Pattern Sale!

Everyone loves a sale, right?! Well, we are having one!

We are having a wonderful time teaching our Block of the Month quilt, In the Garden, at Primitive Homespuns Wool & Needleworks. We are about halfway through the second round, and these ladies are inspiring us with their choices and skills! Each month, we share our progress, and I (Teri) am amazed by their beautiful work. It is fun to watch them get ideas from each other, and I may be learning as much from some of them as they are from me. (And Kara, who got to come to the shop for our March session when she was home for the Academy of Appliqué.) 

In the Garden

We thought you might enjoy a few photos of our progress. Perhaps you, too, will be inspired.

Stacy, Beth, and Janie show off their Cardinals and Holly blocks.

We all loved Beth's wool choices for her second Rose block.

Working on our Hydrangea blocks—one side of the room...

...and the other!

Cutting a pile of petals

Stitching the petals with beads

Stacy added more dimension to both her rose and her hydrangea.

My favorite part is the enormous encouragement as we study each other's blocks, taking pictures for inspiration and noting the different approaches to the blocks.

A table full of fabulous work!!

This was Lisa's first class, and she had her block finished and sent us a picture within a couple of days. It doesn't look like beginner work to me!

SOOOO . . . about that sale. 

Kara and I both have birthdays in June, so we decided to celebrate by offering you a gift! All of our patterns can be purchased for a 15% discount for the entire month of June, beginning today. Just type in the coupon code JUNE2019 when you check out, and your items will be discounted.

So hop on over to our shop at needleseyestories.com and stock up on some summer stitching projects!

Note: Act now if you want hard copies, because in the month of July, I will be traveling across the country, so only digital copies will be available. Plan ahead—and get a discount!

Happy stitching!

The Great Garden Giveaway!

Kara and I have been having such a wonderful time on our journey together with you, telling stories through our needles' eyes. We are amazed by the number of subscribers to our blog, as well as those who follow us on social media. What a community we quilters are! There is no better way to learn than to share, and we have heard many inspiring ideas from you over these past few years. Almost three, already! Wow.

We thought it might be fun to do a bit of celebrating over on our Facebook page. Just click the link and hop on over to our page to leave a comment for a chance to win the first four patterns of our In the Garden BOM series. Yes—all four patterns, with ribbon needed to make the flowers—will be given to one random winner!

The four patterns thus far are Cornflowers, Oak Leaves and Acorns, Violets, and Cardinals and Holly. All are pictured with a detail below.

Cornflowers detail 

Cornflowers

Acorn detail

Oak Leaves and Acorns 

Violets detail

Violets

Cardinals and Holly detail

Cardinals and Holly

Our In the Garden patterns are wool appliqué patterns, embellished with embroidery, ribbon, and beads. What could be more fun? We are just a week or so away from our fifth block, which will be a perfect garden block for Valentine's Day! I'm sure you can guess...

So help us celebrate by joining the party over on Facebook. Like our page (if you haven't yet), and leave a comment telling us what garden flower or critter you might like to see stitched, and you'll be entered for our giveaway package. Tag a friend or share our page, and you'll get an extra entry! Easy peasy!!

We will announce the winner next week on Facebook...and right here. See you over on our page! (Click here to get to our Facebook page, Through the Needle's Eye.) We are having a garden party!

"In the Garden"—Cardinals and Holly

We are spanning the seasons In the Garden! The January block in our BOM series is Cardinals and Holly, seen prolifically here in Maryland in the winter. How about where you live?

We're having a wonderful time in our monthly classes at Primitive Homespuns Wool & Needleworks. A number of ladies have been there every month, and some just choose a favorite block or two and join those classes. We tell some stories, and share quite a few laughs. Stitching with friends is always a fun time! If you can't join us at the shop, you can still stitch along with us: the patterns are available on our website—needleseyestories.com—and the Cardinals have joined the garden.

Here is a photo tour of how these birds took flight.

The branches were stitched first, and then all the other components
were stapled to the background to keep them in place while stitching.

I like the puff that is achieved when I appliqué and embroider
the units; I miss that when it is fused.

With everything in place, this made some great car trip stitching
when we traveled from Florida to Maryland.

I used Valdani #12 pearl cotton for the center vein.
To be sure I stitched the arc in the outer veins, I marked them
with my chalk pencil, which easily disappeared after stitching.

Whenever I stitch a bird, I feel oddly compelled to include some feather and fly stitches.
The tail is filled with "feathers" and the wing with "fly"—of course!

I stitched the berries in place, and thought that I could be finished.
But it is winter, after all, so I decided a bit of snow might be nice.  

I added random straight stitches and knots with Weeks Dye Works floss—aptly named Snowflake.
Do you know how many variations of white floss there are? It took me a while to find just the right one.
I confess, the name helped me decide!

A few size 15 beads added some sparkly ice to the snow.

Mr. Cardinal looks rather happy!

  

We had some Show and Tell with blocks—in progress or finished—from previous classes.

Kara and I are enjoying creating our wooly/ribbony garden. Embellishing with embroidery is always our favorite part, and these blocks give us plenty of opportunity for that. The Cardinals and Holly pattern is now available on our website, both in digital and hard copy format, as well as all the patterns in the series thus far.

We would love to have you join us In the Garden!

Cardinals and Holly

Past posts in the BOM series:

• Introducing "In the Garden," A BOM Series: Cornflowers
• "In the Garden"—Oak Leaves and Acorns
• "In the Garden"—Violets