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!

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?!

A Prairie Update

As the new year has begun, so has the drive to complete some projects that we have on deck for this year. Teri wrote about hers a couple of weeks ago in her goals post seen HERE, and I (Kara) also have a few in-progress items that I have been working to get finished. As Teri mentioned in her post, I like to have projects as opposed to just blocks—not that there is anything wrong with having blocks. When we finished our Baltimore Fraktur blocks for our September 2020 class at Baltimore on the Prairie, I knew then that I would turn my block into a medallion quilt. Here is a little update on how that's going and what is to come.

The fraktur center is wool appliqué on linen, but I love mixing wool and cotton along with appliqué and piecing, so I knew that this quilt would be a mixture of all those things. The fabrics came to me by way of a former guild member who passed away. Her fabric collection was vast, and her husband offered the fabrics up to guild members with any monetary donations going to hospice. While I did not know Gabby, when I saw her fabric taste, I knew we were kindred spirits. She had a great collection of Dutch Heritage fabrics, and I knew they would be perfect for this quilt. 

Now that I had the fabrics and materials ready, it was time to get started. The first step was to frame the center with fabric and a contrasting bias strip.

I added a feather stitch to the bias using a #12 Painters Threads perle cotton.

Next was the piecing. Pinwheels seemed to me to be a good choice for a quilt that is reminiscent of the Pennsylvania Dutch. I've never been very fond of math, but it is a necessary evil for piecing—especially when trying to make the right size pinwheel and enough of them to fit around a square. I could say I did a lot of complicated math to figure out what size pinwheel and how many I needed to make, but that would be lying. I fit my medallion to the pinwheels by not trimming it until the blocks were finished—minimal math involved.

The grey will be a great canvas for some creative hand quilting.

A mix of Dutch Heritage fabrics and my stash.

The borders were next to be designed. Birds were definitely going to be part of this quilt (of course) and they would also be used for Teri's Baltimore Fraktur version, but I thought that it might be fun to do two different borders—one for the top and one for the sides. The top heart border is the first one that has been started and that is where the progress stands.

Ready to be stitched down and embellished.

A friend is going to help stitch all the wool down.

Love those Dutch Heritage fabrics

The two side borders have been cut, as well as the four corner blocks. I think these borders will come together quickly just like the medallion did. The medallion is not as complicated as it might look, and the ribbon work is not difficult either. If you join our class next September, you will see what I mean!

It is our plan to have our Baltimore Fraktur Quilt and wall hanging patterned up and ready to go for our students at Baltimore on the Prairie. Those who have signed up for our class there will receive the quilt and wallhanging patterns for free and then it will be sold on our website after we get back. In the meantime, we will keep you posted on the progress of this quilt and the wallhanging that Teri will be making. We are so excited about this project and can't wait to reveal the finished pieces!

Block of the Month 16—Pinecone

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.

My, how time has flown! I (Kara) can't believe that it has been over a year since we started our Flora and Fauna of Germany stitch-along. It seems like just yesterday that I was walking the trails in our little German village for the first time, full of wonder at the natural beauty that I was seeing. Our first block was the Butterfly, back in August of 2017. 

Our first block!

We have stitched 15 blocks since then, and we have come to the end of the series. It's a little sad, as we have enjoyed putting these blocks together for you. But all good things come to an end, and we have our last block ready, with the decidedly winter symbol—the pinecone. 

Cotton Block

I began by appliquéing the pinecone shape onto my background using a piece of fabric that contained different shades of brown. It is a simple shape with just a few, gentle, curves—the details are added with the stitching. Using my white marking pencil, I traced the half-circle shapes onto the appliqué, using the pattern as a guide.

Marked and ready to stitch.

Using a variegated brown pearl cotton, I stem stitched the marked lines, working from the top to the bottom. I love the texture a variegated thread lends to my stitching, so I tend to gravitate towards those types of threads. I used a Valdani #12 in this instance.

Looking more pinecone-like

It started to look more like a pinecone, but I felt that it needed a little something more to make the petals or scales stand out. Using one strand of a dark brown floss, I added a stem stitch directly underneath the previous stitching.

Here I have done just the top row. Can you tell a difference?

All the scales have a little shading. It's just a little detail, but it adds a lot.

Next was the branch, and that was just a simple chain stitch for the branches, and some straight stitches for the needles. Hooping the block. when stitching the branches and needles for both blocks, helped to eliminate puckering.

Hooping helps!

A #5 pearl gives some dimension to the branch.

Close-up

The finished cotton block

Stitches and Threads Used (Cotton Block)

Pinecone—Valdani #12 pearl,P12, stem stitch 

                   Gentle Arts floss, 1 strand, Espresso Bean, stem stitch (for shading)

Branch—Painters Threads, #5 pearl, Friederich, chain stitch

Needles—Gentle Art, Simply wool, Blue Spruce

Wool Block

For the wool block, I wanted to use the wool in layers to mimic the look of the scales. After I glued the pattern to freezer paper, I cut it into 6 pieces and ironed those pieces to my wool. For all the pieces but the top one, I cut straight across the scales in order to have something to stitch down. (See the picture below to show how I did that.)

There is a piece missing in this picture, but you can get the idea.

Starting at the bottom, I stitched just the top of each set of scales and then layered the next one on top of the previously stitched scale.

The first 4 layers

The finished pinecone

I used the same #5 pearl cotton for the branches, and a slightly thicker wool/silk blend for the needles. 

I tried to vary the needle angle and size as I went along.

The finished wool block

Stitches and Threads Used (Wool Block)

Branch—Painters Threads, #5 pearl, Friederich, chain stitch

Needles—Thread Gatherer, Sheeps Silk (wool/silk blend), Dark Forest

There you have it! The final block in our series and I think this was the fastest block yet. You can download all the blocks by clicking below in case you may have missed any. Have you made any of the blocks? Please email us pictures of your blocks  or post them on our Facebook page.

Stay tuned for our reveal of all the blocks put together and a special chance for those who have participated!!

Block of the Month 12—Thistle

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.

We have come to one year of our Flora and Fauna of Germany blocks. Originally, the plan was to stop at a year, but we are going to continue for a little while longer because the blocks are so much fun! 

This month's block is a bit prickly but beautiful in its own way and is actually a member of the sunflower family. In Celtic symbolism, the thistle represents bravery, devotion, and determination; however, in Victorian times, the thistle was a sign of meddling or intrusion. 

In Scotland, there is a legend that Viking invaders came to the Scottish coast with plans of conquering the sleeping Scots. While trying to be stealthy, they came ashore barefoot, stepped on thistles, and their cries of pain alerted the Scots to the impending invasion. Thankfully, our block version of this historical plant is all beauty, and hopefully, no pain.

Cotton Block 

This block is simple to appliqué and embroider and will go together quickly, as the only stitch used is the straight stitch! The stitch lines on the pattern are just guidelines—fill in your thistle flower and base with straight stitches until it looks good to you.

The appliqué is finished and the straight stitches started.

Straight stitches using two strands of floss make up the purple part of the flower,
and I used a #12 pearl cotton for the green.  

The finished block!

My pearl cotton and floss

Stitches and Threads Used (Cotton Block)

Thistle top—Six-stranded floss, 2 strands, straight stitch
Thistle bottom—Painters Threads, Turner, #12 pearl cotton, straight stitch


Wool Block

Thistle tops vary in color from pink to purple, and I decided to go with a purple thistle for both blocks. Only small scraps of wool are needed for this block and I had just the right green and purple in my scrap drawer. When Teri and I were in Birmingham, we met a wonderful vendor selling some vintage linen threads. This project seemed perfect to give those a try.

Staples worked well with the little scraps.

The stems of real thistles vary from green to brown. I decided to make the stems
of the wool thistle in brown using a chain stitch with linen thread.

Purple wool thread was perfect for the thistle top.

The finished block!

My linen and wool threads

Stitches and Threads Used (Cotton Block)

Thistle top—The Gentle Art Simply Wool™,  Hyacinth, straight stitch
Thistle bottom—Lingarn linen thread, green, straight stitch

Thistle stem—Lingarn linen thread, brown, chain stitch

We have a visit to Scotland coming up, and I hope to see this Scottish emblem while I'm there. Thankfully, there were no Viking invaders around when I stitched this block, but I loved how it turned out and how simple it was to make. I'm looking forward to adding this block to the collection. 

Stay tuned for a sneak preview in the future of how these blocks are coming together—and as always, if you have stitched any of these blocks, we'd love to see them!!