Travels and Updates!

It has been a crazy month in the Through the Needle's Eye world. Thanks to many of you, our Woolen Oak mystery block was a great success! The time leading up to our reveal and the reveal week were incredibly busy, but certainly well worth it. Now that things are slowing down a bit, we thought we would share a little travel inspiration as well as some sneak peeks of what what we have coming up for you on the blog and on our website.

From palaces to nature,
this trip was not lacking in inspiration.

Since Europe has started to open up for travel, my husband and I (Kara) have tried to make the most of it. We have a large European map on our wall with pins for all the places we have visited and we realized that we had not been to many eastern European countries while we have been over here. I planned a rather elaborate road trip that would have us go to three countries for the first time, along with a few stops in Germany and Austria. As always when I travel, I am often looking for inspiration for our stitching designs.  

Our trip began in Germany and then continued in a very large loop through the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, and then ending on a small, glacial lake in Austria. Please enjoy just some of the things I found inspiring on this road trip.

A beautiful, historical timeline made completely of Meissen porcelain tiles.

Stunning appliqué on the inside of a Turkish tent.

Appliqué close-up

These amazing, porcelain flowers decorated a 6 foot vase!

These lilies were on the grounds of Ksiaz Castle in Poland. 
I had never seen this color before.

Can you see a quilting pattern in this ceiling?

The bouquets in this wallpaper would be lovely done in appliqué.

Inspiration can be found in simple things—like a pillow at your hotel!

Ceiling decorations that could be translated into quilt borders.

This makes me want to stitch some bluebells and ferns.

Some mountain heather would be fun to stitch as well.

If I made a landscape quilt of this picture, it would be called "Sunrise on Gosausee" 

Now that I am back from the road and Teri has very ably managed all the details of our Woolen Oak block, it is time to get back to work on some of our upcoming projects that we will be sharing with you in the very near future.  Soon we will be showing you what we will be doing for next year's Academy of Appliqué, and then we will be introducing some brand new patterns!

A little embroidery from just one of the four projects that will be available
at the 2021 Academy of Appliqué, in Williamsburg, Virginia

While we won't be teaching our Baltimore Fraktur at Baltimore on the Prairie this year
because of COVID, we will be introducing the pattern on our website in the coming months.

This, along with four other patterns, will be coming to the website soon!

These little guys will be part of a project that we can't wait to show you!!!

Travel plans this year for many have had to be cancelled or postponed. I feel very fortunate that my husband and I have been able to see some of the beauty that Europe has to offer, and I hope that you have enjoyed some of our travels as well—my designing mind was whirling with ideas and inspirations for future projects. 

We also hope that your interest has been piqued with some sneak peeks of what we have in store for you and that you will check back next week to see our Academy reveal. Again, it's not too late to join the Woolen Oak Mystery Stitch-A-Long. You can head to the Woolen Oak Facebook page to join and you can find our Harvest Basket block, seen below, on our website. There are still 2 more blocks that will be revealed so their is definitely time to join in the fun!

https://www.needleseyestories.com/shop

Stay safe and keep stitching!

A Few Teasers—Birds and Bees, Flowers and...

Have you ever had one of those weeks where you figured that instead of stitching, you would rather sit at the computer and fight the cyber world gremlins? Me neither, but that's what I (Teri) did for most of the week. Still, I'm happy to say that our website, which was abysmally out-of-date, is now pretty current. Web design is really NOT my thing, but I try to approach it with the mindset of "I'm designing a quilt." Sometimes that works, but not always... I applaud those who choose to do this for a job—it is an integral part of our world today—but I would much prefer to work with people. Or needles and thread.

We would love for you to take a minute or two to check out our humble little site  (www.needleseyestories.com) and see what is going on in our needle-world. Our list of class offerings in now updated, with lots of additional options for workshops. But enough about websites. On to some more fun news!

Over in our Facebook world, we celebrated reaching 2000 likes on our page with a little giveaway of some of our favorite things. It was such fun to read about everyone's favorite stitching spots. It appears that many of us stitch better with a little birdsong as background music. It sure works for me! Our Facebook page is a good way to follow our antics, and sometimes get a tip or two. To see what is going on there, you can click here.

My passport's packed and I'm ready to go...well, I guess I should wait until I have my bags packed. Where, you ask? I'm off to meet my partner in crime stitching! First, we will meet in Birmingham, England, to attend the Festival of Quilts Exhibition 2018. We may do a bit of English countryside exploring when we are not eyeing the quilts or visiting the vendors. Then we will have about a week, during which my tour guide, Kara, will take these tired bones everywhere we can pack into one week. Of course, we will be "working" the entire time—everything we see will be a source of inspiration, or at least an opportunity to talk about inspiration for new projects!

Fall is looking busy, with several local workshops and a trip to Long Island, NY. There is little better than meeting new people and sharing our stitching passion. To find out more detail about these classes, you can check our website!

 

The third block in the series I am teaching for the Baltimore Appliqué Society, based on Mildred Tahara's quilt, In Praise of Jane Austen, is Lyre Wreath in Bloom. Mildred's block is on the left, and my rendering is on the right. There will lots of options for embellishment in stitching this lovely block. (Pattern by Elly Sienkiewicz from Baltimore Elegance.)

I will be teaching this Flower Basket workshop again this fall, this time at Patches Quilting and Sewing, in Mt. Airy, Maryland. (Pattern by Elly Sienkiewicz from Spoken Without a Word.)

I am thrilled to be able to teach this block again. This elegant block is based on one from a quilt in the Lovely Lane Museum in Baltimore, Maryland. (Pattern by Elly Sienkiewicz from Spoken Without a Word.) The workshop will be held on Long Island, New York, with the Evening Star Quilters. I've met several of the guild members in classes at the Academy of Appliqué, and I'm looking forward to what I know will be a fun weekend.

The original block—you can read more about this quilt in our blogpost, Lovely Lane. 

Now, that brings us to our really exciting news—something we have been working on tirelessly for months. A new quilt! But what is most thrilling about this quilt is that we will be teaching it next March at the Academy of Appliqué in Williamsburg, Virginia. It is always such an honor to be invited to teach in this special venue, surrounded by people who love what we love—appliqué and all things needle. The class catalog comes out on August 3: that is next Friday! Be sure to check it out. Registration opens on Labor Day, and classes can sell out pretty quickly, so you'll want to be ready.

We cannot divulge the whole scope of the wonders we will have in store for our students this coming year, but here are a couple of teasers to get you pondering. It would be our honor to meet you in class and stitch with you! 

      

If you know anything about the work we design, you can probably imagine what some of the other elements of our blocks will be. 😊

Be sure to check out the class catalog for the Academy of Appliqué next Friday,  August 3, to see the entire projects. We are planning a lot of fun!

Well, that's about all for now. The Flora and Fauna block for July may show up the first of August, but it is coming soon—promise. I am ready to close my computer and pick up a needle. Won't you join me?

Welcome to Germany: Quilter's Style

The sum total of my stitching choices while I wait
for my sewing room to arrive.

As we told you in our post "Going Global," I (Kara) have moved to Germany! We found out that we would be moving here last October—two days before Teri and I left for Quilt Market in Houston. I waited to tell Teri that it was official until we had arrived at our hotel, and she was sitting down with coffee in hand (wine would have been better, but it was only ten in the morning). She took the news well, and we proceeded to enjoy all the wonder that is Quilt Market and Quilt Festival. I was told so many times in that week, "You had better stock up on fabric, because it is so expensive in Europe." So for that week and up until we left, I took those words as a personal challenge and built up my stash. My stash is currently on a boat, working its way to me, and unfortunately, I don't expect to see it until the beginning of August. I did pack my Academy of Appliqué 2018 block, a crazy quilt project, and an English paper piecing project, but that is all the "quilty" stuff I have.

We have been living in a hotel for about three weeks now, and while stitching on the above projects is fun, I was definitely craving some quilter companionship. Thankfully, the Black Forest Quilt Guild had their monthly meeting the last Friday in June. My new friends—Birgit, Lisa, and Becky (thank you Facebook)—let me know the place and time and off I went to the meeting, driving by myself for the first time.

The guild meeting is held monthly in a community center very near our hotel. I was a bit early, but I was warmly greeted by those who were there. The guild, almost 20 years old, is made up of ID card holders (military and civilian) from the Stuttgart area, as well as residents of the greater Stuttgart area. 

A view of the library table

A beautiful hall to host the guild meeting

The guild began with a little business first, and then a lovely program about traveling with various quilt projects. The speaker brought quite a few handy items—such as bags, tools, patterns for bags, and many tips and tricks. 

The speaker (on the right) sharing some of her quilting travel trips.
Because this is a German/American guild, both languages are represented,
so this presentation was given in English and interpreted in German.

Then some of the members showed their favorite quilt projects for travel. One project that someone brought was a quilt done in the Japanese fabric folding method, atarashii. I had never seen this method before, and it is a bit difficult to find much about it on the web, but it is beautiful and very portable. You can see some tutorials here and here, but you must use Google translate, unless you are fluent in German. I was fascinated by this method and can't wait to give it a try.

I love the color choices!

Demonstrating some of the prep work.

Sharing this method's portability.

Each piece is quilted individually, so there is no need for quilting once
all the pieces are connected.

After the presentation and a break, it was time for Show and Tell. The quilts that members showed varied in size, style, and method, but they were all wonderful. I didn't get pictures of all but here are a few. Note: While the hall was beautiful, the lighting was not the best for taking pictures.

As part of the travel theme, members were asked to bring quilts,
 if they had them, about travel. 

This quilt with mini campers was adorable.

Many of the places visited during this quilter's time in Germany,
are represented in this quilt.

This quilt represents a visit to the northern part of the U.S.

Another gorgeous quilt highlighting places that were visited. 

This beautiful quilt was made from different shirtings.

A T-shirt quilt made for her husband.

This quilt was made for a close friend. Wouldn't you be thrilled to receive this?!

My new friend Birgit and a child's quilt she made.

She cut out and quilted some of the individual
panels to create a memory game.

The green in this quilt started life as a tablecloth.

A sweet child's quilt, lovingly made.

This quilt is stunning in person!!

A patchwork garden

A beautifully done Bonnie Hunter pattern.

This guild does two different block of the month projects each month. Those who want to participate, make the block for that month—either modern or traditional—and then they have a chance to win all the blocks. 

The traditional June BOM.

The modern June BOM.

Someday, when my ship comes in (meaning the boat that is carrying my sewing machine), I will definitely take part in these fun blocks and all the other exciting activities this guild offers. They even let you ask for a block to be made by fellow members, to commemorate a birthday, farewell, or other special event. One lady asked for a birthday block, and passed out materials and guidelines for the block. I will share more on that in another post.

The Black Forest Quilt Guild has been one of the most welcoming guilds that I have been privileged to attend. It proves my theory that quilters are some of the nicest people, no matter where you are in the world. I am looking forward to jumping right in with both feet and a sewing needle! Hopefully you have enjoyed reading about a guild on this side of the world, and if you have a special story about your guild, please let us know!