work on the brick pathways. This is my husband Bob working away. We had raised beds before in this area of the yard, but they were made of wood.

Here is a view of the center where Bob did a Herringbone pattern with the brick. We plan to put some kind of focal point in the middle (birdbath, fountain, statue, something...I haven't found just the right one yet).The edges are worse than a quilt with cutting a gillion little triangle pieces! In the planter box straight back I plan to plant a stand of sunflowers this spring, and the other boxes will hold some tomato, pepper and herb plants. I'll dot in some flowers as well. I'll post pictures of the finished project later in the year!

I did get to finish this little bluework block this weekend. Since I finished the Baltimore Applique block early for this month's class with Mimi Dietrich, I was able to do a block towards my bluework quilt (another of my ongoing process quilts). I have to have something to do while watching TV in the evenings!

My monthly Baltimore Applique class is tomorrow ~ I'll post my show and tell for that soon!

Enjoy!

~ Dawn

For the Love of Stitchery

I've found two more adorable, FREE block of the months out there in Blog Land! These are especially for those who love to do stitchery, or they can be adapted to applique. The first one is a Noah's Ark stitchery BOM from Lynette Anderson Designs ~ I love just about all of her designs, check out her site!

The next one is a Country Calendar FREE Block of the month from Ellie's Quilt Place. They are really cute and perfect for any seasonal projects. I got this link from the Calendar Quilts blog, where one member is stitching one for each month on their Calendar Quilt ~ Cute, cute idea!

I'm leaving both links on my sidebar for ease of finding them later!

Enjoy!

~ Dawn