Mid April

First of Spring, 2013

Dear Friends,

Spring is reluctant to flourish here in Utah this year.  I have determinedly hung my coat up in the closet, only to shiver and grouse my way to and from work each day.  Bob seems to play a game with the weather man--racing to mow our front lawn--which Lindbergh so generously keeps well fertilized--in between snow showers.  And Teri has cheerfully donned her short sleeves and florals in an attempt to bring this impending change on for good.  And yet the Sun--with its light and warmth--remains shy and somewhat stingy with its gifts ever reminding me that all things come in their own time. Seasons and flowers and fruits.  And I know that somehow in the midst of the busy revolution of each April day and night, I will come home one late afternoon, stop and take a moment to breathe, and see that my yard is filled with tulips, and buds and sudden, new green.  Isn't that just the way of life?  I think about my little boys--grown and busy with their own plans and living, and I truly wonder when that happened.    Honestly, if I am very quiet, I can almost hear their shrieks and footfall in the backyard, the swings still moving beneath the pumping of sturdy legs, guitar chords and drums from the basement, and laughter and arguing.  Almost.  Why do I wait so impatiently for seasons to pass and then wonder why they do?

Our backyard at the shop is not exactly a harbinger of the beauties of the seasons, but it does have its little green spots which we cherish amidst the brick and concrete of a downtown.  We have 2 beautiful lilac bushes grown huge from starts from my mom's and grandmother's homes, and each year we anxiously watch for the first sign of green to appear.  Now and then we are even gifted with a cheerful daffodil and a few scarlet tulips here and there where Teri planted a few bulbs years ago.  And then this year we were surprised with these 2 little darlings which popped up under the lilac bushes bravely withstanding the snows and hails of our tumultuous April weather.  I begged Teri to come and take a picture, and now I am sharing it with you just in case Spring is coming slowly to you as well.  

  

Kari's Oliver is ready for the family Easter egg hunt armed with a darling bag which she stitched and finished to help with the grand gathering of candy--which he wasn't allowed to eat.  Aww.....

My Name is Lidya

by Stacy Nash

96 page Book: $34.00?  

This lovely book is truly hot off the press.  It is filled with beautiful projects including a fantastic reproduction sampler which is worked on 40 count Espresso linen by R & R.  We were thrilled to get a  few copies of the first release, so call quickly if you would like one.  Not exactly sure about the price, but somewhere in that range. 

  

Springology

by Heart in Hand 

Leaflet:  $8.00

Complete kit:  $31.40

We stitched this fabulous pillow on a large count fabric with perl cotton.  Teri then choose the perfect coordinating cotton fabrics to finish the pillow in.  For sheep lovers, it is the perfect piece!  

My Home

by Needlework Press

Leaflet: $ 14.00

Isn't this just a darling sampler.  It is so old fashioned and charming that I want to stitch one myself.  I love that you can personalize it.  And if you don't want to move to Utah, it comes with the words for each state graphed and ready to go.  (Good luck to you if you live in West Virginia)  Teri picked the most beautiful piece of hand-dyed linen and changed the colors and then added some matching flower buttons.  I love it.  

Little Sheep Virtues

There's still time to join our club and stitch this very fun piece along with all of us.  The fourth part should be coming to us early next week, so get caught up!!!!  Everyone here has had so much fun, that they have each new one stitched within 3 days and then have to wait--not so patiently--for the next one to arrive.  Nancy is working hers on 36 count--all on one piece of fabric.  It is so so darling. 

Lynnette, is working hers on separate pieces of 18 count linen, and it is also so so darling.  It has been fun watching them both stitch along.  

 

Our center Spring display

Spring Scissor Fob

by Barbara Ana Designs

leaflet: $10.00 

Ok, this piece is seriously very cute from a wonderful designer from Spain.  Doesn't everything about it just make you smile?  We stitched it on a wonderful 10 count so it was actually quite quick and easy, and the pillow fabric is such a darling complement.  How could you resist?  (The one thing that causes me to really stop and wonder is--through what door must I follow Alice in order to make this a scissor fob?)  Good news!!!--perhaps a fob for hedge clippers.

A Red Cottage

By Plum Street Designs

leaflet: $9.00 

This is another piece that I love.  Reeta just finished it and picked it up from Jill, so we have been enjoying it.  Isn't it just super sweet?  I think that the red is wonderful--especially as summer approaches.  It is odd and darling and quirky and we all decided that we would love it to spend some time at our own homes.  I don't think Reeta is going for it since she hustled it right on out to her car before we had a chance to draft up a rotation schedule.  

May Basket

By Blackbird Designs

leaflet:  $8.00

kit:  $39.80

This darling Reward of Merit is brand new back from Jill.  I want to stitch this as well because I have a true love of baskets of flowers.  This one is just tiny which makes it even better since it will work up so quickly and be hanging on your wall before summer even starts.  Fabulous fabric and a small color tweak and you are ready to go.

Buzzing 'Round Ewe

By Chessie & Me

leaflet:  $10.00

Linda's patterns are always very popular at our shop.  They usually have sheep and beehives and all those wonderful things that we love so much.  This is another darling piece that we have just had stitched and I think the textures she gets with the different stitches are a lot of fun.  We will also be making this into a complete kit, so if you are interested--just ask.

New Scissor Fobs

from Designs By Lisa

$14.00

Kathy stopped by today to show us her fun new leaflets and these darling scissor fobs,

as always they are very limited and we picked colors that matched all of the Namaste boxes... Just thinking ahead to Mother's Day

  

New Fabulous Sheep Items

We just received a plethora of darling sheep items which will make your heart glad.

Large sheep Scissor Fobs: $10.00

Notebook: $8.00

Small Sheep Fobs: $6.00

Namaste bags

$7.00

This photo is a little frightening caught in a dayglow moment, but do not be deceived.  These new little bags from Namaste are absolutely fabulous.  They match the new colors in the boxes and are the perfect place to stash scissors, needles, lip gloss and many other necessities for the life of a stitcher.  

Needlecases?

$7.00

The greatest part about writing a blog when Teri is not around, is that some of the pictures are of things I have never set eyes on before.  So don't be surprised if I tell you they are needle cases and they turn out to be lip gloss.  (She could have photographed one of them open and then I might have had an easier time guessing what treasure was hidden within.)  Whatever they are...they are very sweet. In my world, they are receptacles for needles, and they are filled inside with a lovely magnetic surface which will quite valiantly  guard your favorite needles.  (I might have to post a retraction about this at a later date.) But in the meantime...enjoy.  (yes they are so darling and they are needle cases-not magnetic, and certainly not lip gloss..... seriously????  but I am not sure how many we have left....sorry, Tina--you snooze, you lose )

Spring String

Leaflet:  $4.50

Lizzie Kate's Spring String just came back from Jill and it is very sweet.  It's not very big and chock full of lovely spring motifs.  Everyone has loved it here at the shop.  We have it all together in a kit as well. Super fun!  We also have the new Buzzy String worked up and Teri says she will be putting up a photo in the next few days.  (Or at least on the next blog.)

New Little House Mystery Sampler

This week we received a note announcing a new mystery sampler by Little House.  From what we can see of the picture, it looks to be sort of gardeny and seasonal.  (Hey we seem to be on a theme here.)  We will let you know more about the details as we receive information, but call and let us know if you are interested.  I don't think it is especially huge and I do know that it takes 13 skeins of over dyed thread, so all in all it should make for a fun summer project. And Little House samplers are always very sweet and fun to stitch up.  So if you are inclined--call and join up.

Well, my night has waned quickly and I need to send this off to you.  Something exciting to be looking forward to is our newly designed web site.  We--actually more like Teri--have been working very hard, and we are hoping to launch it soon. Who knows, maybe we will have a launch party. We will keep you updated as we get it finished up.  Yippee!  Have a great week with plenty of stitches.  hugs, Tina

Market News

Market Week, 2013

Dear Friends,

Here it is--the week after market--and I can hardly believe that we are home again.  We left Ogden at 2:30 in the morning since we had had the brilliant idea to take a 6 am flight--ugh!!!!  We left in the midst of Winter, and returned to the beginnings of Spring.  Everyone at the shop had been working like crazy to get things finished up, and we thought we were ready in spite of 80 yards of fabric which arrived 1 minute before we had to leave.  We had shipped 15 boxes on to Nashville and carried 4 packed, duct-taped suitcases with us.  We had worn clothing with no metal, no pockets, and easy to remove for the inevitable strip searches, and had even taken a few minutes to write up a stellar song in case we were asked to perform at the Grand Ole...So--you would think that we were prepared for the weekend ahead.  Well, not so much. We entered out hotel room and quickly counted up the boxes waiting for us.  11 of the 15.  Not to panic....I quickly tracked the 4 missing ones and found that they were due to arrive on Friday.  Plenty of time for the opening of the market on Saturday.  Friday came and 3 more boxes arrived in our room, which left only 1.  The one still not there was filled with the most darling shopping bags that we had had printed just for this market.  (You know the thing--lovely dark creme colored bags with little string handles and our logo printed in the perfect dusty purple to be finished with adorable paper flowers and sheep in matching colors.)  Teri then spent most of the day trying to find out where the errant box was and by 4:00 realized that it was caught in a mysterious snowstorm nowhere near Nashville.  We had an opening event that we were participating in at 5:00, so I took off for any store I could find to rustle up some kind of bags to put our merchandise (treasures) in.  In desperation we had found 2 plastic Shepherd's Bush bags and 3 string handled carrier bags in Teri's suitcase, and our friend, Jeannette, had brought us a few bags from her recent trip to Joannes.  By my calculations that made 10 down and 90 to go.  I drove through a minor snowstorm to Lowes and asked the kind man to HELP!!!!  I had suggested garbage bags to Teri and she looked like she might cry, so then I wondered about glad wrap, but they didn't have any.  Lindy had suggested brown wrapping paper, so I asked for that.  My Lowes man happily escorted me to the painting section where we gathered up a large roll of heavy brown paper and several rolls of masking tape.  While deliberating about the width of the tape, he asked me what I was painting.  "Nothing," I said.  So then he sympathetically asked what I was actually doing with my purchases, and I said: "making paper bags."  I know he thought I was insane-- and perhaps I was.  Back at the hotel, Teri just stared at my paper and tape in relative dismay, but I assured her that I had it under control.  Much later--actually closer to midnight--she was amazed to find out that we were shortly setting out to make 85 large--very large--paper pouches, and at 2 in the morning when I emailed Charland to tell her my woes, she could only answer me by saying:  STOP--RETHINK THIS MADNESS.  But I am quite happy to report that the envelopes worked very well, and when they were filled and tied up with pink striped baker's twine and finished with darling paper flowers that Teri and the girls at work had spent the past 2 weeks making, they looked quite respectable. In the end, we decided that we would endeavor to ship just a tad earlier next year.  Oh well, all's well that ends well.  Right? 

We have a few pictures from the market below which you might enjoy.  Otherwise scroll on down to see some of the fabulous finds that Teri made at market.  She and the girls at the shop have busily been putting everything out for our Market Open House, and I have had a great time shopping through their displays-- since I really didn't see any of it in Nashville.  (She did let me out once to go down to a room on Sunday to deliver books, but they were closed so I had to shove them under the door.)  So take a little market tour with Teri, and she will show you all her wonderful finds.   

The window to our hotel room/booth with Teri's hanging paper ornaments.

One of the tables in our room with some of our new designs.

A disaster in progress.

Orders ready and waiting to picked up by Shop owners.

The famous/frightening paper bags.

We were so crazy busy I did not get out to shop at all on Saturday- Friends- other shop owners took pity on me and had different companies hold some of their favorites- thank you! But on Sunday morning I was out the door and flying from room to room, I could not even wait for the elevator, and ran up and down the stairs.  I found so many great things, and did a bit of visiting along the way ( don't tell Tina)   Tina says she hates to shop, but I really think she just likes to sit in the room stitching and visiting with everyone who drops by,  On Sunday night, we pack everything up, all our purchases and carry them home...those duct taped boxes get a second trip to the airport.

Home again Home again Jiggety Jig...

We have had so much fun laying out our market finds--tables brimming with new books, kits, scissors and fabulous gadgets.  

Scissor fobs -$10.00 that are very fun, new wooden thread holders, and in the back a gorgeous scrimshaw thread winder from Guilia painted with a house

Kelmscott had many new things, 3 different scissors, and a mermaid needle minder, and scissor fob (see the blue nameste box at the bottom), and DARLING sheep thread winders (photo of those next week.)

The Purple Thread had such fun kits for small bags, and projects.

Lizzie Kate also had fun new things,  We have already stitched her Spring String on a super purple linen (below)  it is a small card, we have added buttons and tweeked the colors- darling!!

At our House is a new pattern with the thread, so perfect for the busy family

$32.00  Partial kit- (pattern and threads)

 Are you My Mother by Bent Creek

Pattern $ 

We stitched this sweet piece on a great blue linen and added the perfect buttons.

Needleworker by Little House

$26.00 partial kit- (pattern and threads)

Four Seasons by Jeannette Douglas

Pattern and threads, or just pattern

A new wonderful sampler from Jeannette-  You can get the pattern and the threads or you can get just the pattern.  Her detail is so amazing.

Spring Quaker Pincushions-

$ 13.50- kit (limited)

I love stitching these.  We have a very limited supply, they come in pink, gray, and yellow- So clever to finish.

Another table filled with new treasures from the  Nashville market

                                       

New notebooks from Needlework press, we also picked up new microfiber cloths, a cheerful sampler in bright colors.  Sorry I will do a photo next week- they are so cheery and fun.   

Barb and Alma from Blackbird Designs room was darling as always, they had so many new designs- We will be stitching them for the shop- 

Maria Selby Humphrey book 

I just love the way they can take parts and pieces from old samplers and rework them into new wonderful projects- the tall tube pincushion is speculator!  Maybe Nancy could stitch that up this week..

Dear Daughter- Leaflet

by Blackbird Designs

Darling!

May Basket Reward of Merit

by Blackbird Designs

A sweet pincushion.  

Honeybee Hill- leaflet

by Blackbird Designs

OK this is defiantly one for us- thanks Barb and Alma!  Bees, beehives, and a an amazing white shaker box. I am already pulling the threads for this one-  The box is available for special order- It comes in a weathered white, and we have one in the shop to look at.  It runs $160.00 and the Blackbirds said they are going to be doing other patterns for it.   

Liberty Eagle

by Blackbird Designs

Get a jump on the 4th of July with these two neat Americana leaflets

Long May She Wave

by Blackbird Designs

I think I am missing one Blackbird pattern- I will post it next week- 

New Nameste zipper Pouches $7.00

New zippers pouches match the Nameste boxes, they come in lemon, orange, expresso, and Caribbean blue

New Easter embroidery ornaments

By Chickadee Hollow

Do you remember the Christmas ornaments?  Well here are spring and Easter ones to delight.  As always they are preprinted with the design and all you have to do is stitch.  

Little Sheep Virtues

12 month series

Nancy stitched part 2 so fast.  It is turning out totally darling- can't wait for #3.  If you would like to be a part, just give us a call- there is always room for one more.  

Market Party

We served Ruth's Yummy punch- a favorite because it is sooooooo easy ( 1 can of limeade, 1-2 big bottles of Sprite Zero, tons of ice and cut up lemons and limes- stir and drink- YUM.  We also served mini cupcakes from Villa Bella- the best cupcake spot around.  Wish you could have been there- just stir up some punch and pretend...

Here are Lynn and Anne, who drove down from WY for the party- just look at the cute bags- the same ones that did not make it to market-  I have forgotten to photograph so many more fun things- Chessie had great patterns, Stacy Nash, Brenda Gervais and JBW and so many more- oh well next time.  see you soon. Teri and Tina

Greetings from Nashville

Nashville weekend--2013

Dear Friends,

Have fun looking at our new offerings below.  We have had so much fun stitching them, kitting them and getting them ready for you to stitch and enjoy.  Just give us a call if you see something you love.  Remember...we will be having our Nashville Market Day on Wednesday, March 6th from noon to 5:00.  We will be having super fun treats and all our glorious treasures from the market.  Stop by and join us.  

Gratitude Sampler

kit:  $100.00

design size--8" x 14"

This sampler was a true joy for me to make.  It is worked on a fabulous hand-dyed 32 count linen--Salt Sea-- with a generous pallet of softly hued silks.  Complete with little buttons and charms, it will simply make you happy.

Peace and Plenty Pin Cushion

kit:  $20.00

This sweet little pin cushion was designed to complement the Gratitude Sampler.  It is worked on 32 count Salt Sea linen with silks and over dyed cotton threads.  Finish it off with sweet little buttons and a piece of Teri's beautiful hand-dyed ribbon and you will have a little pin cushion to treasure all year. 

Harmony Fob

kit:  $16.00

                                                

Here is a matching fob which is ready and waiting for your favorite stitching corner.  Also stitched on 32 count hand-dyed Salt Sea linen, it comes complete with button, beads and hand-painted ribbon.  Quick to stitch but a joy forever

My Stitching Bag

kit:  $22.00

This sweet bag come to you already sewn together.  All you need to do is stitch the design on the linen portion of the bag.  The kit includes a pattern, threads and button as well as the darling bag with its matching stripe and floral fabric border.  It is so darling.  The perfect place to store your favorite stitching supplies--scissors, threads and needles.

(This wonderful little sheep thread winder is new and also available to purchase.  We will be picking them up at market.  )

Get Eggs

kit:  $12.00

This very fun spring kit is a darling project to remind us that spring might be on its way.  hopefully...  It comes complete with pale pink 32 count linen and a group of silk and cotton threads.  Little hand-dyed buttons look just like colored eggs nestled in the basket.  We have put ours in a little white maple box and it looks so adorable.  But it would also be sweet stitched into a tiny pin cushion.  

All Chicks Welcome

book:  $6.00

This fun piece will make you smile.  It is stitched on a gorgeous pale overdyed blue linen- Fancy Blue, and is embellished with a sweet set of buttons.  We will have complete kits available as well as any of the parts.

Be Attitude Sampler

book:  $8.00

"Be Happy, Be Wise, and Be  are the 3 be attitudes stitched into this sampler.  Stitched on 30 count French Vanilla, with Sampler Threads, and embellished with JABCO buttons, this was a blast to stitch.

Daisy Sheep 

Button:  $8.00 (Pattern free with button purchase)

Complete kit for pin cushion: $20.00

We worked this dear little daisy sheep on 18 count Lambswool linen with overdyed cotton and wool threads.  Finish it off with the darling purple daisy button, made by our friend Dinah, and you will not stop smiling.