June Roses

I thought I better hurry up and write and publish this post before midnight :)

These are my "Knock Out" Shrub Roses and they never fail to delight.

They bloom constantly starting in June and sometimes, if the weather cooperates, they will bloom into December.

This is one of my carpet roses and I failed to see the tiny bee until now :)

These are my newest shrub roses, inspired by roses that I saw on a trip to California. 

I love their vibrant color and deep green foliage. They are surrounded by lambs ear and I love the combination of colors. I'll need to take another photo of the full effect. 

I have some roses inside, too. Including this miniature faux rose that I think looks so real.

"Prim Rose"

by nikyscreations

And an older design. I can't recall the designer.

I just realized that I don't have any roses in wool applique. Hmmm I think that I will need to remedy that...

"And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: 

in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one."

~Zechariah 14:9

Blessings, Patti

Inspiring Stitching Weekend Part 2

Well get comfy, because this is going to be a loooong post :)

The second part of my inspiring stitching weekend was spent with some wonderful stitchers.

The Inspired Needle hosted a lovely

Inspired Summer Seminar with Paulette Stewart of Plum Street Samplers!

I love The Inspired Needle and Paulette's blog always makes me smile, so I knew this was the perfect combination!

On Friday night, Cathy hosted a meet and greet at the shop.

This included an opportunity to see many of Paulette's models up close.

This inspired me to want to pull out those I have already kitted at home!

Some models can really touch us in person, more than they do on the pattern cover.

This one kept drawing me back... I love the little shepherdess and her little row of sheep.

And those flowers!

These were the treasures that I brought home on Friday night.

Yes, I did purchase not one, but two pairs of scissors :) They were both so sweet and I couldn't decide!

And yikes! I forgot to buy the sampler that I was admiring. 

Guess that I will have to take a trip back to The Inspired Needle soon :)

We could hardly wait for Saturday morning to arrive!

At each place setting, we were greeted by our class kit, a great project bag and a darling wooden thread holder to match the motif on our kit. On the back it was inscribed with our seminar and date. 

What a perfect souvenir to commemorate the magical day!

Then it was time for the unveiling:

Paulette designed "Liberty Inn" for our class.

I just love it!

But, that's not all! The icing on the cake:

Our kit included all we needed for these sweet stitched and wooly pinned strawberries!

Be still my heart!

I guess I will be creating some strawberries this summer after all :)

Aren't they lovely?

We all dove right in!

The room was lovely with all the nice windows and our lunch was delicious.

Even the views were inspiring!

We had a great table of friends new and old.

Pam, Sara and I have taken classes together at the Country Sampler before.

Cathy, who owns the Inspired Needle, is in the back.

We had a great time laughing and sharing our passion for needlework.

We had some great show and tell including this piece that Ranae is working on. I love the fabric!

And I had a great surprise 

My old stitching friends, Paula and Nancy were there!

I hadn't seen them in many, many years. How fun is that!

Paula and Nancy were both brilliant as they brought framed Plum Street Samplers to have Paulette autograph on the back.

Aren't they lovely?

I should have thought of that!

Thanks for hanging in there through this looong post.

If you still would like to see more from other people's perspective, you can read about it:

On Paulette's Plum Street Samplers blog

On the Maude and Mozart blog

On The Southpaw Stitcher blog

On Ranae's Stitch by Stitch blog

Thank you Cathy and Paulette for creating an unforgettable weekend!

"For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."

~Galatians 5:13-14

Blessings, Patti

Inspiring Stitching Weekend Part 1

My inspiring stitching weekend started late Thursday afternoon. 

The International Quilt Festival was in Chicago. My sister-in-law, Joy, and I usually spend a wonderful day at the show, but this year the weekend was booked solid. So Thursday after work, I snuck over to the show for two hours to do some power shopping! Those are my purchases above. One of my favorite booths this year was Lakadaisies. Designer Dolores Storm and  her husband were such a joy to visit with. I love her use of antique textiles and had to buy some of her vintage teal wool and flag bunting for myself. The design above is beautiful as shown, but she also had an example made in all cream wool on antique ticking - be still my heart!

You can visit Lakadaisies website here and can learn more about Dolores on her blog here. She has pictures of her booth at Paducah and in the bottom right hand corner you can see the ticking and cream piece that inspired me so!

I also picked up some templates for English paper piecing. The samples at Back Door Quilts were so inspiring!

I love both - the pin ball and the basket.

And look at these awesome bowls!

Wouldn't they be great in vintage fabrics?

So right about now you are probably thinking that I was very well behaved during my power shopping. 

Well, that was before I got to Stacy West's Buttermilk Basin booth!

I guess that you could say that I did a little damage in her booth :)

I bought my very own  2015 BOM of "Basin Banners Thru The Year". (along with a few other patterns that I couldn't live without :) 

Now on January 1, I am all set to just pull out my kit and get started - each and every month.

Stacy is such a joy to meet! She has a very kind heart and I felt like we could have talked for hours!

Stacy is a prolific designer - I don't know how she does it all!

Buttermilk Basin's website can be found here and Stacy's blog here.

I had such a great time in my short amount of time at the show, 

that I just had to pop back over to the show in the final hour on Saturday.

Of course I had to visit with Stacy again and picked up a bit more wool. I also picked up the ivory wool from JJ Stitches. I was so excited about this Josie's Petals kit! How did I miss that kit the first time?! I've been admiring the Josie's Petals quilt for some time, but wasn't sure about making it. Kaye Moore's booth had the perfect solution - a kit for Josie's ball - a great opportunity to try a smaller version first to see if I like it before investing in the quilt.

And this is just the tip of my Inspiring Stitching Weekend!

Wait until you hear about Part 2!

"Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all."  

~ 1 Chronicles 29:11 

Blessings, Patti

Little Stitches Handwork Club

"Folk Bird Needlebook"

design by Lori Brechlin of Notforgotten Farm 

for the Little Stitches Handwork Club

I'm so happy to have a finish to share this weekend.

This was the club kit for January/February/March.

I fell in love with this robin the moment I saw him.

I decided that he needed a little wing, so I added one made of wool. I added a piece of cream wool underneath as a place to keep my needles.

It reminded me of George, my pet parrot that I had in high school. He would love to hold his wings up and have me scratch his white wing pits :)

I loved the blue robins eggs on the inside and decided to add a wool robin as well. 

He is happy to hold my scissors under his wing :)

And on the back I added a simple wool heart.

I better get going on the club kit for April/May/June as July will soon be here!

If you would like to read more about Lori's lovely club, simply click here.

And I just had an awesome weekend filled with lots of stitching goodness!

I'll be back soon to share...

"I lift up my eyes to the mountains — where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth."

~Psalm 121:1-2

Blessings, Patti

June Mantle and More...

 

Here we are in the middle of the month yet again.

Before you know it I will be decorating my mantle for the 4th of July.

But before I get ahead of myself, here is my June mantle.

My antique lanterns and topiaries are my usual staples, joined this month by... 

 

A simple wool applique picture from a class I took with Maggie Bonanomi and one of Maggie's own original strawberries. I'm loving the soft colors.

 

Here is a favorite pinkeep done with snippets of a Stacy Nash design.

 

A Primitive Gatherings table mat with some of my original velvet strawberries.

 

Ginny Henson and Norma Schneeman strawberries share this bowl.

 

A Norma Schneeman folk art box and a Stacy Nash class project.

 

No strawberries here, but the bees and flowers still look right at home this month.

Folk art spool box by Chris Robinson.

Cross stitch design by The Good Huswife.

Original mat by Maggie Bonanomi. 

 

Don't you love this prolific strawberry plant?

My interpretation of a Needl' Love design.

 

 

And last, but certainly not least, my finishes of a Heartstring Samplery design.

 

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."

~1 Corinthians 10:31

 

Blessings, Patti

A Lovely Summer Saturday Part 2

Well, I thought I better share part two of my lovely Summer Saturday before Saturday rolls along again :)

We had a small antique flea market in our town square park and as little as it was, I sure found some new treasures. I found the tiny rooster and hen and the two heart pans which I picked up right away.

Next I found these four sweet sock darners all in one booth to add to my collection.

It's hard to get perspective, but this tomato pincushion is a whopping 4 inches across and almost 4 inches high. I loved the old corsage and hatpins, too.

It was a busy day so I left with my few purchases, ran a few errands and took my youngest son to drum lessons. I had a half hour on my hands until he was done. So what did I do? I went back to the antique flea market, of course!

Thank goodness I did! How did I miss this:

The largest and most beautiful pie crimper that I ever did see!

Of course it had to come home with me to be the crown jewel of my collection. (You can see my collection here before I added the bone wheel crimper from my recent trip to Colorado.)

This lovely crimper measures a hefty eight inches long.

The carving workmanship is absolutely incredible.

I love this flower that appears on both sides.

I am so glad that I went back. Since I still had a few more minutes I also found the two wooden bowls in the first photo. As I left to go pick up my son, I was so thrilled by my additional finds!

And here are my sock darners with my four new additions.

Wishing you delightful finds!

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge."

~Psalm 19:1-2

Blessings, Patti