Samplers Not Forgotten

Hi there! I’ve got quite a lot of catching up to do on this ol’ blog. I’ve been busy, busy stitching and finishing. Where to start? 

This post will be dedicated to Samplers Not Forgotten. I’ve been on a mission to complete some of her kits over the past few weeks. My friends and I are headed to Quilter’s Station this week and Kimberly Nugent is one of the guest designers. Kim puts out wonderful little kits at the Nashville Needlework Market each year and I’ve collected quite a few over the years.

My first finish was this sweet little design called Floral Cup Pincushion. The kit included the little mug, linen, threads, ribbon, and even the coordinating pins. It was a quick stitch and an easy finish.

Next up is a kit that I acquired through one of the Country Sampler groups. The stitching was intense (almost two months) and the finishing was more involved, but I love this design and finish! It’s called One Nation.

At market this year, Kimberly introduced another sweet little pincushion kit called Blue Bird. I knew I could get this one stitched and finished quickly. It was kind of like “instant gratification” after working on One Nation for so long!

Tonight, I put the finishing touches on one more small kit. It’s called Lovey Dovey. I acquired the kit through the Silver Needle Circle of Friends a few years ago, but I believe the pattern is available to all now.

So here’s my collection of finishes. Aren’t they sweet? I’m looking forward to a new project from Kimberly at the retreat this week!

Hope to be back soon. Have more finishes to share!

Country Sampler Spring Soiree

Neither rain, nor snow, nor dark of night…the snow almost kept us at home. We delayed our start and ventured east to Spring Green, Wisconsin this weekend. Country Sampler had their Spring Soiree and Stacy Nash was there as their special guest.

The shop was all decked out for spring.

After an afternoon of shopping followed by visiting and stitching in the classroom, we headed to Mt. Horeb for dinner with friends. Perfect day!

Before heading home on Saturday, we stopped at Lynn’s of Madison. They always have a great linen selection. Their framed models are so inspiring.

Now, back to reality!

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!

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.

 

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.

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!

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.