Stitching a Sampler and More!

This time of year for Teri and me (Kara) is a little crazy. We are getting prepped and ready for our Academy of Appliqué class, and this year we have two new teaching venues, all around the same time. Needless to say we are stitching, cutting, and typing our little hearts out!

Our first class will be our Academy class, and we are teaching the first two blocks from our Woodland Reverie Quilt. We are excited about these two dimensional blocks, and we hope our students are, too! There are a few seats left in the class, so if you would like to join us, you can contact Barbara Blanton at The Academy of Appliqué.

Autumn

The next class we will be teaching is our very first pattern, Marcia's Flowers. This class will be with the Colonial Piecemakers Quilt Guild, and we will also be doing our lecture The Stories in Our Quilts. We have quite a few new quilts that we have acquired, so it is going to be a lot of fun to share some new stories.

The last class we will be teaching will be in mid-March for the Milltown Quilters guild in Columbia, Maryland. Again, we will be doing our lecture, but we have a brand new class and project to introduce. This group really wanted a class that focused primarily on ribbon and what we as quilters and appliquérs can do with it. We wanted to create a class that gave our students a little more to go home with than a practice sheet and some flowers that might get lost along the way. Thus, our Ribbon Basics class was born, along with a pattern to store our sampler of ribbon stitches and hold our beautiful ribbon flowers.

Our sampler book

Each student will be given our ribbon sampler sheet to practice their stitches on, along with threads and silk ribbon. 

Sampler sheet

A pocket for flower and leaf samples

We will also be making some flowers with wired ribbon, bias silk ribbon, and seam binding ribbon. In the class, we will have baggies to hold the made flowers and extras, but we thought it would be nice to put it all together in a simple booklet that has a place for said flowers, as well as an easy location to refer to the learned embroidery and ribbon stitches. In the class, our students will receive all the instructions for putting their sampler booklet together.

The booklet folds up neatly so everything is contained and easily referenced.

All open

Flip the pocket up.

Fold up again...

...and neatly tie it closed.

This will be a handy reference tool for some of the stitches we will teach in class, but there are so many stitches to learn that we thought it would be good to leave some space to add more pages.

Another page to add

Time to get stitching on the second page!

We would love to teach any of the classes described above at your guild, and we love to travel! Sometimes you might get both of us, or depending on which side of the pond you are on, it might be just one. If you have any questions about any of these classes or any other classes on our website, please contact us at www.needleseyestories.com

Happy Stitching!

A Sampler of Lace, Linens, and Love

If you have been reading the blog for a while now, you will know Teri and I have a great love for all things vintage—especially linens, clothing, or lace. Teri recently shared her story about a special dress in A Vintage Pinafore, Tea, and Friends, and I shared the story of my apron collection in Apron Strings. We even wrote a post together about our quest for vintage treasures in a Hershey, Pennsylvania, antique mall in Vintage Treasures Newly Acquired. We love seeing the handiwork of those who have stitched before us! 

Long ago, hand work was a required skill for many young women all over the world. Whether it was  stitching on everyday items such as bedding, or a skilled craft such as lace-making, creating beauty with one's hands was far more commonplace. Thankfully, my time in Germany has allowed me to find and view some vintage treasures found here in Europe.

On our trip to Wales, not only were we able to see the fantastic Welsh quilts in Jen Jones's collection, but there also happened to be a sampler exhibit on display at the same time. It's a challenge to get good pictures of framed items, but here are a few of the wonderful samplers in the exhibit:

Sarah Evans, 1866

Sarah Jones, 1875

Mary Evans, estimated 1850

Gwenllian Jenkins, age 14, 1836

Anne Edwards, no date

Margaret Davies, 1829

Anne Evans, 1856

M. Reeves, 1883

Anne Williams,  age 15, 1861

Recently, I traveled to Brugges, Belgium, which quickly became one of my favorite European cities thus far. We were there for a beer festival, but thankfully, we were able to do a little window shopping. Belgian lace is a beautiful, bobbin-made lace that has been around for centuries. While I wasn't able to bring any home this time around, I was able to take a few pictures of the shop windows.

Some beautiful examples

I don't know how they keep all those bobbins straight!

I still don't know why one of these pendants
didn't make it into my suitcase!

Fun lace bags

Not all my recent travels have been to other countries. Thankfully, there is a wonderful lady here that puts together antique and thrifting adventures. It has been on a few of these adventures that I have picked up some vintage linens to add to my collection. 

I fell in love with this apron and am excited to add it to my collection!

Maybe they had laundry fairies long ago!

"Good Weather"

I think this might have been a table runner at one time.

A bread bag from the past

Dutch themes must have been popular.

While I do enjoy finding old linens, I love old trims and laces as well. My collection is accumulating, and sometimes it is nice to create with some of them. Last week, I was invited to a brunch with a few of my German quilting friends. They often give little gifts at these brunches, and I have been on the receiving end many times, so I thought I would make something for them. As Valentine's Day was approaching, hearts seemed like a good choice. I ransacked my collection of trims and scraps and came up with a little heart bag that would be able to carry a piece of chocolate. My ladies enjoyed them, and they were very easy to make. I was also happy to use some of my antique trims.

A little bit of vintage trim, an antique button, and some wool

A rosette made with the trim topped by the button

Stitched together with an opening at the top

A little bit more trim for a handle and they are ready to carry their piece of chocolate!

Hopefully, you have enjoyed a little view of the stitching prowess of European stitchers of the past.  From samplers to bread bags, needlework (and bobbin work) is such a wonderful way to add beauty to everyday. Do you enjoy collecting vintage linens or trims? Pinterest is full of ideas for ways to use them creatively. Now, if I just had a few more hours in the day...

Happy Valentines Day!

The 2018 Academy of Appliqué in Williamsburg, VA

Well, for the first time in the nearly three years since Kara and I (Teri) began our blog, we missed a posting on our regular Thursday. A few times, we have posted early, or a bit late, but we have not—until now—failed to post every week. I think we had a good excuse. We hope you will, too, and will forgive our negligence!

Kara and I, back, with our stitching sisters,
Jan Vaine and Kathy Breidenstiein.
We were missing a few: you know who you are! :) 

As always, we had an absolutely fabulous time at the Academy last week. We love catching up with friends, many of whom we only see at this event. Those ties that bind us, like a quilt, are strong, and our love of the craft connect us in ways our non-stitching friends cannot imagine. Kara and I were both so busy teaching and chatting with people that we neglected to take as many photos as usual—and then mostly within our classroom to document our students' successes! We will have to do better next year. Still, we hope you will enjoy our week through these photos.

Our first class was Oiseau et Panier—Basket of Flowers.

Just stitching away! 

Not a bad view from our window!

 

Stitching the base of the basket

     

Back-basting appliqué

Rose-making

Basket-stitching

We were so impressed with the progress made during class! Everyone left with many flowers ready to stitch onto their blocks, and plans for their finished work. We can't wait to see photos as they come our way!

Our second class was Zierblumen—Bouquet of Flowers

Our class was so large, we had to move to a bigger room!

More roses

Kara and I were so busy, we didn't have much time to enjoy this lovely view of the James River, but we did manage to capture the early morning sky before heading to class on the last day. 

The first couple of days of this class, we worked on appliquéing leaves and stems, and creating our blooms off-block. By Friday, we had a full bag of flowers to arrange in our bouquets. 

  

Taking a photo of your arrangement to use as you are placing your flowers can be helpful in creating your final placements.

Such beautiful arrangements! Aren't they absolutely lovely?! It was hard to say goodbye at the end of the day. Again, we are looking forward to seeing photos of finished blocks as they come. (Promises have been made! 😉)

After packing up our classroom and loading the car, we decided to wait for the sunset before heading out for our last Williamsburg dinner. We were sound asleep early, resting up for the drive home. (Really, we were sound asleep early every night all week! How can stitching be so exhausting?!)

On our way home, we stopped at a charming antique shop, housed in an old schoolhouse. I was sorely tempted to purchase this sampler, but settled for a photo instead. If I knew a blacksmith, it would have surely been in my possession. Such amazing workmanship, dated 1779. Such a gem!

Another Academy draws to a close, but our minds are already working on our next blocks. We've gotten some wonderful suggestions of flowers to stitch from many of you. We shall see. It has been wonderful for both Kara and me to have this time to teach together after so many months. Next, it's my turn to go to Germany!