Blue Jar Medley Mystery Stitch-Along

We are happy to announce the  Blue Jar Medley Mystery Stitch-A-Long.  

Mark your calendars and tell your friends about this FREE event: you don’t want to miss it! Beginning January 31, 2022, and each Monday following, one participating designer will  feature their “Blue Jar” with a FREE downloadable pattern available during each designer's  spotlight week! After each spotlight week, digital patterns will be $5.00 for the remainder of the program. Complete the project with a Finishing Pattern available FREE, April 25th-May 2nd 2022. Fabric kits, threads, printed patterns, and more will be available to help make a beautiful quilt! Kits will include wool, fabric, and embellishments. Follow the schedule below and visit each individual designer's website/social media to order or download the free pattern...for a limited time!

Preorders are being accepted now! 

• Jan 31 - Feb 4 Calico Patch
• Feb 7- 11 The Woolen Needle
• Feb 14 - 18 Red Button Quilt Company
• Feb 21 - 25 Linen Closet Designs
• Feb 28 - Mar 4 My Red Door Designs
• Mar 7- 11 Blueberry Backroads
• Mar 14-18 Sew Cherished
• Mar 21 - 25 The Cottage Rose
• Mar 28 - Apr 1 Traditional Primitives
• Apr 4 - 8 Yellow Creek
• Apr 11 - 15 Through the Needle's Eye
• Apr 18 - 22 Rusty Crow
• April 25-May 2 Calico Patch: Finishing

Remember that it will be a tad different this round: the digital pattern will be free for the designer's spotlight week only, and then revert to the low price of $5, and all printed patterns will be only $6 for the duration of the stitch-along. So follow along, and tell your friends about it, so you call all join in from the beginning. This will be a fun one, for sure!

For more information and links to each designer's website, click HERE. And if you haven't yet joined our Woolie Friends Facebook page, hop on over and join us!

What's Happening?

 

Spring has officially hit the state of Maryland, and I (Teri) have been enjoying some beautiful long walks, enjoying all the flowers in bloom. There is nothing that inspires us more than nature, with all its bountiful beauty. I guess it's no surprise that we stitch so many flowers!

Even as the world is starting to slowly open up again, at least here in the US, we are staying quite busy with new designs for online stitching programs. Participating in several stitch alongs this past year has been such a fun way to "meet" new stitching friends, while we anticipate classes opening in person again. It shan't be long, we hope!

Here are a few things we have been up to lately. We still have kits available for all our previous stitch-along blocks, and orders are still rolling in, but this is the last week for free digital pattern downloads, so if you haven't gotten your patterns, act fast! They will still be available, but for purchase.

Vicki McCarty of Calico Patch Designs has created a stunning finishing design for all of the Potted Petals Mystery Stitch-A-Long blocks. Each of the designers still has patterns and kits available, and now you can get the finishing pattern and kit to make this quilt, as well. For details, check our website, where you can find live links to each designer's site: https://www.needleseyestories.com/potted-petals-mystery-stitch-a-long.

I think my violet was so excited that we had stitched some into our Tea and Blooms block that it decided to bloom for me. These are the first blooms I've gotten in about three years!

A Few New Mysteries Coming Your Way!

Our Woolie Buddies have once again gathered together to present a new mystery stitch along. The name will have to be your hint here, because it IS a mystery, but I can tell you that there are some fabulous projects in store for you. Be watching for more information on our social media, in the Potted Petals Facebook group, and on our website, as it will be starting soon. Any guesses?!

We are also happy to be participating in the Joy of Giving Mystery, with thirteen other designers. Each of the 14 projects can be made and given as gifts, and a new one will be released every other week, beginning on June 6. These are great affordable projects to help you prepare for your gift-making and giving. To follow this fun, you can join the new Joy of Giving Mystery Facebook group, or watch our website and this blog to see more about our project.

I will be updating our website in the very near future with more information about both of these stitching opportunities. It's hard to spend so much time at the computer when the spring flowers are calling me outside!

Conferences and classes are beginning to open in person, and we are so excited to be teaching at Baltimore on the Prairie this September. We have two fun classes planned for this event, pictured below. We would love to see you there. Kara and I are already planning for 2022! 

Session A

Session B

And we are thrilled to again be on the prestigious faculty of the Academy of Appliqué in 2022 and are busily preparing our designs. The fun will continue!! The class catalog will be available in early August. 

We've been as busy as this bee in the cherry tree, stitching and writing patterns, and looking for inspiration in this beautiful spring season. You never know which flower will under our needles next!

Happy spring!!

Did you know that whenever the words appear in a teal color, they are live links to click on for more information? 

Hopeful Flower Wrap Up!

We have come to the end of our Hopeful Flowers Stitch Along and we have been thrilled at the great participation we have had. Most of all, we have loved seeing the wealth of creativity and the way that everyone has put their own spin on this little project!

Today, I (Kara) am going to go over the simple setting we used to finish our four blocks.  Since the embroidery is the focus of this project, we didn't want any finish that was too fancy or complicated. The sashing is made up of 1-inch strips (finished 1/2"), and we chose a darker shade of green in order to nicely frame the blocks. The outside border is made up of forty-four 2" squares (finished 1.5") in eight different fabrics. As I mentioned before, the fabrics we used were Tres Jolie lawns, by French General.

I chose to hand quilt the wallhanging with a #12 pearl cotton around the flowers and then in a cross-hatch pattern in the background, but you may choose to quilt yours differently. You may even choose to make something other than a wallhanging—there are no rules here!

Wallhanging Instructions

Note: We used a 1/4" seam.

1. Trim the blocks to 7.25" and arrange in the order you would like them.
2. Cut 6 sashing strips 1" x 18" and cut one of those strips in half.
3. Sew a 9" sashing piece to the bottom of one block and then sew that to the top of another.
4. Do the same to the other two blocks and trim so that the edges are even. Press the seams away from the blocks.
5. Sew one 18" piece of sashing between the 4 blocks and then sew sashing onto both sides of your 4 blocks.
6. Trim the extra. Press the seams away from the blocks.
7. Add a piece of sashing to the top and the bottom, and then trim. Press the seams away from the blocks.
8. Cut 44 2-inch squares. We used 8 different fabrics.
9. Sew 2 sets of 10 squares together. 
10. Sew one set to the bottom and one set to the top.
11. Sew 2 sets of 12 squares together.
12. Sew one set to the left and one set to the right. 
13. Press sashing away from the border. 
14. Cut a 22" piece of backing fabric and batting and then sandwich together with top.
15. Quilt as desired, then trim and bind.

The blocks and directions will be available for free until April 15, and then will be moved to our website for purchase as a complete pattern. 

We hope that you have enjoyed learning some fun, new stitches during this stitch-along, and we are so grateful for your support and participation throughout this project. It is our hope (pun intended) to keep this group going with new projects every so often. We would love for you  to continue to share pictures of your progress with these little blooms. You never know how your post may encourage someone else!

Happy Hopeful Stitching!

Hopeful Flowers Block 4

Hopeful Flowers Block 3

Hopeful Flowers Block 2

Hopeful Flowers Block 1 

Hopeful Flowers Supply List

Hopeful Stitchers Facebook Group

Hopeful Flowers Week 4

It has been nice focusing on flowers while many of us have had nothing but cold, snowy weather. Here in Germany, we are experiencing a bit of spring weather, and the snowdrops and crocuses are starting to show their faces. I (Kara) can't believe we are on our last flower in this stitch along!

This week's block is one of my favorites—mainly because it has the cast-on stitch as the center focal point. The cast-on stitch can be a little tricky, but once you get the hang of it, you can do so many things with it. It is a cousin to the bullion stitch and is often used in Brazilian embroidery. The leaves in this block are also a favorite, because we have taken a basic stitch and amped it up by using two colors and two different types of thread. So without further ado, let's get started!

Block 4: Rose Flower

As in the previous blocks, we marked our stems using a light box or window and then hooped our block when doing the stitches for the stems.

Stitches used:

Cast-on, Hungarian braided chain, fly, and stem stitch

The cast-on stitch is, as I said, similar to the bullion stitch. It is helpful to use a milliners needle for this stitch, as the eye has the same width as the shaft of the needle, allowing for the wraps to pass the eye more easily. 

We will set the groundwork for our cast-on stitches by surrounding the center with blanket stitches in varying lengths forming an arc for each petal as shown below.

If you are a knitter, then the "cast-on" action might not be a problem for you. It is probably a little hard to show in pictures, so take a look at the videos we have linked for this stitch as well. 

Come up on a small blanket stitch.

Bring your needle down on the other small
blanket stitch and
back out where you came up.

I hold my needle straight up and take my
working thread and make my first loop/wrap.

The working thread needs to be underneath 
the loop.

Make enough wraps to curve over the blanket stitch arc.
Each stitch on the large flower has 25 wraps, 20 for the medium, 
and 16 for the small. That may vary depending on what thread you use.

Here you can see the "ridges" that form from the wraps.

When you have all your wraps on your needle, hold on to the wraps and pull the needle through.

Lay your wraps over the arc. You will need to bring your needle
underneath the wraps as shown so that the stitch lays flat
and that the ridges are on top.

Bring the needle down in the same spot that you came out before.

We are going to anchor our cast-on stitch
by coming up underneath it at the top
of our longest blanket stitch.

Bring your needle down in the cast-on stitch
just below the ridge.

The finished cast-on stitch.

Here is a little video to show how I do the cast-on stitch. (Please excuse my horrible winter hands!)

The Hungarian braided chain is similar to the heavy chain stitch but has a completely different look. This is a great go-to for a nice thick stem.

As we did in the heavy chain stitch, make 
a small stitch at the top of the line, and
then back up on the line below the stitch.

 Bring the back of your needle through 
the stitch.

Come back up a little below the stitch again.

Your first stitch should look like this.

Bring your needle to the back leaving
two loops on either side of the chain 
as shown.

Bring the back of your needle through
the little stitch at the top, but don't pull it
all the way through.

Bring the needle up on the line below the stitch.

Bring the back of the needle under the inner chain and
over the outer chain.

Pull the working thread snugly against the needle.

Bring the needle through leaving a loop on the right.

Complete the chain and leave a loop on the left.

Come up below the stitches on the line.

Bring the back of the needle under the inner chain and over the outer chain.

Pull the working thread snugly against the needle.
Continue on down the stem repeating the same steps.

The stitches on the leaves are very simple. We used a #8 pearl to make fly stitches down the center of the leaf and took the arms of the fly to the outside of the leaf. Then we took two strands of floss in a darker color and did fly stitches in between the previous ones.

To get your free download, follow these instructions:

1. Click on the link below that says Hopeful Flowers Block 4.

2. You will be directed to our What's Happening Page. It may ask you if you would like to go to that page, and if so, click the link provided.

3. Scroll down until you see the Hopeful Flowers wallhanging.

4. Follow the directions there for downloading your free pattern.

And just like that we have finished covering all four blocks! We hope you have enjoyed learning some unique new stitches. Embroidery can add so much to our wool and cotton appliqué—we really feel that it brings it to life. Do you have a favorite stitch from our four blocks? 

Next week we will wrap this project up and share how we completed our wallhanging, so stay tuned, and happy stitching!

Links:

Hopeful Flowers Block 4

Hopeful Flowers Block 3

Hopeful Flowers Block 2

Hopeful Flowers Block 1 

Hopeful Flowers Supply List

Hopeful Stitchers Facebook Group

Mary Corbet Needle N Thread video—Cast-On Stitch

Mary Corbet Needle N Thread video—Hungarian Braided Chain

Hopeful Flowers—Week One

Our Hopeful Flowers Stitch Along is here!

We are thrilled to be able to share this free project with you over the course of the next two months. This wallhanging came about because we wanted to create something that focused on going beyond the blanket stitch for wool appliqué. The inspiration for the palette came from the amazing Tres Jolie lawns from French General that I (Kara) purchased this summer. We knew right from the start that this would be a great second project for our little Hopeful Bluebird Facebook Group. Little did we know that this small group would quickly grow to almost a thousand members in the course of two weeks! 

Each week, we will share one of the blocks and the stitches we used. The more unique stitches will be shown with detailed pictures and links to videos of those stitches when possible. Everyone learns in different ways, so we want to show as many formats as we can to help everyone grasp how to make a particular stitch. Our go-to videos for learning stitches are from Mary Corbet at Needle 'n Thread. Mary's videos are a great resource that we use often, and we honestly don't think we could do a better job than she does! The blocks will be free to download and will include the full size block pattern as well as templates needed. If you need the supply list for the project you can find it in the links listed at the bottom of the page here.

Just a few notes before we begin:

There are many methods used for wool appliqué, and even Teri and I don't always use the same one. I like to make freezer paper templates because I am a terrible tracer. A bonus to having freezer paper templates is that if I decide I want to change up a color or even make the project again, it is quick and easy to pull a template out of my baggie for that particular project. I glue stick my templates to the freezer paper and then cut the templates out. If you like to keep your pattern intact, just print out two template sheets.

My baggie full of templates.

Once my wool pieces are cut out, I keep all of the pieces on my small ironing mat so that way I can keep better track of them. Between jumping up and down to let dogs in and out, invariably I end up wearing a piece or dropping it on the floor. This is just one way of preparing the wool, but feel free to use whatever method you prefer. A tip for learning the stitches would be to get a piece of scrap fabric so that you can practice before you actually stitch on your project.

Block 1 (Yellow Flower)

For each block you will need a 9" background piece of fabric in a neutral color. All the stem embroidery is done before the wool appliqué, and hooping the fabric will give you less puckering. It can be challenging to hoop with the wool already stitched down, thus doing the stem embroidery first is encouraged. 

Stitches used:
Heavy Chain, Blanket, Stem, Lazy Daisy

The Heavy Chain stitch is used for the flower stems on this block. It is a simple stitch that gives a nice rope-like effect. Here are some detailed pictures of how it is done and the video link will be listed at the end of the post.

At the top of line, take a small stitch.

Bring your needle back up on the line
a little bit below the previous stitch.

Take your needle down and to the back
as shown.

Bring the eye of your needle through
the first stitch.

It should look like this.

Bring your needle up on the line a 
little bit below the previous stitch.

Again, take the eye of your needle 
through the very first stitch.

Take your needle down and to the back 
as shown.

Bring your needle up on the line a 
little bit below the previous stitch.

Bring the back of your needle through
both of the chain stitches.

Continue on in the same way down the 
rest of the line.

The blanket stitch is a standard stitch that is well loved in the world of wool appliqué. We are going to take the basic blanket stitch and zoozh it up (I checked—that is actually a word in the dictionary). Going around the circle twice with the blanket stitch gives a lace-like effect. Just remember not to pull too tight or the stitches will curl up.

Start a blanket stitch around the 
flower center.

Continue stitching all the way around 
center.

When you get to the end, complete the
circle and bring the needle to the back.

Bring the needle back up under one of the
bars and then start another blanket stitch.

Continue making blanket stitches around 
the circle until you reach the end.

Keep your tension even and not too tight.

To get your free download, follow these instructions:

1. Click on the link below that says Hopeful Flowers Block 1

2. You will be directed to our What's Happening Page. It may ask you if you would like to go to that page and if so click the link provided.

3. Scroll down until you see the Hopeful Flowers wallhanging.

4. Follow the directions there for downloading your free pattern.

We can't wait to see everyone's blocks, and we hope you will share your progress and questions in the Hopeful Stitchers Facebook group. If you haven't joined yet, you can do so by clicking the link below. 

Have fun stitching!

Links:

Hopeful Flowers Block 1 

Hopeful Flowers Supply List

Hopeful Stitchers Facebook Group

Mary Corbet-Heavy Chain Stitch Video