The Spring Equinox, 2011

Dear Friends,

This world never ceases to astonish me. Teri and I have had our shop for 25 years and were little more than children when we opened it-- both of us just out of college. And through the years we have had many odd and funny adventures. Certainly one of our grand experiences has been living in a hundred and thirty year old carriage and blacksmith shop where we have encountered many of the joys that an old building shares with its resident people. So...why was I at all surprised when we arrived at work recently and stopped in front of the door to lament that Sebastian had removed our Christmas lights. Then I hesitated thinking that something else looked odd. And odd it was, since the 40 foot copper downspout had vanished off our building. Teri and I simply stared truly wondering how a person removes such a thing on a busy, main street in the middle of the downtown--one block from the police station. I know, I have sat through many heritage meetings where we heard about the growing thefts of copper wiring from old buildings, but my downspout? Really? So after a quick and singularly unsatisfactory call to the police, Teri's super sleuth mode set in convincing me that her childhood obsession with every Nancy Drew book ever written had finally served her well. Within an hour, she had found the unfortunate fixture hidden in a veritable Dickens-esque warren of unsavory characters and activities, where we looked in dismay at our downspout flattened and chopped into 1 foot lengths. I am happy to say that we did turn it over to the police at that point, after I convinced Teri that I was drawing the line at tracking down the chief suspect ourselves. Unfortunately, in spite of the day or two of excitement, we are now left with a front porch slightly reminiscent of Niagara Falls on a rainy day, and the almost constant job of guarding the matching downspout on the other side of the building.

In spite of being very busy chasing suspects and look-alike suspects, we have actually been working quite hard inside of the shop. For better or for worse, Teri has taken down most of our snow things and brought out Easter and Spring in all their glory. Of course that means that we will undoubtedly get snow this weekend. But in the meantime I promised to show you some of the new, fun things that we picked up at Market. If you are a person who loves little darling sewing implements, you have to take a look at the sweet needle books and quilting tomatoes.

The tomatoes come in several colours and run only $5.00 with an adorable stick pin and $4.00 without one. ( Oddly, some colours come with, and some without.) I love the little needle books. They are sweet and small and would fit in your box perfectly. They come in gold, green and rose and run $6.00 each. Plus--when you purchase one, we will put in a new, gold needle.

Here is a little pattern that we had at market and I have finally gotten it put together in a little kit with everything you will need to complete it. It is called--Tiny Bee Garden pin cushion. It goes with the Tiny Garden Fob and is part of a series that Teri is going to be adding to. The price for the little kit is and it includes everything needed--including the silver bee charm-- except the stuffing.

If you haven't had a chance to see the new SamSarah books, we are sending you a picture. They are super sweet and very fun for spring. Harried Hare just makes me smile with its picture of a rapid rabbit on egg delivery. The colors are fun and cheerful, and if you are more into a quicker project, you can do what Teri is doing and just stitch the darling carrot pin cushions that go along with it. She spent yesterday afternoon gathering supplies to come home and stitch them up, so I will keep you posted as to her progress. I know I am much better at gathering the perfect materials, than I am at stitching the project.

She has also been busy stitching one of the darling totes from the Spring Totes book and said it was a lot of fun to do. These mesh totes come in different colours and are the perfect thing to carry your projects in while you are on the go.

And finally Market Fresh is a series featuring fresh fruits. The first one is Watermelon and I thing Teri has secretly gathered supplies to make the pin cushion on that book. Hmm...we'll see.

I also promised a picture of the new Blackbird books. A Stitcher's Journey is fabulous and filled with wonderful projects. Lynnette is quite quickly working her way through many of them and they are fantastic. She just picked up 2 from Jill and they are wonderful. I am sure they are hanging in her house by now.

And here are the series of Rewards of Merit pieces that I thing are so dear. They all vary in size and theme, but are truly so endearing. Did I mention that I have almost finished Dear Friend. Maybe I can show it next time I write.

The new limited edition sewing accessory pack from Little House is very fun and we still have a few left before they are gone. Fresh From the Garden is a pattern booklet and threads which funs $23.00 and the pre-finished Accessory pack includes a darling stuffed tomato and needle book in sweet, sweet fabrics for only $28.00. I think these were a one-time thing from market, so be sure to get them while they are still available.

Finally, you just have to see the darling new sampler that our friend Marilyn has stitched for us. It is a wonderful Long Dog piece, From the Hand of Friendship. I just love the colour Teri has used from both the linen and the thread, and I can't wait to see what Jill does with it.

OK, I have to finish this up and get it off to you. My family is restless and whining about dinner, so I guess I have to get it going. I think we are going to have Chicken Cacciatore--I only hope I can fix it better than I can spell it. Enjoy the rain if it is coming your way, and otherwise I hope that you have a crocus blooming in your garden.
ever fondly, Tina