Yes, I’m still home…
However with one shot in the arm, and the next one on the calendar, perhaps that will change sooner rather than later? I’m hoping 😀
Meanwhile, I have once again had a busy month. I have been making fresh samples and dreaming up new classes.
I made a new embroidery sample using all the embroidery stitches in my stitch guide that I send out as part of my embroidery kits these days. The sampler comes in nine different colors with five colors of perle cotton thread, four 8-weight and one 5-weight (just so it doesn’t take quite all day to fill in the trellis stitch circle!
I made a couple of place mats for a three part Let’s Make a Quilt Class that will cover all the basics from choosing your fabric to adding the binding… All by machine…
A longer term project is a new All my Life’s a Circle wool appliqué piece. It’s a remake of a pattern I did quite a few years ago, in brighter colors and with more stitches. 
Dorset Buttons have been keeping me busy. It’s time to extend the button repertoire?
How about Shirtlace Buttons? They are sometimes known as Shirtwaist Buttons – I’m not sure which is the most authentic name for these buttons dating to the early 20th century…
I started out with 3-weight perle cotton on 1 1/2″ rings. It took a few tries to get the trickier ones to look the way I thought they should.
I moved on to 5-weight perle cotton on 1″ rings.
I’m going to be recommending that the class will be suitable for buttoneers with some experience.
But yes there is more!
Wrapped in Scraps makes a great Zoom class and I was teaching it again yesterday. I decided to make some new pots. How about this one in ombre shades of purple?
It posed so nicely for the camera!!
Students always ask me about making clothesline bowls without the wrapping part, just the rope (like you can buy in Target 🤣)… so I invested in a BIG spool of American made, quality rope from the Mountain Thread Company in North Carolina and tried a few of those.
They’re the ones at the back center and right hand side below. The color comes purely from the assortment of bobbins I used up when I was stitching them.
The better rope made it much easier to get a firm pot without the reinforcement you get from wrapping the clothesline with fabric. If you are interested in finding out more there are some great videos on the Mountain Thread website.
As I already mentioned I taught a few classes in-between all the making. I sometimes get a screen shot to record the day.
Here’s the happy members of a Walking Foot Quilting class I taught for STITCHES at Home at the end of March.
And here are most of the new buttoneers from last weekend’s STITCHES Expo. Two classes!!
Screen shots are OK but it will be good to have some pictures of real live people again…
Talking of real live people, we did have a visit from Julia and family over Easter. Apparently Benjamin and Ruby are not too old for an Easter egg hunt?
Spring is here! I bought a pot of tulips. They make a nice heading for today’s blog post. I don’t know how long it will be until we see butterflies again but I did stitch another one. 
This one used a piece of a Carolyn Friedlander fabric. It has a very handy grid in the background to work the Sashiko-style stitches on one of my butterfly designs.
I have dug out a Royal School of Needlework book of Gold Work designs… we’ll see if anything comes of those?
I have a busy week ahead. Tonight I’ll be speaking to the Quilters Unlimited Guild in Arlington Virginia. Tomorrow I’m spending the day with the Lake Oconee Quilters Guild in Georgia. On Wednesday I’m going to be chatting with Linda Hahn live on Facebook for It’s Sew Road (based in California), and on Thursday and Saturday I’ll be visiting with the NorthWest Suburban Quilters Guild in Arlington Heights, Illinois. It’s amazing how far you can travel in one week over Zoom!
And then I’ll take a breath. As always if you are interested in taking a class with me check out my calendar. I try and keep it up to date with links for wherever I’m teaching. I have some fun events to add soon, even some in real life in 2022.
My mailing list is growing. Don’t be afraid of getting inundated with too many emails… I haven’t actually worked out how to send one yet! It will happen but not this week.
Oh, one more thing. (We’re still watching Columbo re-runs)
My good friend Jenny K. Lyon is giving a way a copy of the Butterfly Stitches book over on her blog at QuiltSkipper. You’ve got until Thursday 15th April to get over there and leave a comment if you want a chance to win. Tell her I sent you!
