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The Sweet Birds Sing

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The Sweet Birds Sing was one of the two new books by Blackbird Designs offered as part of the 2025 Nashville Needlework Market. The book contains three projects. Two of them were part of the Quilter’s Station Retreat in September 2023.

I decided to stitch the big project first, The Sweet Birds Sing that is shown on the cover finished as a needleroll. I plan on either framing it or finishing it as a bellpull.

The suggested fabric is 36 ct Heartland from Picture This Plus but I selected a piece of 16ct Vintage Country Mocha I had in my stash. I used the called for floss (some DMC and some fancy floss).

Threads:

  • WDW: Bees Knees, Caper, Chickpea (DMC 371), Dove (DMC 927), Oscar (DMC 3011) and Putty.
  • CC: Camouflage (DMC 3051) , Licorice Red (DMC 22), Tennessee Red Clay (DMC 356)
  • Gentle Art: Heirloom Gold

Gifts of the Season

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Gifts of the Season is one of the two new releases by Blackbird Designs. The booklet contains four projects inspired by an English Sampler. Two of the designs were 2023 retreat projects from Attic Needlework.

The sampler pictured on the front cover is Gifts of the Season and the one I chose to stitch first. The stitch count is 157w by 169h and the recommended fabric is 36ct Velum by Picture This Plus. I chose to use a piece of 16ct Moon Shadow by Seraphim Fabrics. I am also going to switch out the floss for Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe floss.

  • GA Antique Rose/Wild Rose Petals
  • GA Chamomile/1812 Wilderness
  • WDW Confederate Gray/DMC 3023
  • CC Colonial Rose/Dusty Mauve
  • WDW Dirt Road
  • WDW Dove/DMC 927
  • GA Harvest Basket/Dried Wheat
  • GA Heirloom Gold/Stitching Together
  • GA Rose Garden/1812 Rose
  • WDW Sage/Sage Powder

I also decided to leave off the border around the sampler and possibly the personalization block at the bottom.

I had a simple brown frame (11″ x 11″) that I thought would work for this one. Now to hang it in the dining room with my other Blackbird Designs projects.

St. Patrick’s Day by Primrose Cottage

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Primrose Cottage offers a number of designs celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. I recently purchased their St. Patrick’s Day Quaker chart plus the finishing kit. Kit Includes the following:

Backing Fabric: 12″ x 10.5″
Wool by Weeks Dye Works: 3″ x 3″ Kohl
Ric Rac by Colour and Cotton: 40″ Aloe Vera 
Floss by Colour and Cotton: Aloe Vera, Chestnuts Roasting, Featherweight, Marigold, and 2 of Tree Lot 

The recommended fabric was 25 Count Potato Lugana. I decided to use 14ct Sage aida instead.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day was the March Free Stitch Fridays chart offered to their newsletter subscribers. The finishing and floss and fabric kit was offered but I decided I would use the same fabric and floss as I used for the St. Patrick’s Day Quaker.

My Friend’s House

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My Friend’s House by Blackbird Designs is #8 in the Abecedarian Series.

I bought this one kitted up from another stitcher some time ago. I switched out the 30ct Espresso by R & R Reproductions for 16ct Sand Dunes by Seraphim. I also switched out the Gentle Arts Country Redwood for Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe Brick Road.

From the inside of the chart: The year stitched into this sampler, 1999, celebrates a lasting partnership and the beginning of Blackbird Designs. Barb and I met at a local quilt and cross stitch shop, The Saltbox Sampler, around 1997. She attended an applique class I was teaching. As she worked on her quilt, I couldn’t help but notice that she had a great eye for color and an innate sense of design.

We made an immediate connection and quickly became fast friends. As our friendship grew, we decided it would be fun to begin a quilt pattern business. Little did we know that we would branch out and expand into cross stitch designs.

Barb and I live a good distance apart so we are not able to run over to each other’s houses as often as we would like. Instead, we try to meet somewhere in the middle. Nordstrom’s Cafe and Applebee’s are two of our favorite places but, in a pinch, even the Quick Trip parking lot can serve as our “office.”

No matter where we are, we feel at home with each other. This sampler celebrates our enduring friendship. (Barb passed away in July 2021)

Because these two are my very favorite designers, I decided to stitch this one in their honor.

I decided I wanted a simple finish for this one so I covered two pieces of matboard with fabric and mounted the stitched piece to that. Add an easel stand and it was ready for display.

Moonlight Visitor

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Moonlight Visitor by Blackbird Designs is #9 in the Anniversaries of the Heart series. It is copyright 2010. I have had it kitted up for some time.

I chose a piece of 16ct aida in a mottled tan color to stitch it on and used all of the called for colors. Since the date in the upper left hand corner was to be stitched over one, I used back stitching since there was not enough space to stitch it using aida.

I added my Little brother’s initials (Leonard Eugene Little) to this one. I will probably mount it on one of the boards I have.

The board is from Michaels and I added twisted cording around the edge. Tutorial for Twisted cording is courtesy of Vonna Pfeiffer, The Twisted Stitcher.

Seasonal Samplings Winter

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Seasonal Samplings Winter is another design by Lindsey Weight of Primrose Cottage. It was released in 2023 but I just saw it and knew I HAD to stitch this one.

The stitch count for this one is 120w x 70h. The model was stitched on 28ct Light ash gray using all DMC floss. I have a piece of 14ct Yorkshire Grey that I think I am going to use. And I recently both a new set of gradient floss from Color and Cotton that I plan on using for some of the colors.

Recommended Floss Colors/My Changes

  • DMC 169
  • DMC 977/DMC 3776
  • DMC B5200/DMC 3865
  • DMC 225
  • DMC 3053
  • DMC 844
  • DMC 3362
  • DMC 930/Color and Cotton Dark Bluebird (I chose to use Bold Bluebird for the outside and inside borders.)
  • DMC 3752/Color and Cotton Pale Bluebird
  • DMC 931/Color and Cotton Medium Bluebird
  • DMC 3781/Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe Mighty Oak

I decided to finish this one as a small wall hanging I put put on the front door or the Winter. The trim and backing fabric is from the All the Glitters line by by Simon Treadwell for Northcott Fabrics. There is a sleeve on the back for inserting a hanging rod.

Winter Wonderland

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Winter Wonderland was January’s Free Stitch Friday chart for Primrose Cottage newsletter subscribers. The kit was available to purchase and included a choice of fabric (16 or 28ct) , and the recommended floss with a free extra which was a sheet of Winter Wonderland stickers.

The floss included is Cottage Garden threads Blue Heaven, Spruce, and Water Wheel plus DMC 844, 3853, and 3865. This was the first time I have stitched with Cottage Garden threads. I chose the 16ct Icelandic Grey aida. The stitch count for the design is 89w x 43h.

And here is the stitched piece.

And I ordered this fabric to use in backings for some of the winter stitches, All That Glitters by Northcott.

Summer Harvest

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Some years ago, I was able to purchase some of the Blackbird Designs charts as a kit which included the fabric and floss and chart. The fabric was linen which I do not stitch on so I sold the fabric to another stitcher and selected some aida I had in my stash.

Summer Harvest was copyright 2014 and is now Out of Print.

For Summer Harvest I selected a piece of 16ct Lambswool aida and used the called for floss with the exception of Old Red Paint which I had used for another project. II subbed Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe Southern Red Trillium which was a perfect match.

I added the initials of my paternal great-grandmother and her birth year. Sarah Emma Oldham was born in 1855. She married The photo below shows her with her daughter Ada and my grandfather Leonard. My father, Adrian Lee Little was name after his Aunt Ada.

Now I need to find the perfect frame for this one.

I decided to order a frame from The Rusty Roof, an Etsy shop that I have order from in the past. Their Panoramic Frame came in the exact size I needed 6″x12″. I ordered it with the Saddle Stain. It comes complete with glass and the hanging hardware installed. If you use plain matboard to mount your stitched piece, you have plenty of room for the glass, spacers, stitched piece ad backing board.

Cocoa and Cookies

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Cocoa and Cookies was December’s free chart offered by Primrose Cottage as part of their Free Stitch Fridays. The free design is offered for a month and then is for sale in their shop. You can sign up for their free newsletter to receive the current chart by scrolling to the bottom of the page on their site.

The stitch count is 54×54 and the recommended fabric is 32ct light taupe. I chose a piece of 14ct Vintage Taupe because I wanted it slightly larger. I used the called for colors of DMC 816 and B5200, Weeks Dye Works Pecan, Seaweed, and Swiss Chocolate.

Now I need to decide how to finish it. I did buy some backing fabric to use for this one.

The backing fabric on this one is the green that was part of the finishing kit included in the Sip and Stitch box. I added red rickrack for the trim. I think I am going to need a much bigger dough bowl next year for all the Christmas pillows.

2025 Mystery Sampler – Cloister Garden

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Since 2017, Fox and Rabbit has been offering a free mystery sampler for stitchers to participate in. This years is called Cloister Garden. Each month on the 1st a different part of the chart is available for free download. The Stitch Count for this years sampler is 333 wide x 333 high which means she is a BIG girl.

Because of the size of this one, I am choosing to stitch the motifs as individual pieces to finish as small pillows or ornaments.

January

This month’s part is the centre of our Cloister Garden, a water fountain to add sound and movement to our garden, and cool us down on hot days.

I’m stitching mine as individual smalls. Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe floss Stormy Weather on 14ct Charles Craft (DMC) Sunset. And now I can see I missed a stitch on the bottom center. Off to fix it.