Colorado Cross Stitcher is located in Loveland, Colorado. She has a FlossTube/YouTube channel and runs a virtual Cross Stitch Camp. She also publishes a newsletter. Her last one contained the article Top Ten: Stitching Then and Now. You can sign up for her newsletter on her website. You can also follow her on Instagram. My comments are in italics.

1. It’s not just about geese and teddy bears any more. While I never stitched geese, I certainly did a few with teddy bears. One was a notebook cover for my Mom where she could keep info on her stitching.
2. The color palettes have shifted.
3. We used to work on one project at a time. Pretty much. You’d go to the stitching store and pick a pattern, a fabric, and the flosses. You’d work on it until it was done. Then you got to go back to the store and pick another project. The only stash we had was a stash of patterns that we had already completed. And now I have multiple projects going at one time and my stash is enough to last me for many lifetimes.

4. We stitched with DMC pretty much exclusively. (Unless you were fancy and bought a kit with imported threads.) A good day was finding DMC 10 skeins for $1.00 at Lee Wards, so you could round out your stash on your bobbins. The only time I had stitched with anything other than DMC was when a chart appeared in JustCross Stitch magazine by Eva Rosenstand that used her floss which I special ordered. I still have my Columbine Pillow. And through the years, my mom and I collected what was then a full set of DMC.

5. Here’s a question for you – what did we keep our projects in? I don’t remember any project bags. Or even Ziploc bags. After a time, I remember a type of project keeper. You’d buy one of those (if you were lucky) for your one project. Before that, did we keep them in tote bags or something? The first tote bag I remember is one my mom got me. It was a quilted bag with handles and pockets inside. I still have it.

6. Now we have Hand-Dyed Fabrics – Remember when we were excited to have just 3 or 4 Aida options? Now the options truly seem almost limitless. Hand dyed fabrics bring more texture and variety to your stitching, and can make the finished piece more interesting. All I really had was aida in cream or white or a flecked oatmeal color. Now the choices of fabrics and colors is unlimited. But because of poor eyesight, I am back to aida.

7. Now we have Hand-Dyed Flosses – As with the fabrics, the variance in hand-dyed flosses brings more interest and texture to your finished pieces. Whether you cross your X’s as you go, or stitch down a row and back, the color variation is fun to watch. (Although most all of us also still stitch with DMC as well.) My first use of hand-dyed floss was in 2014 with my very first Blackbird Design charts. I love them now.

8. Now we have Silk Flosses – I’m not sure if there were any silk options back in the day, but I’ll tell you what – I’m not sure I would have stitched with anything else if I had tried it back then. It’s like stitching with butter. While I love some of the silks out there, some are so slippery I find them impossible to use. My favorites are Glorianna silks. My very favorite is Poinsettia. Unfortunately, I don’t use them much because of the cost.

9. Now we have cool notions and fun things to bring extra joy to our stitching. Things like: Beautiful Scissors, Pins, Needle Minders, and Stickers.

10. Patterns, patterns, and more patterns. All done up in different styles, different colors, and different sizes. A plethora of patterns! Our choices now are never ending. And there are some designers I have never stitched yet I have enough charts to last me several lifetimes.

This is such a very sad day for the stitching and quilting world. On July 4th, we lost one of my very favorite designers, Barb Adams. Barb was one half of the duo that made up the Blackbird Design team. Alma Allen was her dear friend and the other half of this duo. I was first introduced to their designs in 2014 when I stitched the first of many Blackbird Design projects, Summer, Autumn, Winter. The walls of my home are adorned with many of their designs.

In the Spring of 2019 I had the pleasure of attending a Blackbird Design retreat held at Dyeing to Stitch in Virginia Beach. I met Barb and Alma and had breakfast with them one morning. I am forever grateful for that opportunity.

From Alma Allen of Blackbird Designs:

My dear friend, Barb Adams passed away on the morning of July 4th. It’s so hard to imagine what life will be like without her. I will miss our daily talks, extensive travels and the excitement we felt as we developed new ideas for projects. Barb always said she didn’t want to quit working and leave so many unfinished ideas on the table. She called me two weeks ago and asked me if I could come back to Kansas City and go to the doctor with her. I will be forever grateful she called me. She gave me the gift of her presence these final two weeks.

Barb was always kind and compassionate. Her sense of humor was quick and came at unexpected times. The surprise of it could bring uncontrolled laughter and tears to my eyes. Her sense of personal style was classy! Some of my favorite times with Barb were spent in the shoe department of Nordstrom’s. As we both wore size 11s, we could both try on shoes the other had chosen. With all of the booths we set up at wholesale markets and all the heavy boxes of books we had to haul, we said we had to have Excedrine to spend time together. I told her all of my worst times were spent with her. But really just being with her made those times better. She never ceased to amaze me with her mastery of color combinations and design ideas. Many of her quilts and cross stitch projects were based on patriotic themes. As the fireworks light up the sky on the 4th of July every year it will always have a special meaning for me. Leave it to Barb to make sure she exited with fireworks! Blackbird Designs will never be the same without her.

EXCITING NEWS From Alma and Barb of Blackbird Designs: First Winds of Autumn and Merry Christmas Drum being released later this year! Loose Feathers Summer, Autumn and Winter from 2011 just reprinted and should be at distributors by Monday, April 20, 2020. And you can add the book In Friendship’s Way to the list. If you missed any of these, you can place an order with your favorite needlework shop.

So if you are patient, you will be able to stitch these beauties and NOT have to pay an arm and a leg for them.

The Spring Blackbird Design Retreat was scheduled for April 26-27, 2019 at Dyeing to Stitch in Virginia Beach. I knew I just had to attend as this might be the last one I would be able to attend. It had been on my bucket list for sometime but because of Jim’s health I could not attend. I joined the All About Berries club so that I would be able to apply for the earlier registration. Registration was to open on Wednesday, January 30th at 10am. I filled out the forms, scanned them, and had them ready to send at 9:59 by email. Yippeee, I was accepted.

I was up bright and early on Friday, April 26 with the car packed with everything I thought I might need and ready to hit the road by 8:30AM. The weather  forecast was NOT promising and it did not take long for the rain to start. Crossing the top of the mountain, was very foggy but that quickly disappeared and the rain continued off and on but got much heavier the closer I got to the Norfolk/Virginia Beach area. I had decided to go directly to Dyeing to Stitch first and then head to the hotel. The shop was packed with lots of ladies buying all sorts of things. I registered and got my name tag and retreat information and Fridays project.  Barb and Alma were at the back of the shop so I headed back to introduce myself and have a chat. They are both so sweet and friendly and Ann Robbins was in the back so I chatted with all of them and got a picture taken.

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Nancy of the Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe has been busy dying floss for her latest offering, the Woodland Collection. This set includes 12 skeins, 20 yards each of Wild Strawberries, Blueberries, Elderberries, Wild Grapevines, Hickory Nuts, Wild Acorns, Wild Honey, Wild Grapevines….etc.

There is LOTS of variegation in half of these colors. Like the shading in the wild grapevines in the woods, all different shades on the vines. And the same with wild berries as they start to ripen. Many different shades in one bunch. All boxes have 12 skeins, 20 yards each. You can ENTER to win a box of these beautiful colors as well as purchase a set. I can tell you from first hand experience that ALL of her colors are lovely to look at as well as stitch with.

With this set Nancy will give 3 extra skeins as a gift for the give-away. AND…..the first 10 sets sold get Elderberry, Mixed Berries and Wild Blueberry. 60 extra yards! Those are the three skeins shown at the right in the above picture. The next 20 boxes sold get 2 of those free skeins and the next 20 boxes get one free skein.

So head over to Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe to enter. You must be a follower of her blog and you must post a comment to enter. The drawing for the winner will be held on July 14th.

Good luck!!

Nancy Turner of the Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe is having another giveaway. This time it is for her Southwest Floss Collection which is a Limited Edition. You can see it pictured below.

All you have to do to enter, is visit Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe and post a comment. You MUST be a follower of her blog to win. Click to follow by Faithful Friends. If your name is drawn and you are not on the list she will have to draw another name. If you post on Facebook, your stitching group or blog you get 50 more entries. Not hard to enter for a chance to win some of her beautiful floss.

The Southwest Collection includes 12 skeins with 20 yards in each skein. Colors include: Chili Pepper, Hot Pepper, Paprika, Desert Sky, Brick Oven, Copper Kettle, Golden Maize, Southern Sky, Desert Sand, Tortilla, Gristmill and Cilantro.

The drawing will be June 2nd so hurry and enter and tell your friends to enter. You must check back to see if you are a winner and you must follow her blog! Southwest Collection boxed set – Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe Giveaway.

Just so you know how much I lover her floss, I also have the following boxed collections:

• Auntie’s Flower Garden
• Kansas Wildflowers Collection (new just ordered)
• Victorian Christmas Collection
• PRIMITIVE Earth tones Collection
• Numerous individual skeins of various colors

You can never have too much of this beautiful floss!!!

Nancy of the Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe is playing Santa again this year and offering The Twelve Days of Christmas Giveaway. Each year she has the pleasure of playing Santa and giving away a gift each day for twelve days.

For the next twelve days Santa Nancy will post each day what the gift will be and you can enter each day. You must be a follower of her blog to enter and you must post a comment each day that you want to enter. If you post on your blog or Facebook and get 50 more entries!

Then, starting on the 13th, she will announce the winner for each day through the 25th. You will need to check back to see if you were a winner as she is not going to have time to hunt you down!

Day One’s gift is your favorite colors of floss!! You tell Santa Nancy your favorite colors and she will send a nice selection for you. Floss is always the favorite give-away around here.

So you can see just how beautiful the floss is, here is the Victorian Christmas Collection that I am purchasing to stitch Blackbird Designs Christmas Garden.

And here is the Christmas Garden chart.

So head on over to the The Twelve Days of Christmas Giveaway and enter for a chance to win.

Day Two: Santa is giving one lucky winner a $35 Gift Certificate to select items from her ebay store. Floss, charts, etc. Everyone loves to go shopping!

Day Three: It is the Best Friend Present! If you are the lucky winner, you give the name of your best friend and Santa Nancy along with favorite colors, linen or aida for stitching, etc. Then she will send a present directly to your friend. A $35 value.

Day Four: we will have a gift box of floss….Auntie’s Flower Garden for one lucky winner. Each of the gift boxes is 12 skeins of floss, 20 yards each. Complete with a fold over gift card.

Day Five: The Primitive Floss Boxed Set. This is 12 skeins in muted earth tones from the large set of 46. I think Santa Nancy picked some great colors for this gift box.

Day Six: You get to choose your favorite color necessaire complete with all the goodies tucked inside. The felted wool button bag filled with buttons and charms, the felted wool needle pages with the large flower head pin, trims, cluny lace, a skein of my floss, etc. You get to choose from red and cream, blue floral or tan floral, the giving Quilt Christmas fabric or the Williamsburg Sampler Fabric.

Day Seven: Today’s giveaway is a sampler chart of your choice and 10 skeins of floss, 200 yards!

Day Eight: Santa Nancy is giving away a surprise package with $50 in stitching goodies! You will need to tell her your favorite colors and if you like linen or aida for stitching.

Day Nine: Today the gift will be Santa Nancy’s Jingle as Ye Enter, Jingle as Ye Go chart, complete with over dyed floss and all the bells you need to make the wall hanging and the bonus ornament included in the chart pack.

Day Ten: today’s gift will be a surprise package of floss! Floss is always a favorite give-away. And maybe a surprise chart……Santa’s pick of something very nice to stitch.

Day Eleven: Today Santa Nancy is giving away 18 skeins of floss from the Primitive Collection. A nice variety of colors….perfect for all of your stitching, not just primitive.

Day Twelve: And she saved the best for last – the whole Primitive Floss Collection, 46 skeins, 20 yards each, 920 yards of stitching heaven.

So head on over to the The Twelve Days of Christmas Giveaway and enter for a chance to win. Make sure you read all of the details. You can enter every single day. Thank you Santa Nancy!!!

Now to wait for the drawing of the winner’s names which begins on December 13th. One name for each day’s prize. What fun this has been.

The ladies from Blackbird Designs will be including the popular Out of Print chart Blessings Be Thine in their Christmas book. Sorry, no additional details available at this time but I will post them when I hear.

Also Joyeux Noel will be reprinted before the end of the year. This will be the third printing for this beautiful book which includes 16 designs for the Christmas seasons. Includes sewing boxes, pincushions, samplers and ornaments. 40 pages.

One of the most popular ones from the above book is Tis the Season pictured below. The one shown below is stitched on a darker fabric than is shown in the book but is stunning!.

Stitched by Anka Julia on 32ct. Picture This Plus Haunted Linen