Something's Coming, Something Good!

Could it be? Yes, it could

Something's coming, something good, if (you) can wait

Something's coming, (you) don't know what it is

But it is gonna be great

Are you the kind of person who translates everything into song? I (Teri) confess to that odd trait; no matter what I'm thinking about, somehow an obscure song gets stuck in my head as I'm processing. So this week, as I pondered this post, the song "Something's Coming," from West Side Story, replayed in my brain. Why, you may ask? Because Kara and I have been busy stitchers, preparing for a lot of fun to come in the new year—and some of it is mysterious!

Stocking up on wool for kits at
Primitive Homespuns Wool & Needleworks

Life has certainly changed a bit in the past year, with many online stitch-along type projects replacing our in-person teaching. We have learned a lot and met many new people along the way, so there has been a lot of positive in the trials. To that end, we are jumping onboard in full, and offering THREE stitch-along opportunities this winter!

First, we have been invited to join a new group: the Winter Wonderland Mystery Sew-A-Long. We'd love to have you join us by heading to the Facebook group (click here) to check it out. We will be working with a new group of twelve designers, and this project promises to be perfect for those shut-in wintry days. The title gives a big clue as to what season we'll be stitching, but the rest in a mystery! We are excited about our block, and we are getting all kinds of fun gems in the mail as we prepare to make kits. Here's the only hint you get for this block—one of the embellishments.

Second, we are again collaborating with our wonderful team of Woolen Oak Designers to create a new quilt. Again, it is a mystery, and I'm still sworn to secrecy—sorry, not even a hint—but I PROMISE you will love the designs for this new quilt! I hope that was enough to pique your curiosity and interest, because at this moment, our lips are sealed! 🙊Again, if you haven't yet joined the Woolen Oak Facebook page, click here and join the fun—and get the first notice of what's to come. 

Third, we have a new project that we are starting within our own Hopeful Bluebird Facebook Group (click here to join us). In this Stitch Along, we will be offering four floral patterns. We used wool appliqué, but our focus will be learning some new embroidery stitches as we go. What a fun way it will be to build our stitching toolbox! We do hope you will stitch along with us. A few hints below might entice you.

And finally, we have word that the Academy of Appliqué is on for March! Many safety precautions are planned, and we are looking forward to getting a wee sense of teaching normalcy returning. We are teaching these four little houses, part of a Village Wandering Series. It's not too late to register!

Village Wanderings: Homes

So, if we have to spend more time at home this winter, we are planning to stay busy and stay stitching!! How about you? 

We may not be able to give you all the details, but "something's coming, something good . . . it's gonna be great!"

Maybe you'd like to sing along while we plan to stitch along?

It's a Mystery!

Guess what we are doing this summer? 

It's a mystery! Well, the Woolen Oak Mystery Stitch-A-Long, that is. We are joining with eleven other designers to offer a free pattern each week, all summer long. And it is going to be fun!

Flyer from Calico Patch Designs, the organizer of the mystery

Kara and I (Teri) have been enjoying getting to know this group of talented ladies. And their work is spectacular! Check out this list:

June 1 - 7                      Calico Patch Designs                             calicopatchdesigns.com
June 8 - 14                   Blueberry Backroads                             blueberrybackroads.com
June 15 - 21                  My Red Door Designs                           myreddoordesigns.com
June 22 - 28                 Red Button Quilt Co                              redbuttonquiltco.com
June 29 - July 5           Rusty Crow                                               rustycrow.com
July 6 - 12                     Linen Closet Designs                             facebook.com/LinenClosetDesigns
July 13 - 19                   the cottage rose-Pattern Originals   cottagerosequiltshop.com
July 20 - 26                  The Woolen Needle                                thewoolenneedle.com
July 27 - Aug 2             Through The Needle’s Eye                  needleseyestories.com
Aug 3 - 9                        Traditional Primitives                          traditionalprimitives.com
Aug 10 - 16                    Yellow Creek Quilt Designs                yellowcreekquiltdesigns.com
Aug 17 - 23                    Sew Cherished                                         sewcherished.com
Aug 24 - 31                    Calico Patch Designs                             calicopatchdesigns.com

So each Monday, a different designer will release a free digital pattern, which will be free for download for the duration of the week, after which it will be available for sale. We will all be offering kits for sale, with all fabric and wool material needed to complete each block, and some of the designers are offering thread kits for sale as well. The kits will become available for purchase on the day the pattern is released, and we are preparing to be ready to ship as soon as orders are placed. We have seen some sneak peeks of most of the blocks in progress, and we are excited! We think you will be, too. 

As for the rest of the details, well...it is a MYSTERY!! 

You can join the Facebook group for current updates by clicking here.

If you are on Facebook, joining the Woolen Oak Mystery Stitch-A-Long group will introduce you to each of the designers. Every other day, one of us is introducing herself—or in our case, herselves—and offering a chance to win a $50 gift certificate on her website. What a great way to get to know these talented wool appliqué artists. And perhaps to meet some new friends who share your passion. At this point, the group is over 2600 people strong. That's a lot of new friends!

A preview to watch

So, who's up for some summer mystery stitching?!

Updated: Hopeful Bluebird Stitch Along—Week 3

Updated: We have enjoyed our Hopeful Bluebird Stitch Along! While the pattern for this lovely wall hanging is no longer available for free, it is available in our web store. It's never too late to join our Facebook group where we have been inspired by all the beautiful work that has been shared.

No deadlines...just jump right in! 

And just like that, we are on our last week of this Stitch Along. We hope everyone is having fun and enjoying making this block. This week, we will work on the bluebird and finish up the embroidery. Also included will be the directions to piece the border and turn it into a wallhanging. 

Here we go!

The bluebird has four pieces that are positioned with the right wing first, the breast next, then the body, and finally the left wing.

Ready to be stitched down.

Once you have stitched your bluebird down, it's time to bring him to life with a little embroidery.

If desired, mark the eye and beak.

With 4 strands of black floss, make a French knot for the eye.
With 3 strands of dark grey floss, make 3 straight stitches for the beak.

Straight, stem, and fly stitches embellish our little bluebird.
Use one strand of dark grey or black floss to stem stitch the banner hanger.

The poppy center is created with a woven wheel stitch using #8 green pearl cotton. I used the same color for this as I did for the fly stitches on the leaves. To make the center, start with 5 straight stitches arranged like a star as shown in the picture below.

Five straight stitches arranged in a star shape

Bring the needle up close to the center of the star, and between two stitches. Begin weaving the thread over and under the spokes, snugging them up closely. This works best if you use a tapestry needle because it doesn't have a sharp tip. If you don't have one, using the eye end of your needle will work as well. Continue going around until you can no longer see the spokes, and then take your needle to the back and tie off. (To see a video of this stitch, go to Mary Corbet's video HERE.) 

The finished woven wheel center.

With 2 strands of black or dark grey floss, surround the woven wheel with straight stitches to complete your poppy.

The poppy is all done!

To stitch the word "welcome", I used the Press and Seal™ plastic wrap method. The Press and Seal™ has one side that is sticky and adheres slightly to the wool. If you don't have access to this product, tissue paper works as well. Start off by tearing a piece of the plastic wrap and position it over the word "welcome". Then take a sharpie or gel pen and trace over the words. I used a white gel pen, as that is my go-to product for marking most everything.

Plastic wrap positioned over the pattern

Once your words are traced, center the plastic wrap on your banner and pin. 

Ready to stitch!

To stitch the words, I used a dark grey #8 pearl cotton, but 3 strands of dark grey floss would work as well. I used a chain stitch for the thicker parts of the letters and a stem stitch for the thinner parts. Stitching through the plastic takes a little bit of getting used to, but this method allows you to use many different fonts for your stitched letters. 

Once you are finished stitching, carefully remove the plastic wrap by holding your finger down on the embroidery and then tearing it off. Use a pair of pointed tweezers to get the small bits out.

These Martelli tweezers are great for removing the tiny pieces.

The finished lettering!

The link for the border directions is below, and hopefully you will find them easy to follow. This was the first time that I had big-stitch quilted anything and I loved it! I used Valdani #12 in a shade that blended with my background. First I quilted around the block, and then quilted in the border about an eighth of an inch away from the seam—this accented the secondary star that formed by using the background fabric in the border.

Big stitch quilting around the border

Squares all ready to go for the border

All quilted and bound!

I chose to turn this block into a wallhanging, but you may have other ideas for yours, and we would love to hear what those plans are! 

We hope you have had fun on our first ever stitch along, and we hope to do more of these in the future. The pattern and the instructions will be free on the blog for the next month, and we will keep the Facebook group open so you can share your progress and finished blocks with everyone. Sharing your work is encouraging for your fellow stitchers, and it is great to see the different color palettes everyone chooses. 

It is hard to keep our distance from the people we love, but hopefully it won't be long until we can welcome our friends and family back into our homes—this wallhanging will be hanging on our door waiting for that day!

Hopeful Bluebird Week 3
Hopeful Bluebird Border Directions

Updated: A Hopeful Bluebird Stitch Along

Updated: We have enjoyed our Hopeful Bluebird Stitch Along! While the pattern for this lovely wall hanging is no longer available for free, it is available in our web store. It's never too late to join our Facebook group where we have been inspired by all the beautiful work that has been shared.

No deadlines...just jump right in! 

In spite of the current pandemic, Spring in this part of the world is showing off her beauty in some spectacular ways. The fruit trees in our local orchards are covered in blossoms, the fields are full of buttercups, and the birds are singing some lovely tunes. Even though we have to stay home, it has been nice to witness the changing of the seasons and to welcome some warmer weather. 

Staying at home for us, both Teri and I (Kara), has meant that we get to do a lot of stitching and we have seen from social media that many of you have been stitching as well. Since there is so much needlework going on, we thought it might be fun to offer a free pattern and a stitch along! So without further ado we introduce our Hopeful Bluebird appliqué pattern and Stitch Along!

The design is inspired by a vintage postcard and we thought it would be fun to stitch a little welcome sign that we can display for that day when we can welcome people back into our homes. Over the next three weeks, we will post all the instructions, patterns, and templates that you will need to complete your own little bluebird wall hanging. At the end of each post you will find the PDF links for all that you will need for that particular week.

So lets get started!

The first order of business will be to gather your supplies, starting with your background. We used a cotton background because we enjoy the look of the two different textures, cotton and wool, together, but you can certainly use a wool background if you prefer. The supply list gives each piece of appliqué wool needed and the colors we used along with a list of threads you will need. 

Once you have gathered your supplies, print out the template page. There are many ways to cut out and use templates for wool appliqué and you may already have a tried and true method. If so, that's great and feel free to use what works for you. I don't enjoy tracing my templates on freezer paper and I like to limit my prep time wherever possible, so I glue my templates onto freezer paper with a glue stick.

Apply glue to back of template page, making sure to cover the template area.

Template page is now glued to freezer paper ready to be cut out.

Some people really don't like to cut their patterns and would prefer to keep them intact. The nice thing about a PDF pattern is that you can print as many copies as you need. Once I have finished cutting out my templates and using them, I store them in a plastic baggie and keep them with the pattern. That way I will be able to reuse them if I decide to make the project again.

Templates all cut out and ready to be ironed onto the wools

I like to use fusible in my wool projects, whereas Teri does not—either method works just fine and it is a matter of personal preference. On this project, I used fusible but you can choose to do what method you prefer. Once you have cut out your templates, fuse or staple them onto the appropriate color wool as listed in the template page and cut out.

For Week 1, we have kept it simple and there are just a few pieces to appliqué and a little bit of embroidery. Find the center of your background and use the X's on the pattern to help you place your wool pieces, then fuse or staple your pieces in place.

Week 1 pieces fused and ready to appliqué.

Use matching thread and an appliqué stitch to secure wool pieces to background. Sewing thread or one strand of floss is what we use. Once your pieces are appliquéd, mark a faint line on your background for the little stems. Use your pattern as a guide for placement. Follow the directions for the embroidery and your Week 1 is finished.

Week 1 stitched down and embroidered.

Hopefully this won't be too much for one week and that you have fun doing it! We are looking forward to hearing from you and seeing your progress. We have created a Facebook group called Hopeful Bluebird Stitch Along so you can share your progress and ask questions. 

It is our hope that you enjoy creating this little project and that while stitching, you can feel hopeful about someday welcoming back some of the things that we are currently missing. 

Hopeful Bluebird Supply List
Hopeful Bluebird Pattern
Hopeful Bluebird Templates
Hopeful Bluebird Week 1 Directions
Hopeful Bluebird Facebook Group

A Lettering Tutorial

Well it has been about a month since we wrapped up our Flora and Fauna of Germany Stitch-Along and I (Kara) have been diligently sewing the blocks together. I put together the fabric blocks and even got the border on them, but I felt it needed a little something now that I could see them all put together. Lettering popped into my head as just that something. Since each block has a name, inking that on the block—reminiscent of the old botanical prints—seemed like a good idea. It was a bit of a gamble because once done, it cannot be undone. In spite of that I forged ahead and thought I would show you how I did it.

My handwriting is certainly not nice enough to freehand the blocks, but Microsoft Word has all sorts of options for fonts. I created a document with all the block titles on it in the Edwardian Script font. This font seemed to work best for that vintage look. Two columns with a line down the center  of each allowed me to line them up, correctly centered on the blocks as you will see further on.

The next step was to spray the whole paper on the front with a temporary adhesive. I used 505 as it doesn't get too sticky. 

Next, I cut out each title and put them aside while I prepared my blocks. Ideally, you would do the inking before you put the blocks together but I wasn't going to be taking mine apart just for this. The blocks finish at 6" square so I found the center, made a small line, and then drew a line 1/4" from the bottom edge.

Ready to line it up.

Once my lines were drawn, I turned on my light-box and positioned my paper title underneath the block. I double checked multiple times to make sure I had the right title for the right block. 

Lined up  and ready to ink.

The temporary adhesive on the paper holds it to the fabric without having to worry that it will shift while inking. Before I inked on the blocks, I practiced a bit on a piece of scrap muslin. I then took the plunge and traced over the letters with my Micron pen. 

Micron pen in size .05 and color #117

The best advice is to go slowly and gently. Downward strokes are usually easiest and I tried to write with a light hand.

A nice bright light-box is essential! 

I took my time on each one and I tried not to hurry. After you are finished, you need to let the ink set for a couple of hours before you try to remove your blue marking pencil if you used one. Here are a few of the blocks once they were finished:

The inking is a subtle detail but I think it adds that little something to all the blocks. I have only inked the cotton blocks because the light box I had borrowed was not bright enough to shine through the linen background of the wool blocks. It may be that the wool version will be sans inking! 

If you would like to ink your blocks as well, you can download the titles HERE, Let us know if you have any questions about inking.

Soon we will show all the blocks together, both cotton and wool. If you have created any of the blocks, we would love to see them! 

Block of the Month 15—Acorns

Thank you for your interest in our Flora and Fauna blocks! They are no longer free but will be part of a future quilt pattern.

This post was almost called "Throwback Thursday" as the acorn is such an autumnal symbol, but technically it is still fall. The weather here in Germany has certainly become winter-like, but there are still a few days until the official start of winter, therefore the acorn is still in season. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it.)

This acorn picture was taken early in the season, as you can tell from the green leaves. I (Kara) loved the yellow-orange color of acorn that was just beginning to change colors. I pass a couple of beautiful oak trees on our walks, and I was able to snap pictures of them at different times during the season. I also was brought to my knees (literally) by the acorns, as there were so many; it was a little dangerous walking on them, thus the mighty acorn had to be included in our block of the month.

Early Fall

Now

Mid Fall

 Cotton Block

Once the block was traced onto the back using transfer paper, I was able to get started on the appliqué.

Transfer paper (shiny side up), background, and pattern.
The order from the bottom up.

Traced image on the back of the background.

I began by appliquéing the leaf, then the branch, and then the acorn bottoms. Once those were finished, I could start on the acorn caps. These are a bit small to appliqué, but by turning under just a little bit at a time, they were manageable. When appliquéing small pieces, I like to switch to a smaller needle—usually a size 10 or 11 between.

Just one acorn cap left to do

My basting stitches are smaller because of the little piece.

Starting on the straightest side.

The curve of my nail helps guide me
as I turn under the curve.

Once all the appliqué was finished, I decided to test out my brand new Inktense Pencils by Derwent. I had heard about these pencils that allow you to get a watercolor-type finish and could be used on fabric. After watching a few videos on the internet about them (this one was very helpful), I thought I would give them a go. There will be a post in the future that goes more in-depth about these tools, but this acorn was the first time I tried them. Once I had practiced a bit, I used a light tan to do some shading on the bottoms of the acorns. It's very subtle, but I really liked the effect. The only embroidery on this block is some stem stitched veins on the leaf, some woven straight stitches for the acorn cap and a few chain stitches for the stems.

Stem stitched veins with pearl cotton

A little shading at the bottom and a woven acorn cap.

The finished block

Stitches and Threads Used (Cotton Block)

Leaf—Valdani #12 pearl, O539, stem stitch

Acorn caps—Green linen embroidery thread, woven straight stitches

Little stems—Valdani #12 pearl, P12, chain stitch

Wool Block

One of the things I love about wool is how quickly a project can go together—especially after needle turning the cotton block. Also, the look of wool is so completely different from that of cotton but Teri and I love both! I was able to find all the colors I needed in my scrap drawer. Do you save your wool scraps? They sure come in handy. I whip stitched all the pieces down except the branch and for that I used an angled blanket stitch, creating a V shape down the center of the branch.

Pieces stapled and ready to stitch.
I am starting an angled blanket stitch on the branch.

The finished branch.

Once the pieces were all stitched down, I used the same stitches for the leaf and the acorn cap as I did for the cotton block. The leaf was done in a #12 pearl cotton, as was the acorn cap, but by two different manufacturers—the leaf by Valdani and the cap by House of Embroidery. They may be the same size, but they definitely have a different look from each other. All the more reason to collect ALL the threads!

Valdani thread and stem stitch.

Beginning to weave the stitches.

A finished acorn cap

The finished block

Stitches and Threads Used (Cotton Block)

Leaf—Valdani #12 pearl, H201, stem stitch

Acorn caps—House of Embroidery, pearl #12, woven straight stitches

Branch—Valdani #12 pearl, P12

Little stems—Valdani #12 pearl, H202, chain stitch

There we have it! A last, little remembrance of fall before winter settles in. Hopefully you will enjoy stitching these acorns, in addition to the other blocks in this series. All the links for the past blocks are below. Next month will be the last block before we put it all together. If you have made any of the blocks, we would love to see them. You can share them on our Facebook page!