Hey friends – T.G.I.F! I’m super glad the weekend is here, especially since I spent the first half of the week sick in bed. I was down and out in such a way that it even took the desire to stitch out of me. In hindsight, I wasn’t feeling 100% by Friday of last week and probably should have figured I was coming down with something, but I blew it off as fatigue due to normal wear and worker bee tear, on top of the stress of packing for my trip to Nashville. Of course, traveling while feeling like that couldn’t have helped the situation, and by the time I got home I had lost my voice and was completely wiped out. Like I said, I didn’t even feel like stitching, which for me, is pretty rare. I guess even I need to slow down from time to time, and let my body rest and repair itself. I may seem like Super Woman sometimes, but even she gets a cold here and there.

The good news is, I’m on the mend and should be good to go for my big International Women’s Day speech, coming up this Saturday. In fact, if you’re local and looking for something to do this weekend, I invite you to stop by! In case you haven’t heard, I was lucky enough to be selected as the keynote speaker for this year’s Winneconne Chamber of Commerce luncheon event, “Celebrating International Women’s Day in the Heart of Winneconne.” The luncheon will take place this Saturday – March 9th, 2024 from 11:30 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. at the Fin N’ Feather Restaurant in Winneconne, WI (doors open at 11:00 a.m.). The schedule of events is as follows:

The first 50 people to attend the luncheon will receive a swag bag at registration! Shopping cards featuring local businesses will also be given out to all attendees at the end of the luncheon. Each participating business will have a correlating sticker or stamp to place on the shopper card when you visit their location on the day of the event. Once the shopper fills in four business locations with a sticker/stamp, their card can then be turned in and entered into a drawing for chance to win a Winneconne Chamber of Commerce gift card. A live prize drawing will be held at 5:00 p.m. at the Fin N’ Feather in Winneconne that evening (need not be present to win). Tickets for the event are $25.00 each and can be purchased right here in the shop at Primitive Gatherings, or at one of these following Winneconne, WI businesses:

• Studio 136 – 136 W Main St #9332, Winneconne – (920) 582-4567
• Red’s Boutique & Market – 100 W Main St, Winneconne – (920) 376-5001
• Mama Bears Boutique – 118 E. Main Street, Winneconne – (920) 404-5162
• Anchor Nutrition – 911 E Main St, Winneconne – (920) 706-0067
• Fin N’ Feather Restaurant – 22 W Main St, Winneconne – (920) 582-4305
• Off the Wolf Supper Club – 204 W Main St, Winneconne – (920) 582-4422

Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? And it’s the perfect excuse to get out and about in our local area to do a little networking… And of course, spend some money! Good food, friends, and fun, all to support both women AND our community? I’m in, and I hope you are too!

I’m sure by Sunday I’ll be happy to have a day off to focus on myself and my own projects. Being off for several days in a row and not being able to work on anything really drove me nuts because even though I wasn’t ever behind on anything, I still FELT like I had work piling up. The busy-body struggle is real! The first thing on my agenda for Sunday will be playing a bit of catch up in the quilt-along department, starting with Moda Blockheads 5. Due to being trapped in bed and unable to stitch, I was forced to skip out on block release #11, so I need to get at least that done along with #12 ahead of time for next week. After that, Heidi informed me that I have some serious work to do on Twilight Stars because after this week’s block release #39, I’m officially out of finished blocks (and I was doing so well)! Speaking of release #39, it’s time! Please add block numbers 34 and 80 to your list!

A big thanks goes out to Anna Martindale for taking the time to share photos of her finished blocks to social media from week #38! It makes me happy to see that she is, “enjoying the process” considering that’s one of the main reasons to join a QAL! I feel like the structure and schedule provide realistic goals, and take the guess work out of where you “should” be progress-wise on your quilt. Plus, it’s fun to quilt along with other stitchers who are tackling the same challenge as you are. Not to mention, you might even win a prize if you share your progress, just like Anna did! All you have to do to participate is post a photo of your completed blocks for the week along with the required book, Triangle Gatherings and Primitive Gatherings Triangle Paper included in the picture. You can post it on either our Facebook or Instagram pages (or both!) including the hashtag #TwilightStarsQAL.

Well friends, it sounds like the rain forecasted for today just rolled in. There’s nothing quite like being in a building with a steel roof when a downpour hits unexpectedly. If I’m not near a window and don’t know it’s coming, it’s always a confusing sound to identify at first. Then, as soon as I get it figured out, I instantly feel like I could go home and take a nap for the rest of the day. What’s up with that? Either way, I’ll take as much rain as nut bag Mother Nature wants to give us. We desperately need it because after such a snowless “winter,” our lakes and rivers are super low. In other words, she can keep this rainy “stitching weather” coming… For now, anyway.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and that I see some familiar faces at my event on Saturday. As always, before I sign off I want to give a shout-out to a couple of people I really appreciate. THANK YOU to Patty J. and Debby K. for their comments on the blog last week! Heidi is putting something nice together for you from her prize vault as we speak (if you think you might be a winner, please check your email for a prize confirmation notice)! Feeling jealous of Patty and Debby? Don’t! LIKE this post and leave me a comment, and you could be a winner too!

I will see you all next week for CommentSold on Tuesday at 10:00 a.m., followed by STITCH Brothers at 11:00 a.m., and again on Thursday for STITCH with Lisa Bongean on YouTube at 1:00 p.m. CST, and CommentSold at appx 2:15 p.m. Tune in for a good time, shopping, and some quality entertainment! Oh, and in case you didn’t know, Thursday is National “Write Your Story” day so we’ll be talking a little bit about MY story and how Primitive Gatherings came to be. To add to the fun, I’d really love it if you would let me know how Primitive Gatherings has become part of YOUR story. If you’d like to share your story with us and the rest of the Primitive Gatherings family, please send an email to heidin@primitivegatherings.us describing how PG has affected you in a positive way, and you might just be featured during our LIVE show. Don’t be shy. We’re all looking forward to hearing from you. Have a great weekend, everyone! ~Lisa