Blackbird Designs - A Celebration!!!

A week ago Saturday, the stitching Guild that I belong to (Kindred Spirits) hosted a special event to celebrate all that we love about Blackbird Designs. Everyone brought their finished pieces - from framing, to needlebooks to quilts. I thought you might like to see some of the beautiful things that were there.

This is Tina and some of her gorgeous quilts. All of the quilts in the picture were stitched by her. WoW!!! These were so beyond gorgeous - I've never seen a BBD quilt up close and personal and Julie and I were just in awe! Deb was in awe too but she'll go home and make one. Not me. Only way I'll ever get something like this is to buy it and who would want to part with such a beauty?

All pics are clickable so you can super-size and really get a good look!





This is Pat and her lovely work! I love how this is framed in that fabulous tray - gorgeous, isn't it? I really admire Pat's work - she does beautiful stitching and finishing and she's just as sweet and funny as can be.




The finishes on this table are by Edwina and Pat - fabulous, aren't they?



Julie and I brought some of our finishes, too. Julie stitched the piece in the gold frame and the pincushion and biscournu scissor fob. I did the other two.



More of our work:




These quilts were made by the mother of one of our members and they were so beautiful!



This quilt was made by Judy and isn't it a beauty? Reminds me of something you'd have seen on a rope bed in the civil war. It's gorgeous!


As you can see, these quilts are no small project!





These beauties were made by Sue - some of you may know her as "needlworkerSue" on some of the cross stitch boards. Sue was feeling shy that day and preferred to have a pic only of her fabulous work!





These were made by various members and each and every one is exquisite!


Check out the little red stitch in the upper left hand corner - that one is done over one thread sitting right next to one just like it, done over two threads. Same count fabric. Just a great shot to show the difference over one stitching can make on a piece. Of course, too much of that and you want to poke your eyes out with the needle!


Our guild president, Sharon designed these sweet needlebooks to commemorate our gathering together. Aren't they cute? They'll be so pretty tucked into our sewing baskets!




Barb and Alma were kind enough to donate several items for a raffle draw but dang it, I forgot to take a picture. I also forgot to take a picture of the food that was there as well. Talk about eye candy! Maaaan! There was some good eats there. As I've said, these are a great bunch of women - all super talented, nice as can be and so much fun to be around.

I am making progress on my Ann (A&E) sampler but those eyelets are really starting to bore me so I've moved on to Jenny Bean's Christmas Sampler. I also finished the November block on my Prairie Schooler Year but will not post that again till it's all done in December. I have to say though that I love it and doing it one block at a time is the way to go with over one!

Thanks for all the sweet comments about my dad in my last post. He's a great guy and I'm really proud of him and his service. Thanks for all the stories you shared with me about your favorite veteran! Where might we be if we didn't have these men and women?

Have a wonderful week! Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed this post about all things BBD! Thanks Barb and Alma for all you do to give us such wonderful things to create. Our stitching and quilting world would not be the same were you not here! You can visit their blog for some really gorgeous and inspiring photos: Blackbird Designs Blog

Peace,
Terri

Have You Thanked a Veteran Today?

Today is Veteran's Day in the U.S. It's a day we celebrate, thank and remember all the men and women who have served our country in the Armed Forces. My dad of course, is my favorite veteran! He served more than 20 years in the Army and had a wonderful career. He was commissioned into the Army as a Lieutenant in 1958. He had some tough tours of duty - the worst being Viet Nam. He did more than one tour there and although we don't really talk about it a whole lot, I'm sure it was life changing for him and every other man and woman that served. My family was lucky, my dad came home to us and is living the good life. He's an awesome man,courageous, kind and in as good or better shape now than he was when he joined the Army in 1958. I have some great pics of my dad in uniform but I can't figure out how to scan them. But trust me, he was one good looking officer and gentleman! Thanks Dad! You are my favorite veteran!

My dad reads my blog. He thinks it quite amusing that we all have our crafting space ~ be it a room, a corner of a room or whatever. I think he's been feeling a little jealous lately because he decided if I had a craft room and my mom has a craft room, he needs a craft room, too. Before I share his special space with you I must first tell you - my dad is a man of simple means. It doesn't take a lot to make him happy. A warm summer day, a book and a quiet place to talk to God make him about as happy as anything I know. But, I do believe his new craft room may run a close second! The shell of his craft room is the garage to my parent's home. My dad has never believed a car actually had to be parked in the garage. No Sir! Far better uses for a garage than that. Mostly, the garage is used by my dad for watching the world go by. If he had a very comfortable (not) folding lawn chair (which has now been updgraded), a fridge full of beer and he would count himself a lucky and happy man! Now though, since my mom and I both have craft rooms, that is no longer good enough. Here's his story - remember, we are Southerners by birth so we (and by that I mean, He) are allowed to use the term redneck!

A REDNECK’S CRAFT ROOM by Jimmy E.

A few years ago my daughter, Terri, designed and had built a wonderful craft room in their newly remodeled basement. It is beautiful and cleverly designed. When Thada saw it she immediately decided that she wanted one also. She developed a beautiful craft room of her own in one of our bedrooms. She and Terri do wonderful crafts in their craft rooms. So…needless to say old Jimmy decided he would like to have one too. Thada and I decided that since I am pretty much a redneck, and keep my beer in the garage, that perhaps the garage could be slightly modified as my craft room. I immediately went to work on/in it. It is still a work of love in progress but I want to share its evolvement with you.

One nice spring day a light rain was falling and I was sitting in the garage reading. I went to my garage refrigerator and got myself a Bud Lime to enjoy as I read. Much to my consternation I realized that I had no place to sit my Bud after a soothing sip…so I went to the back of the garage and found this lovely end table just sitting there gathering dust. I pulled it out and placed it beside my comfortable garage chair and voila, my Redneck Craft Room had its Genesis. Also in the garage, I found the cute seashell photograph of me and several of my family enjoying a day at Virginia Beach. I placed it on the table to give my room the proper atmosphere. To further enhance the “beach atmosphere I added a can of bug spray.
In the rear corner of my craft room I set up this cleverly designed home improvement area, complete with an early American cobbler’s bench with vise. Peg board to the rear is replete with various crafting implements that can be used in home repairs…I think! I'm not really sure as I've never been a home repair kind of guy. No matter ~ those shelves behind me contain various items including a variety of paints and stains (just in case I ever really want to paint something). As you can see, I am busily attempting to drive a nail into a small part of a boat I am building.
I hope you enjoyed this tour of my Redneck craft room. It's my special space and like Terri and Thada, I'm sure I'll be creating all kinds of crafty things.... right after I finish my book and my beer!

Thanks for sending me the story about your craft room, Dad! It's a fabulous space and you should be quite proud. Really, you should!

For all my friends reading this post - I have some awesome pics to show you about our Guild Gathering last Saturday to celebrate our love of Blackbird designs. But, you'll have to wait. Today is about my favorite veteran! Tell me about your favorite veteran!

Thanks for stopping by!

Peace,
Terri