Market through my eyes

St. Charles Market News 

Part 2

-be sure to read part one-

Tina has written her version of the market, but I think she left out a few fun details...we all know how positive she is.

Flying in was going to be so easy--work part of the day, leave Salt Lake at 5:30 PM and arrive at about 10:00 in St Louis.  Well, that was the plan until we circled above a hideous storm in Denver for an hour plus, then paid a visit to Cheyenne WY to get gas (interesting) which took another 2 1/2 hours.  By the time we finally rolled into St Louis, it was 3:30 AM and of course all luggage from Salt Lake had been lost along the way.  We arrived at the hotel looking like gypsies, no bags (except the ones under our eyes) and fell onto beds.  By the next morning we almost convinced ourselves we were rested and ready to set up our room.  Tina sets up all the kits in  the bedroom and I rearrange the sitting room into our display area.  I love moving things about until I have all the furniture just right.  The only problem with that is by Sunday night I had to put everything back and could not remember where anything went.  Tina had to keep running down to Pat and Ann's room to see where the chairs and table belonged.  ps: Tina was quite a long time setting up the kits, I think she was really napping 

Friday evening we opened up for early bird shopping and I zoomed around to as many rooms as I could.  Diane from Puffin had darling new Halloween Needle Nannies and I had forgotten her fabulous counting pins that come in hearts, kitties and puppies.  

Photos coming tomorrow

Linda (Chessie 'n Me) standing next to her newest designs which are totally wonderful!  See how happy she is with them.

Shepherd's Christmas

 Chart by Chessie 'N Me

This wonderful pattern was designed for our retreat last year.  It is darling- 

but I am biased-  I love sheep!!!

Thoughts of Christmas

Chart by Chessie N Me

This beautiful Christmas design will be so much fun to stitch.  it has a Christmas house, reindeer, holly and trees.  all you need to get you in the spirit.   

Bubble Bubble

Chart by Chessie N Me

This pin keep just made me smile. I love the witch with her pot.  

Janet Reid Sampler

 antique reproduction 

Chart by Chessie N Me

This is a gorgeous sampler.  Stitched with a beautiful set of wool threads from the Gentle Art, It will be a delight to stitch.

Noel House

Kit by Chessie N Me

 We love this sweet series of houses. Linda has made 2 americana houses and a Halloween house, and now a Christmas house.  Kit includes 35 count linen, threads and instructions.  The colors are really rich and lovely even though my camera makes them look sort of bright.

Paulette of Plumstreet Samplers is always so darling,  and she had marvelous new charts.
I will take photos tomorrow and add them to this blog

 Embroidery Halloween Ornaments

by Chickadee Hollow $7.00 each

I was thrilled to find their Halloween ornaments,  we have loved their Christmas and Spring series (see our web site under shopping the shop, embroidery).  Each ornament comes pre- printed so all you have to do is stitch.  

The best part of Market is meeting and visiting all our friends, shop owners and exhibitors.  We laugh and shop, and visit and make the most of the few short days we have together.  It is exhausting, and exhilarating, and inspiring.  We love it! 

Until next time happy stitching--Teri

PS  We will be starting the Lizzie Kate Mystery in a couple of weeks, we are just figuring out all the details so I will let you know.  It is a 3 part sampler and has a Christmas theme, Hearts and Holly,   as always it will be great.  

PPS: I keep forgetting to show you the newest scissors fobs from Lady Dot. They are adorable and run $6.50

PPSS: Did you know DMC is coming out with new colors???  They came around at market and showed the pallet.  There are some very pretty shades that fill in some holes.  Available in the fall...

The end

St Charles Market, 2013

Dear Friends,

It's late Saturday night and our first day of the market it well and truly over.  We have had a busy, fantastic time catching up with old friends.  That is the very best part of the market--seeing friends that we only see once or twice a year.  Last night we stayed up very late in order to finish getting our room ready.  Teri and the girls at the shop have been busy for the past month stringing halloween cutouts to make long string decorations for the outside of our room and it looks very darling.  Here is a photo peeking in from the hallway.  

Here are the packages that shoppers got to take home with them after shopping in our room.  Teri and Reeta made all of the little sheep that are hanging off of the bags, and I think that they look so adorable on the finished package.  

And here is our wild little couch filled to bursting with bags waiting to be picked up by busy shoppers.  What a fun day!  

Now time to share with your some of our market finds.  They won't all make it into this letter, but watch each day for additions.  There is a lot of very fun designs and projects, so get your stitching fingers ready to go.  

First--a look at our own new offerings for this market.  If you want to see any of our photos closer up just go onto the main page of the web site and click on them.

New Designs from Shepherd's Bush

Garden Spells

kit:  $70.00

design size: 8" x 12"

This fun design of a Halloween witch's garden is worked on 32 count Belfast linen which was hand-dyed for us in a fabulous mottled purple.  I found it soft and lovely to work with and truly enjoyed all the delicious Halloween colors of silk that I used.  The left side includes a tiny sampler filled with her favorite gardening treasures.  Finally a little packet of buttons--including a polka dot pumpkin--adorns the wickedly charming garden.

  

Autumn's Fright Pin Cushion

kit:  $20.00

size:  quite small

This little pin cushion is worked on 32 count linen with over-dyed cotton floss.  I think it will be part of the little series of small, tall cushions that began in the summer with Earth's Delight.  Unfortunately, Teri and I seem to have lost the one that we made for the show.  We have gone through every box--of which there are many--suitcase and drawer looking for it, but to no avail.  Where are you little pin cushion??????

October Comes

Leaflet:  $8.00

This is Teri's darling new leaflet for the market.  It is very fun for Halloween and she had a great time drawing and stitching the pieces--with some help from Nancy.  The pillows are worked on 10 count Tula and have a darling JABCO button set to go with it.  The framed piece--finished with Jill's awesome mats and frame--is worked on 32 count linen with a beautiful assortment of overdyed threads.    

We still have some of the backing fabric for the pillows--at least for a few days.  

Spooky Stitches Bag

Kit:  $22.00 

This little stitching bag has had a makeover for the scary holiday to come  I think it is just fabulous and I even helped Teri stitch it--just a little--and was surprised how easy it was to work on.  The bag is already finished out of black ticking topped with a spider web fabric and a little orange ribbon on the zipper.  The most fun you will have is stitching this up to carry your halloween threads and scissors.

Fright Night

Kit:  $12.00

This little kit worked on amazing spooky green linen fits perfectly in our little wooden boxes.  I think it would also made a darling pin cushion or an ornament for a Halloween tree.  You definitely need to look at it up close to see all the detail that Teri as gotten into this tiny area.  Very fun and super quick.

Hocus Pocus

Tiny pillow kit:  $25.00

Button and Pattern: $8.00

Ok, good luck choosing which way you are going to finish this piece.  The little pillow is adorable but Jill's mat is also fantastic.  Either way, you will love working on this sweet piece.  Our kit includes 19 count linen and a variety of overdyed cottons and wool threads as well as backing fabric, Teri's hand-dyed ribbon and a wonderful Sunflower button made by our friend Dinah.

New from Blackbird Designs 

October 31st
Kit:  $50.00

This darling kit is a hot item here at the market and we were happy to snag a few.  Teri wants to start stitching it, but she has to price all her purchases first.  

Never Far Apart

Kit:  $50.00

This darling little stocking would make a sweet ornament or small decoration.  

Away We Rice

Leaflet:  $9.00

This charming pattern is designed by Barb and features a crazy witch's house (love all the windows), a fun Halloween verse, and 3 big crows--or maybe blackbirds.  

Midnight Ride

Leaflet:  $9.00

As you can see this wonderful Halloween bird is riding the October skies on her broomstick.  This is the first in a new series of 6" sewing boxes.  It is designed to fit on a black shaker box which we will be getting soon.  The leaflet also has a charming pattern for a witch's hat pin cushion.

Sisters

Book:  $29.00

This is a simply amazing new book by Barb and Alma.  It is filled with samplers--5 to be exact.  There are 2 antique samplers stitched  by sisters in 1823 and they are the inspiration for the other samplers and projects.  Take a look at the photos below to see a little of what is inside.  

Peace and Plenty Sampler

(from the Sisters book)

Witch House leaflet--right

At First Cock's Crow--left (from Sisters book)

New Designer:  Lone Elm Lane

This new designer's room is right around the corner from us.  She is the talented woman who also crafts the lovely shaker boxes featured in some of the Blackbird Books.  Now she is doing her own designs and here are some of them.  Her charts are beautifully done and the graphs are very easy to read.  I think you will love them.

Snow Angel

Leaflet:  $12.00

OK, this is such a special piece.  I love angels and this one is just quite lovely.  It features a winter house surrounded by this ethereal angel, bird and vine. Very nice!

Holy Holy

Leaflet:  $12.00

His Glory

Leaflet:  $14.00

Blue Bouquet

Leaflet:  $10.00

One of the trays of buttons from JABCO ready for shoppers to look through.

Cecile showed Teri their new perfect sheep buttons before we went to dinner tonight.  The shepherds  will soon be bringing them home to live and graze at our shop. 

Sorry, I am going on to bed.  I will add more photos and things about the market tomorrow night, so scroll back down to this point and then keep on reading.  

fondly, 

Tina

Summer Solstice, 2013

Dear Friends,

OK, I know it is a little past the actual solstice, but I had the best intentions of getting the blog finished last week.  Anyway, as the heat climbs, I realize that the days are already getting shorter.  Come on, Summer, slow down!  (and perhaps cool down as well.)  Our annual trip to the Salt Lake Art Festival took place over this past weekend and we had a great time.  Bob and Christian met Teri and me there and we spent a perfect evening of sharing homemade fries, chicken and bacon wraps, and Pad Thai.  Then as we were poking around through the art booths we looked up to see this most incredible

performance.  A group called Bandaloop ( I think) was rapelling down the enormous glass wall of the city library.  Then they danced sideways and perfectly perpendicular to the glass panels--ballet, ballroom, modern--spinning out from the glass and then flying back in.  It was totally amazing! So....as your summer progresses, my one word of advice is:  Look Up.

Our summer also started out with a wonderful pot luck needlework guild party at Robin's house in Tremonton. We had the best time and the most delicious food you can imagine.  OK, so this group can stitch and cook.  Teri took a picture of the salad that Sue brought:  tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil on skewers and poked into a half watermelon.  Very clever and super yummy.  We all wanted recipes for everything.   

Now, you might think that we have been too busy attending potlucks and street fairs to be working, but actually we have been doing a lot at the shop.  And here is our most exciting news for the upcoming month:  

The all new and super fantastic Shepherd's Bush Website is almost ready to be launched! 

Teri has spent millions of hours working on our new website and I think it is very wonderful.  It is extremely user friendly, easy to navigate, and has quite lovely pictures.  And we can change and update it any time we need to, so everything should remain very current and exciting.  I really think that you will love it.  We are hoping to launch it the first of July, so baring any major glitches it will be up and running the first of next week.  It is the same address as our current one:  www.shepherdsbush.net 

Check it out and let us know how you like it.  As a thank you, we are also giving a launch gift to anyone who orders $50.00 or more from our site during the month of July.  It is a darling little kit which I designed just for the occasion, so I hope you love it.  Remember-- you still get to call us to place your order.  We like the chance to talk to you in person rather than subjecting you to the impersonal shopping cart, so give us a call and we will be glad to help you sort out your order and choose everything that you will need. That is just part of our commitment to friendly, personal service. So mark your calendars, put an alert on your phone, and join us on the computer for our special event.  

In the meantime--here are some fun things that we have going at the shop this summer.  Enjoy... 

Song of the Seasons

New Little House Mystery

kit:  $80.00

Well, Nancy has already stitched the first of the three parts to this new mystery sampler.  Isn't it darling?    Sorry, Teri, but the photo doesn't do justice to the beautiful rich color of the hand-dyed linen which she has chosen for this piece.  It is really lovely and the threads look beautiful on it.  If you are interested in joining us, just give us a call.

Think Deeply 

 pattern by Lizzie Kate

We just picked this piece up from Jill after work and Teri has been out photographing it.  Very sweet filled with reminders of those simple things that we sometimes forget in our busy lives.  

All Hallows Eve

Pattern by Prairie Schooler: $9.00

I know it is still June, but Halloween is coming quickly, and we are already in the midst of getting new pieces ready.  This is such a darling piece and the colors and fabric that Teri has chosen is amazing.  You will love it!  It is not too big, so it will be easy to complete and have ready by October.  It is stitched on a gorgeous shade of purple, and the mat is purple as well- maybe my camera is having an off day.

New Sheep stitching bags

$29.00 large

$27.00 Medium

These are the most darling stitching bags ever.  They have just arrived and I am having a hard time keeping any on the shelf since everyone who works at the shop wants one of each style and size.  They have this sweet fabric sewn onto the mesh for breathability and a zipper at the top for convenience.  Good luck choosing--but don't wait too long.  

Russian Doll sewing kits 

$6.00

OK--I have to admit I was a little surprised by these when we got them in.  Maybe because they seemed so cheerful, but everyone has loved them.  They are quite a great little sewing kit and truly the perfect thing to keep tucked on your drawer for those small emergencies that with my boys come along often.  They are also perfect for a little token gift to a friend or daughter moving off to college. And..we just received the matching scissors to go with them and they are only $5.00.  Beware:  boys might not be quite so pleased with them.  Maybe the company will come up with some Russian soldier ones for them.

Well, enjoy the unfolding of your summer.  Eat a fruity popsicle to cool off--but do not let it drip on your stitching.  Watch for Bandaloop coming to a glass wall in your city, and don't forget to link into our fantastic web site next week.  fondly, Tina

PS: Baby Lewis 8 lbs 3 oz.

born just 12 hours ago.  Welcome to the world, little one.

Early Summer 2

Early Summer, 2013

Last week seemed to be church week for both Teri and me.  She was totally busy with a youth conference for teenagers, and I ended up helping with vacation bible school every night from 5:00 to 10:00--you know the drill:  singing, dancing, running, playing, hugging.  I seemed to leave for work on the run every morning with Lindbergh eyeing me like a traitor, and returning home just in time for bed.  So yesterday as I was finally checking out the garden, I was amazed to see that the roses had bloomed. Seriously--they were not there last week and this week they were in full, gorgeous blossoms.  Why is life so like that?  Things just seem to happen almost without our notice.  Seasons change...flowers bloom...birthdays return...and children grow up.  I have either got to get new glasses, or pay attention! 

And with the coming of Summer, we have finally finished a new group of great designs.  Teri and I have had a great time getting the stitched and ready, and I hope that you will enjoy them as well.  Any and all are just perfect for the lazy days of the season.  Treat yourself to a quiet evening in your Adirondack chair with my Bee Blessings or Teri's Hive and Home.  Or pack up one of our quick little kits and take them to the cabin or the beach.  But most of all, just enjoy a few stolen moments of stitching for yourself.  Who knows--while you aren't looking someone might take your dog for a walk.  

Bee Blessings

 kit:  $50.00

(design size:  8" x 8")

Our newest sampler is a beautiful tribute to the glorious season of summer.  It is worked on a vintage 32 count Belfast linen--Bee's Wax-- that was dyed just for this kit, and is stitched in softly hued silk threads.   Complete with little hand-dyed buttons and instruction booklet, this sampler is brimming with bees, sheep, flowers and summer joy.  And if you can even begin to resist Jill's mat and frame, then you are a stronger soul than I.

Earth's Delight

kit:  $20.00

This is such a happy pin cushion.  It matches “Bee Blessings,” and is stitched on  32 count linen, using overdyed threads, Teri's hand- dyed ribbon, and darling  buttons.  
(For those of you from another country--the flag is easily left off or stitched in any color for a banner.)

Busy World

kit:  $16.00

I love the name of this little kit--isn't that just synonymous with Summer?  This busy piece is stitched on 32 count Belfast linen with a variety of over dyed threads and fits perfectly in the little black box shown above.  Add a little sweet treat and you have a super gift for yourself of a friend.

Sweet Liberty

kit:  $12.00

Insert this fun design in this box (sold separately for $27.00) 

or make into a sweet little pincushion. This kit will stitch up in almost no time at all.

Hive and Home

leaflet:  $8.00

Ok--don't you just love this new leaflet of Teri's?  I think it is absolutely darling!  It includes the designs for the 3 little pieces shown, each of which would work up very quickly. The framed piece is worked on 32 count Belfast linen with overdyed cotton threads, and the pillows are worked on 10 count Tula with the same threads.  The darling mat set is available from Jill Rensel, and we have the sets of bee backing fabrics for completing the pillows.  There is also a wonderful packet of buttons available for the pillows.   

Song of the Seasons

Mystery sampler by Little House

Here is the newest mystery sampler by Little House.  As you can see from the picture, it seems to be sort of a garden theme, and we are excited to receive the first installment any day.  It will probably be between $75.00 - $80.00 plus $12.00 shipping and will include 3 patterns, Weeks hand-dyed fabric in your choice of 30 or 35 count, and a bundle of beautiful overdyed cotton threads.  Teri is tweaking the threads and changing the fabric color--and we will probably add a few darling buttons in the end.  And of course we include a little treat sometime during the project.  Just let us know if you would like to join in.  

Little Sheep Virtues

I just thought that we would show you how darling our Sheep Virtues project is coming along.  Faith is the newest installment in this 12-part series.  If you are interesting in joining in with us--it isn't too late. 

Beeswax Buttons

These new little balls of beeswax are so sweet.  They fit perfectly in your little sewing box and are always at the ready for keeping your threads under control..

Scissor fobs by Lady Dot 

I just love this new group of scissor fobs that we have received from Lady Dot.  Each one is a little different but equally clever hanging from your favorite pair of scissors.

Buzzy String

Leaflet by Lizzie Kate

$4.00

Here is a new offering in the String series and obviously perfect for the Summer.  A beehive, a flag, and a watermelon,  what could be better than that.  We did add a few buttons...  

A few months ago we came out with the BeAttitude Sampler.  Our friends at Tomorrow Heirlooms- a fabulous shop in Glen Ellyn IL, just sent me a photo of it stitched on a new honeycomb fabric.  It is so darling.  Thanks for sharing.  

So begin this summer by being inspired.  Soak up the heat and save it in your soul for next winter.  Walk barefoot through the grass, and perhaps take a clandestine dash through the sprinklers.  Eat a popsicle and spend some time with your needle and thread.  

hugs, Tina

PS  For the past few months we have been franticly working on a new web site,  we are so excited it is almost ready to launch,  be watching for it sometime in the next couple of weeks.  Teri keeps insisting she needs to add more stuff,  I thinks it is looking just great.  The web address will remain the same, we will let you know when it is ready.