Last Chance to SAVE 30% on Urban Farmhouse Gatherings II!

Hey everyone! Staying warm out there? If you’re anywhere near the midwest you are definitely experiencing some frigid temps this afternoon. I woke up to a big fat 0º goose egg on the thermometer this morning and it really hasn’t moved. Perfect stitching weather to say the least! If you haven’t already heard, today is your last chance to get 30% OFF Urban Farmhouse Gatherings II pre-cuts and select pillow kits! Click below to SHOP! Sale ends at midnight (remember that FLASH Sale details are also posted daily by 6:30 a.m. on both the public PG Facebook page and my STITCH Facebook group. If you are not already a member of the STITCH group, you must request to join in order to see the posts. It’s easy! Just answer the admin questions, wait for approval, and you’re in!).

Next on the agenda for today is some scheduling details I’d like to go over. Thank you to everyone who’s been paying attention and taking note that our holiday hours over Christmas and New Years will be different than normal. As you’ve probably seen, we have been posting those hours on a regular basis to our Primitive Gatherings Facebook page, my STITCH with Lisa Facebook page, here on the blog, as well as announcing it during our LIVE shows. Unfortunately, after the excellent job my social media department did distributing that information, of course we now need to make a slight change to it. Murphy’s law!

Originally we planned for the launch of our new website to be January 6th, 2023, but due to unforeseen circumstances we have run into a bit of a…snafu, if you will – with how it’s running. In other words, we just need a bit more time to smooth things out so that when we do finally launch, it will be working like a well-oiled machine. We have our fingers crossed that will be happening sometime this coming February. So what does that mean for you? PLEASE BE AWARE that we will be CLOSED December 24th – December 26th, 2022. We will also be CLOSED January 1st through January 3rd, 2023. We will reopen for regular business hours on January 4th, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. CST. The website will NOT be going down during this time and will remain up and running as usual until further notice. We will announce upcoming “website under construction” times closer to that date, hopefully in February.

If you didn’t already hear, you should also know that our winter hours are now in effect, and will be until April 2nd, 2023. Our regular winter hours are as follows:

Next up, due to some scheduling conflicts, we’ve also had some changes happen to our upcoming events calendar at The Gathering. Quilting for Beginners is CANCELED until further notice. We are hoping to add more classes in later winter or spring so please stay tuned for those details. If you have any questions, please call Gloria or Lori at The Gathering at 920.778.8031 for more information.

Unfortunately we also need to cancel our next Sit & Stitch session, which was scheduled for this Tuesday, December 27th, 2022. Our next available session will be January 10th, 2023 from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. The cost is $25.00 per person with lunch included. As usual, seating is limited so if you’d like to sign up or need more information, call The Gathering at 920.778.8031.Hopefully that will be it for a while, but as always if there are any other changes or announcements you can find those here on my blog and on our Primitive Gatherings Facebook page, my STITCH with Lisa Facebook page, and here on my blog. We also make important announcements during our LIVE show, so be sure to tune in for those, which you can do by clicking the STITCH button below! Speaking of LIVE, my next STITCH with Lisa Bongean broadcast will be at 1:00 p.m. CST on my YouTube channel and I can tell you right now that you reallllly don’t want to miss this one!

As you know we’ve had daily flash sales going on pretty much daily all month as a way to say thanks for being such great customers and loyal fans – and of course to say happy holidays from me and my crew here at Primitive Gatherings! Going forward, there will not be a FLASH sale tomorrow, but I will be giving a special announcement about what the rest of the month will entail tomorrow during STITCH with Lisa Bongean,” so don’t miss it! All you have to do to tune in is hit the STITCH button below!

Well friends, as I’m looking out my studio window I can definitely tell that winter storm Elliott is starting to approach. We started out so sunny and clear but now the cloud cover is starting thicken and the air seems balmy compared to what it was just a couple of hours ago. According to my weather app it might actually hit 10º by bed time tonight as the clouds continue to roll in and thicken. I’ve seen some pretty impressive snow total predictions throughout the day between all the different weather resources I use so it will be interesting to see if we actually get any. There have been a few too many times in recent winters where we’re promised a “doozy” of a storm and barely see a flurry, so I’m really hoping this isn’t one of those times. After all, there is something extra special about a blizzard over Christmas. It’s like magic!

Before we wrap it up for the day, in the true spirit of the giving season I think we should give away DOUBLE prizes this week! Judy D., Jenny M., Helen L., and Diane M. – Congratulations, Christmas just came early for you. You are the lucky winners! Like always I did not post last names or email addresses for your privacy, so if you made a comment here on the blog last week and think you’re one of the lucky winners, please be sure to check your email. You can also contact Heidi at heidin@primitivegatherings.us if you have not already received a prize confirmation letter from her. She will use your email address to confirm that you are in fact the winner (if you think you are a winner but have not received a prize confirmation email, please be sure to check your spam folder – it’s not often but our emails occasionally will end up there)! Want to be considered for a prize? You know the drill! Leave me a comment for your chance to win. You can also win by commenting during STITCH with Lisa Bongean,” as well so be sure tomorrow when I spill the beans on what I have in store for you for the remainder of the year. Click below to watch. See you there ~Lisa

December 15th – Take 30% OFF All Urban Farmhouse II Yardage, Pre-Cuts, and Kits!

Hey, hey! Back again with another exciting FLASH Sale! TODAY ONLY take 30% OFF all Urban Farmhouse II yardage, pre-cuts, and quilt kits! Urban Farmhouse II is all about mixing vintage prints with a modern color palette to create a mood that is warm, welcoming, and comfortable, all while being independent and distinctive. It features beautiful large-scale floral prints that accompany my tried-and-true shirting-style prints. Take advantage of the lowest prices of the year on this awesome collection before time runs out!

I hope you enjoy today’s sale… If you’d like to know more about Urban Farmhouse II, I’ll be talking all about it later today at 1:00 p.m. CST LIVE on my STITCH with Lisa Bongean YouTube channel! Click the link below to watch. See you soon! ~Lisa

MBH4 Block #18 – “Crowning Glory”

Hey everyone, happy hump day! You know that Wednesday means it’s Blockheads time again, so let’s get to it! This week Betsy Chutchian of Betsy’s Best Quilts and More adds her style to the mix with block #18, Crowning Glory.” Betsy has been sewing since childhood and taught herself to quilt in the 80’s after receiving an inspirational antique quilt top as a gift from her elders. Soon after she began teaching in 1990, and has since gone on to share her passion for quilt making by reproducing 19th Century quilts through classes, presentations, and bed-turnings. In addition, she is the author of several books and is also a fabric designer for Moda. Busy lady!

What a beautiful block! Crowning Gloryis basically a nine-patch, but could be considered a bit trickier than other nine-patches you may have done in the past. I highly recommend starching your fabric for this one, because it will make working with the smaller pieces much easier. Starching your fabric ahead of time not only helps to maintain control of smaller elements, but also helps to keep bias edges from stretching. Though it seems like this block might take some extra skill, don’t worry! My best advice is to take your time. It really doesn’t have to be difficult. As my fellow stitcher and colleague Brenda put it, “It’s like eating an elephant – take it one bite at a time!” LOL!

For my version of this block, I decided to keep the same basic color scheme going as I have been using in pervious weeks. I stuck with “Ochre” as my background color (sorry, we are currently out of stock of Ochre, but should be getting more soon), and used a mid-gray floral on black Urban Farmhouse Gatherings II print for the outer most pieces. For the center square I pulled a 180º, and did the opposite – black floral print on mid-gray. I think it looks great!

As you saw, for the inner pieces and center of last week’s block I went a little crazy and stepped outside the box by adding some Zen Chic fabric choices to the mix. I really liked how it turned out, so I decided to keep it going this week as well. I used a white Zen Chic again for the “crown” shapes that seem to form around the middle portion of the block. The white against the black really helps those shapes to pop, making Crowning Glory the perfect name for this design. Ready to start your own version of Crowning Glory?” For the pattern and a full set of instructions, visit Betsy’s blog by hitting the button below!

As usual if you’re just joining MBH4 and need to catch, up you can find all of the previously released MBH4 blocks in the Moda Blockheads 4 Archive listed in the main menu of links at the top of my blog page. They can also be found on Moda’s Inspiration+Resources Center Page, along with all bonus blocks by clicking HERE! If you’re having trouble keeping all the details straight, you can also sign-up to receive Moda’s weekly Blockheads blog posts via e-mail at the Inspiration+Resources Center as well.

Well folks, it being Wednesday also means that I am working in my home studio today. It’s the one day a week that I try to hide away where nobody can interrupt me (that’s the idea anyway). My goal is to take some time to myself and get caught up on any loose end projects I have, so that I don’t fall behind. With having so much going on at once, getting off track on any one thing could certainly mean bad news in the grand scheme of things – especially if I’m trying to make a deadline! Multi-tasking like we do around here definitely requires a level of self discipline…I do my best. 😉  What matters most is that no matter how busy I get, I still love what I do – and because I love it so much, it never gets old! Do you have a designated sewing day on your schedule? How about a special room in your home specifically for stitching? Tell me about it in the comments! It’s important to make time in life for the people and things that we love. Otherwise, what’t the point?! Life is short, enjoy yourself!

That’s all for today, but I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow on my Stitch with Lisa Bongean YouTube channel. I’ll be going LIVE from our Primitive Gatherings Longarm Department at 1:00 PM CST. The boys and I will be proudly showing off their progress on quilting the Mystery Mission Hogs for Heroes quilts, which we’ll be donating to a group of deserving veterans later this summer. I have to say that I am super proud of how this project is turning out. I mean, I knew it would be great but THIS great? I’ll take it! Of course I couldn’t have done it without all of you – THANK YOU – THANK YOU – THANK YOU!!! I really hope you join us LIVE tomorrow to see how all your effort and hard work is coming along! You can tune in by clicking the “STITCH” button below. Hope to see you there! ~Lisa