Hey everyone! Welcome back to my blog. Ready or not, here we go charging into the second half of September with the next round release of the “Meet Me in the Garden“ stitch-along! Round Three focuses on the traditional Cat’s Cradle-type block, fittingly named after the children’s string game, “Cat’s Cradle” dating all the way back to the 1700s. Old school Cat’s Cradle designs typically involve a lot of triangles, and this bunch proves to be true to form. For this quilt, when you make your Cat’s Cradle blocks you will actually be sewing four Cat’s Cradle units together with a small inner border to make it an 8″ finished square. Though the units have both half-square triangles and little setting triangles, with the use of the required “Cat’s Cradle Ruler“ by Creative Grids, you don’t have to cut a single one! Wow – right!?  It really is a brilliant ruler. Trust me – “Meet Me in the Garden” isn’t the only project you’ll be using it for… This clever tool allows you to simultaneously create two Cat’s Cradle units from each set of squares and rectangles, and achieve perfect triangle blocks in a variety of sizes. Not to mention, the cutting requirements for each size is conveniently printed right on the tool!

Remember, the Creative Grids Cat’s Cradle Ruler is one of the five required rulers for this stitch-along project, along with a few others that we highly recommend to make your life easier. If you still need to order yours, you can do so by clicking the link at the bottom of the Ruler and Tool list below!

The Cat’s Cradle Quilt Block is the perfect block to sharpen your patchwork skills. Whether you’re a confident beginner or a seasoned pro, this 9-patch design is excellent practice toward enhancing your overall abilities. Half square triangles are made with pieced triangle units, containing both smaller light and dark triangles. The smaller units may challenge your accuracy, but are completely doable with a bit of care and extra attention to cutting and minding your quarter-inch seams. If you’re feeling worried about diving into this round alone, don’t be! Val and I also have a video tutorial ready to go with step-by-step instructions on how to tackle Round Three with ease. All you have to do to watch is click the button below!

Still thinking about joining us for “Meet Me in the Garden“ but haven’t quite decided yet? You can find all the details in the introduction post I made a few weeks back where I take you through all the fabric and tools that you will need to participate in this stitch-along. This is a six month long project, so I highly recommend having everything you need prior to starting. You can read more about the stitch-along and what’s required by clicking HERE! Video tutorials for each round are posted to my YouTube channel, “Stitch with Lisa Bongean” each month on the listed release dates. You can watch the intro to Meet Me in the Garden now by clicking the STITCH button below! If you have any questions feel free to email the shop at store@primitivegatherings.us and we’ll be happy to help!

As you can imagine I’m pretty beat after the The Great WI Quilt Show last week in Madison. Our booth was packed to the gills non-stop from opening day all the way up until tear down. Trade shows are a lot of fun but they are a lot of WORK as well. I always feel like I need a vacation after getting home from an event like that! It’s all for good reason though. Despite the hustle and bustle I will say that we had a very successful show and that we’re already planning and looking forward to next year! If you were able to make it out to our booth, thanks for stopping by! I got to meet and talk with so many awesome fellow stitchers young and old – it was great. And of course, we can’t forget about the wall-to-wall eye candy. Just wow! So much talent under one roof is always something to see. It was a privilege to be there!

We’re safe and sound back at home but yet – there’s no rest for the…well…witchy, as we kick off the annual Witches Retreat at The Gathering this week! Retreaters will be working on one quilt and one wool project especially geared toward the spookiest time of year. I’ll be sure to grab some photos of their progress and to show you later this week! Until then, don’t forget to set your timer for Shop Talk with Shelley tomorrow morning at 9:30 am CST where she’ll be talking about a few of her favorite quilts from my Urban Homestead Gatherings project book, and a couple of super cute pillows that are quick easy projects just in time for Halloween! Don’t miss it – you can tune in by clicking the STITCH button below. Then at 1:00 CST join me and my good friend and life coach Dara Tomasson to tackle some more serious life topics having to do with a healthy lifestyle and staying on track with personal goals and ambitions. Have I piqued your interest yet??? You’re not gonna want to miss this… See you there! ~Lisa