Shorttakes

Simplicity - NOW!!

(as opposed to SERENITY NOW, for all you Seinfeld fans)

Simplicity - from Little House.  If we stitch it, will it make it real???

Aaahhh, the merry month of May....  yeah, when's the "merry" part start?  Oooooh, I forgot, the sun has made an appearance, so I am a bit happier!!  Around here, May finds us drooling over everyone's finished stitching from the framing sale.  But like most stitchers we know, it's hard to carve out time to actually STITCH in May! 

We all want to be in our gardens (well, maybe not ALL); we have graduations (and since it seems EVERY SINGLE GRADE has a graduation now.... what's up with that?), confirmations ("when I was your age, we just showed up for church on Sunday & got a Bible & that was that! No 2-hour long visit with the bishop...."), spring band performances (....speechless on this one....), class plays, baseball ~ BASEBALL ~ BASEBALL (I'm thinking of just living in my car....but I find baseball bats to be uncomfortable to sleep on.   However, if you ever need a chair, gatorade or scorebook I'm your girl!), weddings, the Horse Show.....and if you're REALLY LUCKY you're planning your first official weekend down the shore!

Surfside Cottage - from Country Cottage.  You know what?  At this point, I'll just move onto the sailboat....

 

HOLY 48-HOUR DAYS, BATMAN!!!

So, if any little piece of that sounds like you, well, you're not alone!  In fact, this time of year, even the designers slow down (obviously having all the same "MayDay" craziness that we are).  Around here, we keep truckin' along.  We're in the process of upgrading our computers ~ always fun, since you know as soon as you buy a new one it becomes obsolete before you figure out how to turn it on.  I know, I should just ask a child for help.....

 

But as they say (who are "they", by the way).....

  

Miracles: Believe in them - from Erica Michaels.  They're everywhere, but you gotta believe!

Little Sheep Virtues: Faith - from Little House. YAY!  We're excited to see a black sheep!  And quite honestly, the timing is just right for several of us right now.  Without going all "preachy", faith is the one thing that gets you thru the worst times ~ it's free, but no one can give it to you. Perhaps stitching this little sweetie will keep the focus where it needs to be, in good times & not-so-good times.

 

Summer House Sampler - from Nikyscreations.  This is a new sampler that we cannot wait to get our hands on!  HOWEVER, it's not at the distributor yet, so feel free to order it, but it will probably be a couple more weeks before it arrives.  It's gonna be worth the wait though!  I just love it!!  Of course, the fact that it's SUMMER helps tremendously..... 

  

Primitive Atmospheres - from Primitive Hare.  A great book filled with fun primitive projects!  This one has also JUST been released (& comes from overseas) so we are anticipating it taking a couple more weeks.

    

Fruit of the Spirit: Love - from Abby Rose Designs.  What a wonderful design ~ I see a new series in our future!

Always in my Heart - from Heartstring Samplery.  Isn't this gorgeous?  If you're not so keen to cut your stitching, you can either mount a photo on top of the stitching, or skip the picture altogether & stitch initials in the square.

    

Springtime Bulbs - from Madame Chantilly.  Wow! These are so pretty!  You can almost smell their springtime scent in the air.

   

She Feeds Them Well - from Scarlett House.  LOVE this new sampler!  Look closely ~ see if you can spot the duck!!

Peacock Sampler - from Homespun Elegance.  Great sampler motifs in a lovely sampler!

  

Lancaster County Coverlet - from Threadworks Primitives.  A great primitive piece with a really fun feel of a coverlet!

Quaker Folk Art Ornament #5 - from Kelmscott. Love this newest addition to this great set of ornaments!

   

Love for Labors All - from Threadworks Primitives. What a pretty little sampler!  Nice motifs & such soft, gentle colors.

Proper Sisters School of NeedleWork - from Pineberry Lane. What fun!  I love this sampler!

 

Poodle & Paris Necklace - from Primitive Jewel.  All things French!

Purple Angel Necklace - from Primitive Jewel.  So sweet.

   

Faerie's Spring Fling - from Mirabilia. Gorgeous springtime colors make this new faerie lovely!!

Siren's Song - from Mirabilia.  I think she looks like a lobster tail....but she wears it well!!

  

Anchor with Chevron background - from Tiny Modernist.  Now, as an anchor collector, I am ALL ABOUT this!  Also, it's a smaller design, not a ton of colors, good for getting started!

Pink Flamingoes - from Tiny Modernist.  Love this!!  Another little design that would be a good "next step" project!  Great for beach lovers! 

     

In My Garden, Chapter 4 - from SamSarah.  I just love this colorful, whimsical series!  I wish my flowers were this cute.

Bloom - from Amy Bruecken.  Good to remember, on many levels (& before I yank out the flowers that seem to be going crazy in the brick walkway....but not in the flower bed).

Chaffinch - from Nora Corbett.  We hope this is the beginning of a series of songbirds from Nora!  This is a lovely beginning!

   

Liberty Squared - from Erica Michaels.  Sweet little patriotic vignettes ~ love the fireworks!

Mini Summer's Splendor - from Sunflower Seed.  Quick to stitch & lovely to look at.

Perpetual Calendar: October - from SamSarah.  Each month, these get cuter & cuter!!  LOVE the witch hat!

 

Hometown Holiday: Sweet Shop - from Little House.  YUM!!!  This is where you'll find me!!

Santa's Village: Christmas Tree Farm - from Country Cottage.  These trees are too pretty to cut down!! Plus, I love the house!!

Annual Santa Ornaments: 1995 ~ 2002 - from Homespun Elegance.  Sandra has put together all these past designs into 1 chartpak!  What a fun collection of santa ornaments.

WINTER MILL HILL KITS!!

(WHAT??!? SERIOUSLY??!?)

As I tell my dogs (& nephews), it's a good thing they're cute!

   

Holiday Memories   ~   Whoo Trio   ~   Village Inn

     

Cool Quartet   ~   Chickadees   ~   Family Tree

     

Christmas Lights  ~  For Santa  ~  Winter Bunnies

   

Rocking Horse  ~  Red Wagon  ~  Crystal Wreath

 

New Models in the shop!!

Lise has inspired me to get a few new models framed (Lise's interpretation: "Beth always waits until the framing section is inundated & THEN she wants to frame things!"  Also true).

  

Little Sheep Spool - from Just Another Button Company.  Ruthie put this little gal together (very little stitching ~ more gluing).  When you see it on other websites & the designer's site, you might notice that, theoretically, the spools should be turned 90 degrees ~ you know, so that she could roll forwards & backwards.  Evidently, SOMEONE didn't read that part of the instructions!  So our little lamb goes left & right!  Hey, we're good with that & the lamb doesn't seem to mind either!

   

Quaker Christmas Pincushion - from Jeannette Douglas.  Another Ruthie finish, this is so awesome!    I took pictures of it in my hand, so that you can get a feel for the size of it.  Ruthie said it was quick to stitch (even though SOMEONE cut her fabric WAAAAAYYYY too small....), & easy to put together.  There are several different charts ~ some for Christmas, Winter, Autumn ~ & there are also 3 springtime kits!!

 

     

Desert Rosi - from NeedlePress.  A friend of ours stitched this & when she brought it in to be framed we just fell in love with it!!  So we stitched one of our own!  It is gorgeous & the verse is just amazingly true. 

Blackwater Hollow - from Stacy Nash.  We love this!!  It looks so old & primitive.  We're particularly fond of the donkey up by the house!

       

My Home - from NeedlePress.  Another great design that you just can't fully appreciate from the cover of the leaflet. When I first saw it, I read the part where it says, "adaptable for your state", but I didn't actually open it up.  I thought, "Yeah, well, PENNSYLVANIA is way longer than ARIZONA, so I probably won't fit". Once we opened up the chartpak (a novel idea...), we discovered that WE DIDN'T HAVE TO GRAPH OUT OUR STATE!  She has charted all 50 states PLUS Canada, England & France!  How easy is that?  No brainwork involved!  How hard do you think it will be to make it say "My Own Private Island in the Carribean My Home"?

    

New Baby - from Barbara Ana.  The absolute sweetest little baby announcement!  Sweet pastel baby colors & just right for the new little one you love!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame - from Little House.  As you might imagine, I love this!  When we stitched our model, we made a few changes ~ tweaked the color & personalized the "scoreboard" to reflect one of our favorite games!!  A fun one for the baseball fan you love!

Dream - from Just Another Button Company.  YET ANOTHER Ruthie finish (she has been crankin' out some work, I tell ya!).  We were really taken with this one at a market & it is soooo much prettier stitched than in pictures (& I have to tell you, I have now photographed this several different times on several different days ~ this photo still doesn't do it justice).  The colors are really rich & vibrant & the designs (particularly the patterns within the letters & hills) are really fun!

Life is a Beach - from Queenstown Samplers. LOVE THIS!!!  A great design for a beach house (or any house!!). 

 

As I finish this up, I realize that it has been a couple weeks since I've managed to get a newsletter off to y'all.  I do apologize & offer up the craziness that is our little corner of the world by way of explanation (not excuse ~ because really, we're not curing cancer here). 

Many of you have read before that my nephew Jimmy has been battling ulcerative colitis for almost a year now.  In the last couple months we've moved his treatment to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP, for those of you around here), and we think we are finally getting the better of this.  He's doing quite well (played 6 ~ count 'em, SIX ~ baseball games this past weekend, catching the majority of those innings!)  I'm exhausted, he's fine: "I could play 2 more games"!  Dude, it's dark!

 

and it's rainy...does this look like baseball weather??  NO IT DOES NOT!!

But now that he's on track, the adrenaline crash has finally hit Abby.  She herself battles Crohn's disease & has had to deal with accompanying joint pain, in addition to depression that several of us in our family battle.  As each little thing progressively piled up, she has dealt with it all as best she can ~ getting thru each day in order to do her best for Jimmy & for Chris.  As happens so very often, once there was some level of comfort, Abby crashed & burned.  She has been in the hospital for several days now as she works on getting all her various medications under control (& not interacting with each other) & dealing with absolute exhaustion.  In the meantime, Jay & my mom have been with her & I have been on Jimmy & Chris patrol!  No worries, except for the fact that it slices off 2 hours of each of my workdays (YIKES!).  Jay's mum & dad (Nana & Pa ~ they're the best!) came down from Boston to join in the tag team.  We are unbelievably BLESSED to be surrounded by friends & family & love, even though some days I just feel, well, surrounded!  We're getting there, & it is AMAZING to watch as things unfold ~ even little things like a new chart that says, "MIRACLES ~ believe in them" or "Faith".  Just today, friends of Ruthie's from West Virginia, who are missionaries in Indonesia (and have been for many, many years), just dropped in the shop.  Coincidence?  I think not.

So, again, bear with me as I try to re-structure my time (time management has never been my strong suit....  actually, I'm not really a fan of suits....).  There are lots of great things for all us stitchers, so keep on the lookout!

Hugs & stitches ~

Beth & all the simple minds at TSS