Saturday, November 28, 2015

Happy Holidays


Christmas Open House
November 28th, 2015
11:00-4:00


Dear Friends,
Here we are on the day after Thanksgiving.  Seriously!  How did that happen?  Thanksgiving in Ogden, was blown in on a blizzard and a plummet in temperature.  Oh Yay.  I guess it just wanted to remind us that Winter is definitely on its way, and it is time to swap out the flip-flops for boots.  Ugh. Teri and I had a great day, and I truly hope that you did as well.  We went to Bob's family in Park City and had a sort of low key, non-traditional Thanksgiving filled with yummy food, games, and laughter until I thought we would burst.  I love a day in the middle of the week that makes us sit back and take a break from life as usual.  And as we drove home late last night through 60 mile an hour winds, I had a quiet hour to contemplate blessings:  warm cars, family, 1 boy home and 1 boy that I could talk to off and on all day while he cooked his first turkey, a warm home and a tail wagging dog waiting for me at the end of the journey... and a project to stitch when I got there. And I am thankful for all of you.  Friends that I know and that I don't know who have become such a part of our lives through Shepherd's Bush.  So thanks so much for reading this blog, stitching our pieces, and touching my heart in so many ways.  
Oh, I am also thankful that Teri finally got her computer fixed and then figured out the new operating system so that we could blog again.  It has been a long month in isolation and incommunicado.  But now we're back.
As you can see, Teri has been busy decorating the outside of the shop with fabulous garlands.  Sadly they blew down last night and we had to drag the ladder back out and she braved the buffeting winds to re-attatch them.  So now they look beautiful.  This was evidently her brave day because she went to get a tree in the unbelievably cold wind and came back with a gorgeous one.  Everybody at work helped us to decorate it this afternoon, and as you can see, it is so pretty and ready for our big day tomorrow.   If you are nearby, plan to drop by.  We have lots of darling holiday projects as well as super delicious, festive treats.  I can't wait to get the eggnog stirred up.  We are doing a very fun and quick needle case in the back room if you want to join us.  I hope that we will see you there ready to kick off the holiday season with all of us at Shepherd's Bush.


Here's the little needle case project that you can make in the back.  Do come join us.


I am really excited to show you some of our brand new holiday offerings which we have been busy finishing up.  We will have them ready for the open house tomorrow, so if you can't come in,  just give us a quick call and we will be happy to send any of them off to you for fun December stitching.  

Christmas Sheep
kit:  $20.00


This little sheep is the 3rd in a series of seasonal sheep and is perfect for the upcoming Advent season.  It is stitched on 32 count linen with overdyed silk and cotton threads. 

Santa Box
kit:  $12.00
box:  $30.00
frame:  by Jill 


Another adorable little box kit by Teri.  This little santa is very sweet and will work up very quickly.  Easy to get done before the big day.  Then all you have to do is grab a new red box by Retromantic or give Jill a quick call.  Either way the finishing will be a snap.  

Merry Little Christmas Tray
kit:  $24.00
red holly tray:  $23.00


I hope you love our new little stitching tray piece.  It was such fun to work up and finished up easily and beautifully in a new tray by Retromantic.  They had send us a tray a couple of weeks ago, but we just received the rest of the trays today, so Teri needs to re-photograph it so you can see the beautiful holly etched into the 2 sides.  You will just love it.  This little piece is stitched on 32 count overdyed linen with Weeks overdyed threads.  A perfect and easily do-able gift for Christmas.  

Noel Sheep Tag/Sled
kit:  $8.00
sled:  (sold separately)  $4.50


This very sweet little kit is such fun.  The kit comes complete with the perforated paper and threads as well as cute paper tag on which to mount it.  It is also designed to fit on the little wooden sled ornaments (by Foxwood Crossings) if you want to add one of those.  


                                                
When the Halloween displays come down, Teri has to change most of the pictures on all the walls in the shop.  Now we are decorated and ready for Christmas, and the spooky tree, has changed into a Christmas ornament "tree".

       

This is a close up of the Ornament tree.  
                                                                                           

Snow Story
 by Lizzie Kate
set of three charts: $16.50
complete kit also available



Linda at Lizzie Kate has released a darling new snow series, and the really great thing is that all three charts are available now.  Teri has ordered in the most gorgeous hand dyed fabric and we have tweaked the colors just a bit.  I know that she will add buttons when we get it back from our stitcher.   What a fun winter project.  Complete kits are available right now, so you can have something fun and seasonal to stitch all through December.    

Merry Noel 
by Brenda Gervais
pattern: $12.00
complete kit also available


Lynnette is stitching this wonderful new piece by With thy Needle and Thread.  We are so excited to see it and are having fun seeing her progress.   

Garden Club 
by Blackbird Designs
patterns $9.00


This is such a brilliant idea.  Barb and Alma have come up with a fabulous new series.  It will come out periodically and each piece can be stitched separately or stitched together.  Nancy has stitched the first two parts and is anxiously waiting for the third.  Here is how it works... you can sign up for just the patterns, or the whole kits, or any of the parts.  We offer the lovely linens in 32 or 36 count fabrics, and we would be happy to catch you up.  Just give us a call.  


Serial Bowl Lesson 4
 by Plum Street Samplers
 kit  $20.00
No fabric included

                                      

We only have a few of these darling kits left.  Once they are gone, they will be gone until next year.  We have the perfect fabric for this piece.  Reeta whipped it up in a weekend...

And here is the last lingering remnant of our garden.  A couple of weeks ago, we were forced to bring the last few branches of tomatoes inside before they froze.  So now they are ripening beautifully out in the sunny front window where they are quite surprising to our customers.  We just were so sad to see the end of the garden, and we hardly know what to eat any more.  I guess it is time to think about winter food.  Oh well, we have a couple of more meals almost ready below and then the long wait for summer.  


So now that the computer is up and going again, we will try to write a bit more often.  Be sure to watch in the next week or two, as I am stitching a little Christmas design that we will share either on the blog or the website.  I guess I will go work on it and try to get it ready for you next week.  Until then, be safe and warm and almost as they say on the Great British Baking Show:  STITCH!