Celebrating Five Years—With a Giveaway!

About a week ago, Kara and I (Teri) celebrated the fifth birthday of our small creative company, Through the Needle's Eye. And by celebrating, I mean we were busy working on new patterns and designs, because that's what we do! 

Since our trip to Williamsburg and Kara's return to Germany, we have both been working to complete our fourth blocks of the Woodland Reverie quilt. We are itching to get to our next blocks, but a few other projects are taking precedence.

Woodland Reverie blocks, displayed at the Academy of Appliqué

Beginning to gather materials for a new design—such yummy textures!

Around the world, as we face the COVID-19 pandemic, many people are sheltering in place, practicing social distancing, and living life at a slower-than-normal pace, being told to "stay home." Although we are stuck in our houses during this trying time, there is peace to be found in a needle and thread. We continue to create, for isn't that what we stitchers do? So many of us will look back on this challenging time of quarantine and sickness, and remember the beauty we stitched in the midst of the trials. I've heard stories of people sewing masks for healthcare workers, and of quilters who are raiding their stashes to create—some to keep busy, and some for the sheer enjoyment of having the forced at-home time to sew.

With all of that in mind, we thought the best way to celebrate our "birthday" would be to give away a big birthday gift to one of our lucky readers. Let's have a birthday party! 

This is what is in our birthday gift:

Your choice of either the spring or autumn Woodland Reverie pattern with ribbon kit, which includes all special materials to make the block 

A Violets pattern from our In the Garden series, complete with wired ribbon for the flowers.

 

Our six-skein Botanical Beauty set of Pearl 12 Valdani threads, and a package of milliners needles—perfect for making knots, bullions, or any wrapped stitch

A skein of River Silks over-dyed 4mm ribbon, a 6-inch ruler, and chenille needles—ideal for stitching with the ribbon

A lovely pair of embroidery scissors by Famoré

Two patterns with ribbon, a skein of ribbon, two packages of needles, ruler, scissors, and six balls of pearl cotton thread—happy birthday to us!

So how can you have a chance to win this birthday present? All you have to do is answer this question in the comments below: 

What stitching projects are you working on to make the best use of your time while you stay home?

Those who are reading this in email must click on this link to leave your comment on the blog. If you want to hop on over to Instagram or Facebook and leave a comment there as well, you can be entered for each comment, for multiple chances. All comments must be made by Tuesday night (3/31) at midnight. The winner will be announced next week, and we may have another surprise to announce then. 

Please join us in our virtual birthday stitching party! We would love to sew along with you!

Kara and Teri

NOTE: We would like to take this opportunity to recognize those of you who are not afforded this time to stay home and stitch: health care workers, food providers, and those with essential positions who are working tirelessly to help us through this time. If that is you, please tell us what you would like to be stitching! 

We wish you a heartfelt THANK YOU!!

A Few Highlights from the International Quilt Market

A couple of years ago, Kara and I made our first trek to the International Quilt Market in Houston, Texas. It was an exciting one, as we had a quilt, our Fairy Tale Album, on exhibit in the show. You can read about the highlights of that trip by clicking here. Unfortunately, with Kara in Germany, it wasn't possible for us to attend together this year, so our good friend and official pattern-tester, Barb, joined me (Teri) for the trip. Enjoy this photo-journal of some highlights of our Market experience. 

We left before dawn and flew over Baltimore as the sun was rising.

The hotel restaurant had some tasty table-side guacamole, which served as our lunch after we checked into our room.

We wandered over to the convention center and got a peek of the beginnings of the quilt exhibit set-up. What a lot of work to be done!

Just as we were ready to head out to explore the city, a massive storm hit, so we just hunkered down and enjoyed dinner and happy hour in the hotel. This is the view of Houston through the rain-covered window of our hotel room. It was just as well, since we'd be up since 3 AM and were going on a bus trip to Galveston in the morning. Sleep came early.

Galveston

We arrived a day early, so we could take the bus trip to Galveston. Our first stop was at this quilt shop, which spanned six or seven rooms.

The shop was displaying a collection of HERstory Quilts—A Celebration of Strong Women

 

This quilt and pattern by Georgann Wrinkle was stunning. I had met Georgann at the Appliqué Academy many years ago and was thrilled to see her amazing work on display. This rose is breath-taking!

We headed toward Galveston as the blue sky tried to break through the clouds.

Our destination was the Bishop's Palace—The 1892 Josephine and Walter Greshem Home, a magnificently elaborate home filled with stitching ideas.

 The inspiration began with the arch over the front door.

 From the floors...

...to the ceilings*...

 

...to the staircase: so much attention to detail.

 

  

The ceiling on the left is pictured above*, but this time from the vantage point of the top of the table pictured on the right.

 Do you see embroidery designs? I do!

Another fascinating domed ceiling

Door hinges...

  

...and wallpaper offer design opportunities.

 

The chapel had some stunning stained glass, which always speaks to me.

They certainly didn't have boring ceilings! This, from the chapel.

  

Beds, his and hers

Mrs. Greshem was an artist and painted these flowers in her bedroom, as well as the border beneath the ceiling in her room, above right.

A state-of-the-art bathroom for its time...

...with a stitch-worthy sink.

This beauty that greeted us as we left the mansion just added to my inspiration.

Bishop's Palace, the 1892 Josephine and Walter Greshem Home

Schoolhouse Highlights

The next morning, we arrived bright and early at the convention center for Schoolhouse, a day filled with half-hour sessions packed with information. We were amazed by the progress on the quilt exhibit that had been made in a day and a half: look at all those quilts hanging! A few people must have had a couple sleepless nights.

An appropriate quilt for the registration desk

We were greeted by Northcott, celebrating the tenth anniversary of Stonehenge fabrics.

Learning about Treenway silk threads

 

Gelato ombré fabrics from Maywood Studios

 

Valdani wool fabric and threads

These are just a few of my classes. Barb and I divided and conquered and then shared information at the end of the day. I confess, I was overloaded with new information and ideas. It was a long but productive day. But the fun was not over yet...

We still had sample spree to experience. Yes, we spent a bit of money. Yes, it was CRAZY! But YES, it was fun!!

Just a few more highlights

On the vendors' floor, we visited our friends at Weeks Dye Works and got some samples of their wool and pearl cotton #3 threads to use. We love their colors!

 

Glad to see we aren't the only ones who love fairy tales!

  

Kaffe Fassett working on one of his designs

 

Some fun new YLI materials to try

 

And some beautiful, sharp scissors by Famoré

Stonehenge 10 Year Anniversary

A wooly exhibit at EE Schenck Company's booth

And of course, there were lots of quilts, but we will save those for another day! There was so much to see and so many people to meet. It is the best place to meet people from all over the globe who share the passion of stitching.

But alas, all good things must come to an end, and within minutes of that closing announcement, boxes were packed, quilts were moved, and vendors began preparing for Festival. Stop back to visit soon! I have lots of quilts from some fabulous exhibits to share with you.

Until then...happy stitching!