I found Mary Ann Blackburn's sampler on eBay, and quickly called Barb so she could see it too. Luckily we won the piece!

We decided to base this year’s Loose Feathers program on vintage samplers and Mary Ann's seemed to be the perfect one to start us off. Her sampler is pictured at the bottom of the cover shown above.

We did a reproduction of her piece and included a couple of projects reflecting elements from the original.

The long tulips on this sampler are so unusual. I love the enormous size of them in comparison to that tiny, little house. The two side borders add movement and a dash of color needed to keep this symmetrical design interesting.

We always change a few bits and pieces of an antique sampler when we do a reproduction. We often add or subtract a motif or change the color of the floss. Barb and I tried to keep the changes to a minimum as maintaining the charm of this naive piece was important to us.


The booklet will ship out to the distributors on Friday. So it should be in the shops by the end of next week.

Dave's been working in the garage again. I took a class a couple of weeks ago and poor guy has to pay the price for my education. The picture below gives you an idea of my class content.


I just purchased two bee hives and Dave glued and nailed the hives together. I'm going to paint them white this week. I'm expecting two queens and a couple thousand workers around April 15th. Will show you more after their arrival. I have to admit I'm a bit fearful as I don't want to do anything wrong. Beekeepers must be vigilant to protect the hive from the many diseases bees now face. Luckily I have a friend to help if I run into trouble.


The queen is marked by a bit of paint. This shot above is like a picture from the children's book, Where's Waldo? Can you find her? She usually has a ring of workers around her. Will keep you posted on how this venture comes along.

Until later!

Alma

We released this pattern at the Nashville cross stitch market in a limited edition kit. This small design was inspired by Mary Evan's sampler, a portion of which is shown below.



We purchased this sampler several years ago. I couldn't take my eyes away from the baskets in a row when Barb and I first found it. I love the "fruit baskets gone wild" look!

Margaret sent the two pictures below of her sampler. Click on her name to visit her blog to read more.



She added another initial and repositioned the vintage button. Isn't her's sweet? Love the pin cube too! Congratulations on your finish Margaret!


 Debbie Wick finished the bed/tablerunner from our quilt book Weekend.
She writes, "I haven't written to you in a long time. I've been busy making this beautiful bed runner you designed! It was so pretty I decided to temporarily put it on my dining room table.