Here is the pattern! Sorry it took so long to get posted....but it's been a very busy weekend. I still don't have the Instagram site set up....but I have a volunteer to help me. Thanks Katrina!!!

Here's a picture of Katrina's palette.  (You better send the color names our way. I'm sure many are going to want to know, myself included.) These look great.

Sorry this is such a short post....but it's time for The Bletchley Circle on PBS.

 Until later!

Alma

Gather your needles and thread and stitch a sampler with us! If you are like me, there is plenty of weeding and planting to do...but this easy piece is the perfect size to accomplish in a short time. I recently found the sampler pictured above on e-bay. It arrived in Kansas recently, along with 6 other pieces Barb and I purchased from a dealer in West Yorkshire, United Kingdom. I must confess the colors attracted my attention! The pink, gold and gray combination is bright and sweet, and felt just right for a fresh summer look. Love the small row of flowers too!


     This certainly was a great learning piece for some young schoolgirl. Not only did she learn to cross stitch over one and two linen threads, the four-sided stitch and the eyelet stitch had to be mastered too. I'm not too sure about the date....unless it's the date of her birth. This doesn't look like a sampler stitched in 1796 to me. I would have guessed it would be dated about 1810 - 1860. But, I'm certainly no expert when it comes to dating samplers. If you can date this piece more accurately please let me know! Unfortunately the name of the young girl who completed this piece was removed or damaged. 


     This one is being stitched on 36ct. Pecan Butter by Lakeside Linens. It's going to be petite and too cute for words. The floss is cotton by Gentle Arts Sampler Threads. (The picot border really shows up here.) I must admit the four-sided stitch isn't my favorite....but I'm determined to master it. It's the first time I've even tried it.


     Just like every button in the dish above is different, we would love for you to take the pattern we will provide and make it have meaning for you and your family. Barb plans to bridge the generations with hers. She wants her mom to stitch a row of letters and then pass it to her niece so she and her young daughter can stitch a row. Barb will finish the piece so it will have the stitching of four generations.

     I'm not sure how I will change mine....I might do a reproduction and then another one with some other motifs added. I will be attending a family reunion the end of May. I'm thinking of asking my daughter and nieces to work on this project with me, using Barb's idea. I'm still in the brain storming process. Feel free to take motifs from some of our other patterns and add them to this project if you wish. You could even stitch a small portion or fragment of the piece and make it into a pincushion....
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     We would love for you to send us pictures of your progress. I will set up an Instagram site and also post pictures here for those who don't do Instagram. We will post progress one day a week for 2 months .... more if needed. I will post a link for the pattern here on the blog site over the weekend. I have to finish up a couple more details. What do you think? Are you in?

Until later,
Alma

We saw a Baltimore Oriole at the feeder yesterday. Finally, I think spring might really be here. Nothing like a bit of warm weather to make one feel like working outside.

 I eat these right out of the garden. No need to cook. They are fresh and sweet!


 The bees are buzzing! So many flowering trees for them to choose from.

 The dwarf irises are the first to bloom. These are enjoying the cramped space. (Looks like I need to thin them out this year.)  These upright flowers don't lay in the mud after our 20-30mph spring winds.

 I'm trying to grow shelling peas this year. They grow about two feet high and these are well on their way. Can hardly wait!!!
 My strawberries are in bloom and the bed needs to be weeded......anyone free this weekend?

 This pattern was just sent to the distributor. Barb found the pin at an estate sale. I think any old military pins or memorabilia would look great on this pincushion.

Mother's Day is the next Loose Feather pattern. It's at the distributor's now also. I stitched my daughter's maternal genealogical line on this piece. Her initials are hidden amongst the flowers on the bottom portion of the sampler. Great way to remember all of the mothers who came before us.

Barb and I are going to start a stitch along next week. We will provide a sampler pattern and hope you will join us. Details will follow soon! 

Until later,

Alma

     I'm just not feeling like myself lately, and I think it's because I can't find anything. We have warehoused all of our publications in a corner of my husband's building for years. (After 15 years it was a very large corner, I might add.) He retired last month and had to empty out a 5000 sq. foot space full of computer parts and equipment. Of course, this meant that Blackbird Designs had to move too. Barb and I picked a weekend in the middle of March, rented a truck and moved our patterns to a smaller warehouse. We sized down to about 800 square feet. Luckily we have very tall shelving...12 foot in fact. The heavy kind of shelving that holds lots of 25 lb. boxes of books.
    The day we picked was sunny and warm. Lovely....if you can call any day you have to move lovely.

     Rosy Morning, pictured above, arrived the day before our move, and I was able to ship out most of them before we packed up. This pattern is in your local cross stitch shop now. Unfortunately, I already have a correction note to let you know about. We really try hard to catch everything before we publish it....but sometimes we make a mistake.
Stitch the bird body, positioned on the right side of the house, with GA Toasted Barley.

Guess what just arrived in the quilt shops? Plum Sweet! It's our newest release from Moda fabrics. I can hardly wait to open my bundle and begin working with this line. The colors feel like spring, and after our winter I could use a bit of spring.

We used this fabric line to make the Alphabet Quilt from the Spell it With Fabric Blog Hop. If you didn't get a chance to download all of the patterns, check my posting of Feb. 26, 2014 for details. There is still time to get all of the patterns.

We have another Reward of Merit we are getting ready to release next week. Below is a quick peek.

Until later!

Alma

Joan it's you!

 English Garden is our limited edition kit. This sewing bag kit also included fabric from our newest Plum Sweet line.

The Garden Fair is a kit that Hoffman Dist.packaged and sold at market for us. All of the floss needed for this project is included. Your local cross stitch shop can be purchase this from them. This box is just the right size for my garden seeds. All I need is a bit of warm weather to plant them.
 
Topiary In Bloom is the newest pattern in our Reward of Merit series. The colors of this go well with the English Garden sewing bag.


 



     The vintage sampler above is one of my favorites. I am attracted to antique and vintage samplers just as I am drawn to old, worn books. Each has a tale to tell, each has something that catches the eye.
     Sweet borders combined with bird motifs at the bottom of the piece struck my fancy, as did the letters and numbers, separated by dividing bands.
     But those features are not what made me purchase this sampler. Rather, it was the bright scarlet initials in the middle of the piece that popped out at me and made me get out my checkbook. Those initials matched mine before I married.
     I will probably never know the name of the girl who toiled over this sampler. For, just as finding the last pages of a book missing, that part of the story was separated from her work. The booklet below has the pattern for the large sampler, the pincushion and sewing box.

     It's a major snow day here in the midwest. The only time I've been out of the house was to feed the birds. Since there has been lots of time to work on the computer today, it felt like a good time to update the blog. I've been very remiss and haven't shown the latest two Loose Feather patterns. So, here they are:


     Barb designed "The Country Life," and it was the Loose Feather pattern for Jan. I love all of the animals in the yard. When my kids were home for Christmas they saw a pair of foxes in our hedgerow. I think I might have to stitch this one! It should be in the shops now.


     My Friend's House is at the printers now. It's the pattern for Feb. and will be at the distributors soon.

I have to show some pictures sent to me by Theresa Venette of Shakespeare's Peddler.