My Sarah Needle Case Beginning

Here is the start of my Flowers for Sarah Needle Case. As you can see, I am changing some of the thread colors to suit my taste. I have actually finished the first of the four stitching areas and started the second one last night...after much counting and recounting. This piece supports the argument for accurate basting along center lines and sometimes side lines. The linen for this project is 54 inches long...it's a long way between stitching areas!

Hope to get much of section two finished this weekend.

Happy stitching to everyone during this first weekend in autumn 2009. Enjoy.

Friends in the Flock

Hey, distant friends in the flock...Debbie, Linda, Ginny...

anyone else...

Have you been working on a BBD project? Please send photos.

Have you been searching through your stash for old BBD charts, WIPs, etc.?

We'd love to hear about it. Email photos to me.

Post comments about what you're doing below this post.

Searching for blackbirds...

Carol's Progress

Look at how Carol is progressing on her autumn BBD project. Perfect fall colors. Nice going, Carol. I see a finish coming up by October...just in time!

Summer Jubilee Completed - Rose

Rose finished her Summer Jubilee last week. She is affectionately known as "the over-achiever" and certainly has lived up to her nickname on this project. I'll post a photo of the completed project when I can get one.

Congratulations, Rose! It is beautiful. (I'm still trying to get my eyes to focus on that 40-count charcoal fabric!

Our Second Meeting

I'm a little late in posting to the blog. Life got in the way...some happy things and some rather frightening things.

Anyway, we had our second meeting at my house on September 3rd. Lenore joined Carol, Rose, and me. I served Chicken and Salsa Soup, a recipe from the BBD A Fine Collection book. Everyone seemed to like it. I actually made this recipe as a trial run last week before serving it to the group. I have found that I like adding a cup or so of diced celery and using low sodium chicken broth. It's quick and easy, and pretty healthy.

Lenore brought her BBD stash for us to look through. Carol has found two duplicates in her stash...Autumn Bouquet and House on Acorn Hill. We'll try to think up a way to award/trade these in the future. Hey, long distance members...any suggestions?

Carol worked on Moonlit Garden, which is turning out to be a pretty autumn piece. Rose continued working on our SAL piece - Summer Jubilee; it is coming along great. She'll be finished before you know it. Lenore started work on LF No. 12, Sweetheart Sampler. I began putting my pincushion from the Sarah Tobias book together, which has been shown previously on this blog.

Lenore borrowed Blackbird's Winter Delivery from Rose.

It was a fun evening.

Speaking of Birds

Did you know that -

September is migration month, and there are more birds in the NE Ohio area now than any other month...
Very large flocks of thousands of birds, made up of many different species, can be heard flying overhead on quiet nights...
Blackbird (grackles, cowbirds, and redwings) flocks can number in the thousands...

These tidbits of knowledge were taken from the September publication from Wild Birds Unlimited Nature Shop.

My Pins & Tulips Pincushion

My First BBD Finish!

I just finished my Pins & Tulips Pincushion from the Thank You, Sarah Tobias booklet. I changed the colors to make it have a spring appearance. I backed it with one of my favorite Thimbleberries fabrics from a few years ago. It's got a few lumps and bumps, but it's finished and I like it!

Bobbi

Possible SAL in the Near Future

Carol, Rose, and I are all very smitten by the Flowers for Sarah Needle Case shown in the Thank You, Sarah Tobias BBD booklet. It's a fairly easy stitch put together into a long, folded needlecase in a unique way, backed and trimmed with a quilt fabric. We have been talking about this pattern for about a month. It would be fun to work on and fun to see the quilt fabrics chosen by everyone and how your floss colors might be changed to coordinate with your fabric choice.

If you're interested in stitching along with us on this sometime in the near future, let us know and keep us informed of your choices with email pix, etc. that I can post.

Bobbi (for the group)

BBD Stockings, Etc.

Here are a couple of sites to check out regarding the BBD stockings series.

The first site shows the three designs for August - very pretty:
http://tinyurl.com/l5d4za

This site shows some helpful hints for stocking finishing:
http://marykathryn.wordpress.com
Mary Kathryn has a very nice blog and an equally nice little online shop.

Unrelated to BBD, the site to get a sneak preview of some of the blocks in the upcoming Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow is: http://kathybarrick.blogspot.com

I hope everyone enjoys the rest of Labor Day Weekend 2009. The weather is almost too wonderful to do any stitching (almost!).

Bobbi

Rose's Summer Jubilee as of 9.3.09

Spur-of-the-Moment SAL

Rose had been admiring a BBD that was published years ago in a magazine - I think "Just Cross Stitch" - called Summer Jubilee. Some of her friends stitched this years ago and she always liked it. She ordered a big piece of Lakeside Linen - I think Charcoal - in 40 count (her favorite). Carol and I decided to follow suit, so the three of us have begun stitching Summer Jubilee (also published in BBD's booklet "Souvenirs of Summer". This fabric definitely calls for improved methods of lighting and magnification, but it will be well worth the effort.

Shown below is Rose's progress on this piece as of last Thursday night. Carol and I have, of course, about 1/20 of this much finished! What do you think of Rose's work? Would any of you long distance friends like to join us on this SAL project? It's a great piece for a winding down summer.

Bobbi

More Birds in the Nest

Our group has gotten a little larger. Lenore (local) will be joining us when she can.

We also now have three long-distance fledglings - Ginny, Debbie, and Linda. Hope you can join us for a meeting sometime. Keep in touch here and elsewhere! Send us pix of BBD finished or in the works!

Bobbi

First Real Meeting

Some ordering of new BBD patterns took place, along with much stash searching at Carol and Rose's houses.

Our first meeting was held on August 20 at Rose's, following some delicious dinners at Olive Garden. We had great fun checking out each other's BBD collections. A list was made of the 38 Loose Feathers designs and among the 3 of us, we have all but 3 of these designs - subject to change as Carol and Rose dig deeper into stash nooks and crannies. Rose showed us a couple of wonderful finished projects.

I am pushing wacky and whimsical for this group. In that mood I made a motion to name a bird-shaped sweet potato that I have that sprouted wings - loose feathers - as our mascot for 2009. Her picture will be shown below. I know it's silly, but who cares?!

One rule was made at this meeting - that one must work on a BBD project at least once during each week.

Rose started work on Loose Feather #19, Quaker Garden. Carol started LF # 22, Moonlit Garden. I borrowed Rose's copy of Blessings be Thine, which I will begin stitching. A fun evening!

What a Surprise!

I was surprised and amused to see that I had a follower on this very novice blog before I had even posted anything.

Welcome, Barb. I'll always remember you as our first follower!

P.S. I love the variety of projects on your blog, both stitched and quilted. I hope you find the right shade of Purple Iris.

Bobbi

An Idea Hatched

Rose, Carol, and I were stitching together last month and out of the blue I said, "Why don't we start a little Blackbird Design (BBD) club?" I don't even know where that thought came from because I had never stitched a Blackbird Design in my life, and as my stitching friends know,

I have a strong aversion to crows in samplers. (By the way, any dark colored birds that I stitch will be referred to as blackbirds or mocking birds!)

The idea was enthusiastically received and we were on our way. What a great excuse to get together more often, enlarge our stashes, make our WIP lists longer, and, yes, complete some relatively quick, fun-to-stitch projects.