Anyone else feel like your schedule is all out of whack after the long holiday weekend? For whatever reason, despite being in the studio or over at The Gathering for the majority of it, this week didn’t feel 100% “normal” to me just yet… Probably because the hustle and bustle or Thanksgiving didn’t end after dinner on Thursday. The crazy pretty much just kept on going, starting with Black Friday, then Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, and Giving Tuesday… Sheesh! Not to mention, our Primitive Christmas event the week before. Can you say whirlwind?
Really though, this is more or less what I consider the calm before the storm since as wild as it seems, Christmas is literally less than a month away! That being said, I have a laundry list of things I need to do in order to get prepared, which I will continue to make progress on over the weekend. Before I can get on with that, however, I have a couple of little tasks that I need to get buttoned up around here – like this week’s Twilight Stars Quilt-Along block releases for instance. If you’re keeping up with the release schedule you should have 48 completed blocks in your stack. 48!!! See how far we’ve come? And in such a short time, too… I bet you barely even noticed how much work you’ve done. Painless, right? LOL! Let’s keep the party going by adding two more, because hey – it’s Friday after all! The block release numbers for Week #25 are 27 and 32.
Have you been sharing photos of your progress on our Primitive Gatherings or STITCH Facebook pages? If so, thank you! We have quite the collection of star block photos to show for it and they are all B-E-A-U-T-I-ful! So beautiful in fact, that I want to see more so please, keep them coming and maybe, just maybe, you’ll win a little prize for it while you’re at it. All you have to do is post a photo of your completed blocks each week before the release of the next batch, including the required book Triangle Gatherings and Primitive Gatherings Triangle Paper in the picture. Please also include the hashtag #TwilightStarsQAL in your post! Heidi will choose a winner each week until the end of the QAL, which we will announce during my LIVE show on Thursday. The prize for sharing Week #24 goes to Rhoda Hatter. Excellent work, Rhoda. Your cross stitch projects are beautiful too!
If you’re new to the Twilight Stars Quilt-Along, patterns can be found in my book Triangle Gatherings (required to participate along with a few other items), which can be purchased on the Primitive Gatherings website by clicking HERE. Blocks will be posted every Friday around NOON Central Standard Time, with a correlating blog post shortly after. Block releases can be found both here on the blog and in the “Quilt-Along” area under “Twilight Stars” at http://www.lisabongean.com. Never even heard of Twilight Stars? You can read all about it by clicking HERE. In addition, a full list of details and required supplies can be found at the Twilight Stars Info Page by hitting the button below!
Who else wants a prize!? Even if you’re not participating in Twilight Stars you can still win prizes by simply dropping me a comment here on the blog. Let me know what you’re working on, or what you’d like to see more of in the shop for example. Spill the beans on whatever you feel like. You never know, you could be my next winner just for giving me your opinion! Just ask Deb A. and Dana D. how easy it is… They’ll be getting a little something in the mail for doing just that! (please check your email for a prize confirmation from Heidi. You may also email her at heidin@primitivegatherings.us to confirm if you are a winner) thank you both from the bottom of my heart!
Having fun yet? If not, you’re about to because I have a special little treat for everyone who continues to support my dream here at Primitive Gatherings. To kick off this festive month of December, we’re sharing the joy with a FREE Christmas Ornie Tag Pattern, straight from my project vault of years past – and there’s no purchase required to get it! That’s right… To get your Christmas Ornie Tag Pattern, just hit the button below and download it directly onto your computer or smart device for FREE! Need a kit? We have those too! They’re available for $5.00 each (plus tax and shipping) on our website by clicking the button below. I also have a video on my YouTube channel available to guide you through the finishing process for this project, which you can find by clicking HERE. You really can’t go wrong – and the price is right!
To make these, I used two pieces of chip board to mount my stitched designs on. They are turned to the back of the chip board and glued. Then, two are sandwiched together with additional glue. Cording that I made myself was also added to the edges to give it a nice finished look!
Speaking of hand made cording, just curious… Have you ever made cording from embroidery floss? It’s easily made using this unique apparatus called the Kreinik Custom Corder. This handy tool makes customized cording, piping, and straps. It also makes decorative trim for pillows, table runners, candles, and more! You can even cord embellishments for jewelry, friendship bracelets, and ropes to appliqué onto your designs. It’s a super cool tool to have around and I highly recommend it!
Well, everyone! It’s looking pretty gloomy outside the studio window right about now, which is making me want to instinctively skedaddle toward home. It’s only about 4:00 p.m. but it already seems like it’s starting to get dark – and it definitely will be in about 30 minutes. Too early! That’s ok though, I try to always look on the “bright side” of things (ha ha – see what I did there?), and in this case thanks to the colder weather’s arrival, I have skiing and snowshoeing to look forward to. Now all we need is some decent snow. Everybody loves a white Christmas! The forecast is suggesting we may see a couple inches on Sunday here in WI, but we all know how that goes… They only way to really know is to wait and see what actually happens! I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and that you all stay cozy, warm, and busy – stitching, of course! See you next week. ~Lisa
