Hey, everyone!

What happens when you show up to a sold-out rug hooking event with nothing going for you but a spot on the waitlist, a positive attitude, and a hope and a prayer? Last weekend, my best traveling buddy Darci and I took a leap of faith and rolled into Sister Bay, in Door County Wisconsin for the Door County Rug Hooking Camp without a secure spot on the roster — and let’s just say it was totally worth the gamble! Spoiler alert: they let us in because apparently our good looks and charm were more convincing than our waitlist status… but more on that on another day. I’d love to tell you the whole story, but I’m a bit busy at the moment as I am currently down in Rosemont, IL at the Donald E. Stephens Convention & Conference Center representing Primitive Gatherings at one of the biggest wholesale trade shows in the fiber arts industry — h+h americas!

If you’ve never heard of h+h americas, that’s most likely because it’s a wholesale-only trade show, so if you’re not a designer or shop owner, it’s probably never even crossed your radar. Either way, even though it’s not open to the public, this show has a direct impact on you as a fiber arts consumer — it’s where designers and shop owners come to see what’s new, and where decisions are made about what items make it to retail store shelves in the future. In other words, a lot of what gets decided at h+h americas today shows up in your favorite shops tomorrow!

As usual, Primitive Gatherings showed up to the ball in style — armed, dangerous, and lookin’ fine with my latest fabric line, Wildflower Gatherings, in tow. Inspired by the charm of wildflowers scattered across prairie fields and country roads, this collection brings together a palette of mustard, pumpkin, coral, sage, dusty blues, plum, charcoal, and warm creams that somehow manages to feel both vintage and vibrant all at the same time.

I’ll admit, this line is a bit more on the colorful side than you’re probably used to seeing from Primitive Gatherings, but sometimes it’s good to step outside your comfort zone — even for me! Delicate florals, tiny ditsy prints, and my favorite classic textures round out the bunch, making this collection of fabrics a natural fit for piecing, appliqué, and scrappy quilts alike. Don’t you wish you could see it in person? Since most of you are stuck outside with your noses pressed up against the h+h americas windows, here’s a little video tour of our booth so you can see what all the fuss is about. 3-2-1… roll the eye candy!

Since Wildflower Gatherings is still pretty much still fresh off the press, it’s not quite ready for purchase just yet — it’s actually not scheduled to be physically in the shop until January 2027, but don’t worry… pre-orders will be opening up within the next week or two on the Primitive Gatherings website, so keep your eyes peeled here on the blog, the Primitive Gatherings Facebook page, and my upcoming LIVE shows for any updates on that.

Speaking of my LIVE shows, that reminds me… since neither Jess nor I are going to be around tomorrow due to partying it up at h+h americas, please be aware that we’ve decided to take a break from LIVE with Lisa this week — there will be NO LIVE WITH LISA show on Thursday, May 7th, 2026. We thought about going LIVE from our h+h booth, but we’ve had iffy luck with our internet connection and several unfortunate snafus trying to attempt that in the past, so we figured we’ll skip the fight this time and pick up back where we left off next week at our normally scheduled time. Make sure you join us on my STITCH with Lisa Bongean YouTube channel next Thursday, May 14th, 2026 at 1:00 p.m. CST to hear the scoop on everything we’ve been doing, including a new weekend quilt release, and an update on our Monthly Mini Quilt Series – Round 3, and some other fun things — like the rest of the deets on mine and Darci’s rug hooking adventure! Maybe I can even convince her to join us so she can give her version of events… then again, you know what happens every time she’s scheduled to be on LIVE with me — she doesn’t show up! LOL — gotta love her. I sure do! Either way, it’ll be a hoot so make sure to tune in by clicking the STITCH button below. I’ll see you next week, everyone! ~Lisa