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!

A Few of Our Favorite Tools

Last week, Kara filled you in on our upcoming Hopeful Flowers Stitch Along, and we were delighted by the interest. Our Facebook group grew by hundreds of eager stitchers wanting to learn some new embroidery skills! Thank you all for your participation; we hope you are as excited as we are to get started next week!

You will not only be able to use those new embroidery techniques in our Hopeful Flowers project; we are also participating in two Mystery quilt groups. As they are mysteries, I (Teri) can't say much, but you can join the respective Facebook groups to see what has already begun. And here are just a few tiny hints.

  

Button fun and a few of the threads we will be offering: lovely hand-dyed pearl cotton by Painters Threads, and Kreinik metallic braid.

Winter Wonderland Mystery Sew-A-Long Facebook Page

Winter Wonderland Mystery Sew-A-Long

⛄ ⛄ ⛄

  

Woolie Friends Facebook Group

Potted Petals Mystery Stitch-A-Long

🌼 🌼 🌼

If you did not receive our newsletter, "Are You Ready to Stitch Along?", click here.

🧵 🧵 🧵

Which brings us to tools: "these are a few of our favorite things" that we have found helpful in our stitching projects, all of which we used in preparing these projects for you, and all of which can be found in our website store.

Martelli Light Box

 

The Martelli Light Box is perfectly portable, with bright LED lights beneath plexiglass and a reversible cutting mat, with measured markings on one side and solid on the other. It is lightweight and has suction cups so that it will stay in place as you work. It will be perfect for taking with you to classes (thinking optimistically here), but it is also easy to move around your studio if you need to. Mine lives on my ironing board, readily accessible for all my tracing needs.

 

We thought we'd show you a couple of examples of using the lightbox, including  the obvious tracing of patterns or lines for embroidery.

Here, the pattern is pictured with a piece of wool on top. You can see that it is bright enough to trace through that heavy fabric, if you chose. (We actually traced it onto PressN'Seal for that embroidery, but this shows you how bright the light is.) 

I laid my Harvest Basket pattern on the light box and then lined the basket up with the pattern to help me place my grapes. 

 

When I made this block, I used the light box both to trace the circles for the spiral trellis stitch, and to trace the tiny inked vines. To see the block, click here. 

And indeed, Kara traced the stems for embroidery on the Hopeful Flowers blocks!

Martelli Tweezers

Another favorite tool of ours also happens to be made by Martelli. We love their tweezers, and use them often. They come in two styles: Ergonomic and Pin Point. I use both, and can't say that I have a favorite. Both are pointy and both are comfortable.

The tweezers are perfect for removing PressN'Seal wrap that we mark for embroidery. This technique is especially useful when stitching lettering. We also find them incredibly helpful when working with wired ribbon, making flowers or leaves.

Needles

 

Milliners needles are essential for many embroidery stitches. Any wrapped stitches will be SO much easier to create and manipulate with this kind of needle, because the eye is the same size as the shaft of the needle. So when making a knot, for example, pulling the needle through those wraps of thread is much easier when a larger eye isn't hanging up as you tug. So when creating a bullion, drizzle, or cast-on stitch, you can imagine how much easier it would be. The first time I made a bullion, I was using a chenille and thought I would never make that stitch again. Now, it is one of my favorites—IF I use a milliners needle!

Probably our favorite go-to embroidery needle is the chenille needle, because it has a larger, flat eye—making it perfect for threading larger threads like heavy pearl cottons, or silk ribbons. I am especially "needle threading challenged," so a big eye makes me a happy stitcher.

These are but a few of our favorite tools. What would you add to the list?

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?!

Quaran"stitching" and other Stay at Home Activities

No matter where we are in the world, "Stay at Home" has become the new normal. Six months ago, we had no idea that this pandemic would change our lives so dramatically. Many of us are making the best of it, with activities that we might not have had time for before. Teri and I (Kara) thought we would share some of the things we are doing to stay at home and out of trouble.

My quilt guild, The Black Forest Quilters, began a mystery quilt a few months ago. I decided that I would take a break from hand-stitching and make friends with my machine again. I was a few clues behind, but was determined to finish. Mystery quilts are a little bit of a risk when you begin, because it is a lot of work for something you may not like but I trusted the organizer to pick a good pattern. I was very happy with the quilt, and it used up a lot of brights that I had languishing in my stash. Mysteries can be fun!

Charm Shuffle, by Gudrun Erla
Stripology Mixology

The finished quilt top

After vacationing at my machine, it was time to get to work on some upcoming deadlines. One of those deadlines was to get started on a new set of blocks for our Village Wanderings Series. 

Picking ribbon colors

It's always fun to create, and these blocks were no exception. I even decided to play around with some miniature elements for a few of them.

Prepped to be stitched down.

Ready to be appliquéd.

Another miniature for one of the blocks.

While we are working on new projects, we are continuing to make progress on our Woodland Reverie quilt. Teri and I each pick a block, finish it, and then the other person makes that block in her colorway. It is fun to see how the same block looks different with another background and appliqué palette.

My version

Teri's version

When I made it home from the US about three weeks ago, I had no idea that things would escalate as quickly as they did. I went to the grocery store, stocked up on some things, and began stitching. Who knew that my next stitching project would be masks to wear in public places here in Germany.

When this is over maybe these will work as a bikini top!

The first ones cut out and ready to stitch.

The internet is full of wonderful free patterns right now, and I found this one and fell in love with it. It is called Plaid-ish, by Kitchen Table Quilting. I have been wanting to organize and use my scraps, and this seemed like a good project to motivate me to do so.

Yikes!

Organized by color and value. Next step is to trim them into manageable pieces.

This quilt takes a lot of time to cut, but the sewing is simple.

That has been the stitching done over here on this side of the pond, but as much as I would like to stitch all day, other things must be done–like grocery shopping. My wonderful husband did most of the shopping while I was quarantined. I gave him a list but was not as specific as I should have been, so when I wrote "smoked sausage", this is what came home:

We  are now well-stocked with smoked sausage.
It was a great choice because the sausage is quite tasty!

My wonderful daughter-in-law inspired me to try my hand at sourdough bread. I have never been successful at creating a perfect loaf, so that was my quest. Two days after starting, I achieved sourdough nirvana (slight over-exaggeration).

It's not perfect, but I'll take it.

That has been what has going on over here. Teri will share her "quaranstitching" adventures with you next week. In the meantime, we are working on a special mystery project that we will be offering to you all in the coming weeks. 

Stay healthy, stay home, and stay stitching!