Some Primitive Gatherings News… & Give Away Winner!

 
Hey….I hope you are all enjoying your stitching this summer! 
 
We are so busy getting our new store and The Gathering ready for you all!  It is SO exciting! I want to announce that we have started taking reservations and will soon be launching some planned/event retreats!  So look for those SOON as well. 
If you feel like me, you may be going through withdrawls from not enough time with your friends or those who are passionate about stitching and creating wonderful things. Too much alone time last year, so let’s have some fun together!
 
We are here to provide a place built just for you to hang out, relax and create all the beautiful things you have wanted to work on.   The Gathering will be an experience you will always remember…the inspiration, the gardens, the food, the swag and the camaraderie you can only find when you spend a lot of time together!  I look forward to making new friends at every retreat I attend…and now I can be at one every week!  Quilters are special people to be around.
 
Here is the flyer for The Gatherings…we offer several packages, 3 nights, 6 nights as well as a discounted whole house booking…but will also do single stays as well…so whether you have a large or small group we look forward to  making  your Quilting experience at The Gathering, one of the best!  Jenny our Gathering manager would love to hear from you and get you set up!
 
Summer Blocks of the Week are almost ready to ship!!!  We have two this summer.  Our hand pieced or EPP will be a BOM and will start soon as well….
 
Wildflower Garden -scrappy above
 
Wildflower Garden -contemporary— GOOD LUCK making your choice…
 
…and then pieced with two color options as well-called Front Porch Swing…
Amy’s version

I am so enjoying stitching these simple but fun blocks..

 

Click HERE to join our Blocks of the Week!

 

Thursday is LIVESTREAM day…so mark your calendar with an alert!  It’s not too late to start quilting along with us!!! We are only on block 5!

I am doing some final stitching on our projects for our special Christmas in July box!!! We may still have a few spots open!!! Great discount and a fun gift or for you to get started on Christmas 2021!  Here are the details…

You all asked for it and we have listened! You are looking for one of our awesome Wool Boxes but you would like it Holiday/Christmas Themed, well we will have that available for you and shipping to you in July!  There will be over $150 worth of product in the box for just $105 (domestic) which included shipping!  This box will be geared toward projects you can get done over the next few months in time for the Holiday Season!  Sign up today as we only have a certain amount that we are going to be making!  Once we are full, there will be no more!

THIS CAN BE THE ONLY ITEM ON YOUR ORDER AS IT DOES NOT SHIP UNTIL THE END OF JULY

Click HERE for Christmas in July Box

and the winner of the quilted flag t-shirt from last week’s blog post is….

Thanks for this block series! I am trying to carve out some time to catch up, but until then the red, white & blue are in my every thought. Great way to support our veterans!  Ruth

Thank you Ruth for reading my blog…We appreciate your support of Primitive Gatherings and we hope you love your T-shirt!  Please contact me @ lisab@primitivegatherings.us

Then… last, yes, I saved the best for last….we are over the moon at our newest additions at Primitive Gatherings!!!  We have our first two old English Babydoll Southdown sheep!  

We are working on their names…both girls…their registered names are Sundrop and Sodapop!  We can’t wait for more…but we love that we were able find these two ladies!

My best…Lisa

 
Lisa Bongean/American Quilters SAL

Hogs for Heros…American Quilter’s Stitch Along/Prep

HOGS FOR HEROES checking in here…and we are stunned, and honored, by this beautiful effort to support our healing mission! We only just learned of Lisa’s generous plan and can hardly believe quilters across the nation will unite to sew their hearts out to benefit veterans’ healing. Thank you!

A little bit about us, because knowing who benefits from your labors is important to your heart. Hogs For Heroes is a small, WI nonprofit created by four family members, none of whom served. We do this volunteer work simply out of gratitude for those who served and sacrificed much on our behalf, and from a desire to provide struggling, at-risk Veterans with a healing alternative: wind therapy, as we Bikers affectionately call it. We raise funds to buy Harley-Davidson motorcycles for Veteran riders who, injured in the course of active duty, find themselves hurting–mentally, physically, emotionally–and unable to have a Bike in their life. We help them heal by gifting them a Harley that allows them to regain peace on the road, control in their life, clarity, pride, and joy…and equally important, support from the rider community and Veteran brotherhoods.

We know motorcycling isn’t everyone’s cup of tea… but if it’s your blood its roots run deep and make up an identity, culture, and community for its riders–all things similar to the military, and deeply missed as Veterans separate from service. It is estimated that 22 Veterans a day commit suicide; another compelling reason to offer alternative therapy with a “tool” that is well established in the military community and will support them for years to come. We direct 100% of every donation straight toward the next Bike and Veteran pairing. And because we do this work voluntarily on the side of jobs, family, and life…we thought we would be successful if we could raise funds to gift one Harley a year. Instead, in just a little over 4 years of gifting bikes, we wrapped up our 2020 season by returning SIXTEEN injured Veteran riders back to the road they love on beautiful Harleys. Each Recipient will tell you that our gift has truly changed their life and, in several cases, literally saved their lives. And while our gift is only given to one individual, its positive ripple effect impacts the lives of their spouses, families, friends, employers, and community as they find new outlets, opportunities, and support systems.

Thank you for reading through our nutshell-version to learn about our unique work. And thank you, for participating in this amazing project to support our veterans’ healing needs.

Like what you heard? Be sure to LIKE US on Facebook to stay on top of our activity and announcements! You can learn more about our work and the Veterans we have supported at http://www.hogsforheroeswi.org. And, if you’re so inclined, you can donate there too, but I know Lisa is raising funds as well with this stitch along and you may want to contribute to the Quilters effort.

🙂 Peace to all…. and best wishes as you each make these beautiful quilts!  Audra Thompson

If this doesn’t touch you?  I don’t know what does, It has even more impact seeing it in person. May 2019 I watched Rob Thede receive his bike…and with tears streaming down my face that is when I decided I was going to “try” and do this for another vet.  Believing you can is 90% of completing a goal.  It is now time to make that happen.  With this American Quilters Stitch Along WE are going to accomplish it. I hope you’re along for this ride...because I need y’all to do it!  I’m counting on us Quilter’s to make this happen!  Audra left the above info as a comment on my blog but I wanted you all to read it.  She sent this to me after I called her and explained what I wished to do.  We have set up a separate bank account for our funds raised, you will be able to directly donate to it.  I will let you know when that time comes.  But while you are waiting you can start getting ready…

American Quilters SAL/Lisa Bongean

         Here is a PDF of the following info…You may want to print it and start a binder for this project!                                                                                  Click HERE to print SAL Prep

                                                                       

★    Hey Everyone…                                                                                                              

    I am so excited you are going to Stitch-Along with us on this wonderful pattern. This quilt is so much fun and everyone will want it! You now have to decide if you are only going to make one, or more than one! Hopefully, we will be starting on time, but if our fabric is delayed we will have to push it back and start when it is possible!                                       

  I do have an underlying reason for this SAL and that is to raise money for Hogs for Heroes.    

    I hope all of you can help me do this, and we can help change lives for our military veterans. I will be posting more information about this on my blog.                                     

HERE ARE A FEW THINGS I THINK WILL BE HELPFUL WHEN MAKING THIS QUILT                                        

   The American Gatherings Fat Quarter fabric bundle. -Each FQ tower of American Gatherings bought at Primitive Gatherings is an automatic $10 donation for Hogs for Heros.                                                  

★    4 or 6 yards of fabric, for sashing, borders, and bindings. I made one quilt with blue and the other one with cream…I will be making several more with the blocks I will be making while doing the tutorials each week. I have two sizes here just in case you want to make your quilt bigger or add matching pillowcases. The four yards is enough to complete the quilt.                                                                                                                              

★    Starch – I strongly suggest you starch your fabrics prior to cutting them. I will be posting a video on How to Starch your fabrics.  Buy Heavy Duty Faultless starch in blue or purple cans, not gold.  You will need about 2 for this project.

★    ThreadsMy suggestions for threads are any of these three, Aurifil 2309 (cream) 2620            (light/med grey) and 2785 (navy). I personally do not like stitching dark fabrics with light thread…I used the navy for stitching the blue borders on the quilt blocks.                           

★    Small rulers like, 3×7, 6×6, 5×15 Itty Bitty Eights rulers. All of these rulers will be so helpful for cutting these blocks.                                                                                        

★    12½” x 12½’ Creative Grid rulers. This ruler is so helpful in squaring up your finished quilt blocks.                                                                                                                            ★

★    Simple Folded Corner ruler. This tool is awesome…especially if you like perfect blocks.         

★   Optional, but recommended…Single Hole throat plate on your machine. If you have an oblong hole on your machine where the needle goes up and down, you may want to put on a single hole throat plate. These are standard on machines that only stitch straight, but can be purchased for your machine if you do not have one. This prevents the little pieces of fabric from being sucked down into the oblong hole which is standard on machines         

 

I may share other ideas, tips, and thoughts along the way. I will be posting the block each week on here on my Blog along with weekly giveaways, auctions and other fun…do not miss out!            

 Here are all the places to join in-these are links and when clicked will take you there to sign up.

lisabongean.com-you are here…but are you signed up?               

If you are on a computer it is on the right-hand sidebar…if you are on a phone/tablet you will have to scroll to the bottom of this post to sign up…

You-tube channel- Stich with Lisa Bongean

Stitch with Lisa’s Facebook Group.                       

I encourage you to stitch along each week, share your blocks on my Stitch with Lisa’s           Facebook Group, and tag your blocks with #americanquilterssal on Instagram or other social platforms. I know lots of shops will also be hosting this as a Stitch-Along…I am hoping we can get some posts and comments from them as well as showing them all stitching together!                                                                                                           

★   ABBREVIATIONS: I like to use the following abbreviations in the pattern to help from repeating over and over.                                                                                                 

          SFC = Single Folded Corner                                                                                     

         SQ/SQ = Square in a Square                                                                                    

         FG = Flying Geese

         HST = Half Square Triangle                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

★ I will show a couple of different ways to make/stitch the blocks each week. However, you may have a preferred way and you are more than welcome to use your favorite method.           

★Cutting for Blocks: 

In the first week, I will give you the cutting for all the red and cream stripes. You can choose to cut one block each week OR stack and cut ALL of your blocks (20) for the whole quilt the first week.         

 When stacking your fabrics, pay attention to the direction of the stripes. You may want them to run the short way on some prints and/or the long way. This is certainly up to you. (But keep this in mind when you are stacking and cutting your strips.) These strips are also cut longer and will be trimmed down later. I find this much easier with this many strips involved.                                                                                                                        

 ★ Use a scant ¼” seam allowance and test it to make sure you are not too big or too small.                                                                      

 I just found out our FQ bundles will be delayed….there are so many on the order they need a little more time!.   This gives us a little extra time to gather our things and get ready….so no worries, we will start with the first block when the fabric is on it’s way to us from Dallas.   It’s a time of adaptability.  I will redo the 20 bock schedule so we have all the blocks by Memorial Day! Lisa     

Print this for the cover of your binder…there is a PDF  link button below.             

Lisa Bongean/American Quilters SAL           PDF Cover for American Quilters SAL                                                                                 

That is all for now…I hope you are as excited as I am to get this project started!     

I’ll be in touch….Lisa