Shorttakes

   

Ombre in Green - from Carolyn Manning.  This design is stitched in 3 gradiated shades of green (or you could use 3 shades of your favorite color).  Wouldn't this make a nice pillow?

Shooting Star - from Ink Circles.   Love this!  Whether you want to stitch the big (main) design, or maybe the smaller one, you know it'll be amazing!

 

   

Wren's Nest Sampler - from Rosewood Manor.  Love this sampler.  It's just so PRETTY!  And if you didn't want to put the alphabet in the center portion, you could certainly put in a verse, or a baby's birth info, or wedding info....It lends itself to so many lovely ideas.

Quaker Wool & Flax - from My Big Toe.  OOOOOHHHH....I love Debbie's Quaker samplers & needless to say, this verse speaks to so many of us who love to stitch.

 

   

Home - from My Big Toe.  This could not be more true!  Wouldn't this be a lovely gift for a new couple or family?

A Friend Loves at All Times - from My Big Toe.  Another great design!  Don't ask me why, but I keep seeing this finished as a needlebook or some sort of "small". 

 

   

Baa Baa Black Sheep - from Erin Elizabeth.  ADORABLE!!  Lise would have loved this one ~ she always liked black sheep designs.

Camping Lantern - from Erin Elizabeth.  Do you love to camp?  This is a great design & so reminiscent for me of times I went camping with my grandparents!  I especially love the lightning bugs!

 

   

Fishy Goings On - from Long Dog. Now I don't usually just take the designer's words for description, but I gotta tell ya, I LIVE for Jools' descriptions of her designs!  They make me want every new design ~ even if I'm not terribly enamored of the design itself.  The stories are awesome! So here's the description of this:

"Fishy Goings On is a lighthearted romp on the ocean wave where two salty sea dogs are on barking terms with a kelpie; an unsuspecting lad, just landing his first tiddler, is about to be devoured by a sea dragon; and a small elephant has mistimed his parachute jump and is about to land in the oggin.  There are seahorses, there are waves, there are sailing boats, there are twiddley bits, and to top it all off, there are three giant rings representing the three classifications of fish - agnatha, chondrichthyes and osteichthyes - the Piscium Olympics.  Did I mention the sharks?"

Now seriously, don't you want this chart just for that description?

Seventh Wave - from Long Dog.  Without further ado, I give you Jools' description!

"Wave sets are groups of up to ten large waves that seem to rise out of nowhere and then disappear just as quickly.  They're the best surfing waves around. The legendary seventh wave was said to be the biggest and best of the bunch, and the one that always comes the farthest up the beach.  That the ocean's rise is always at the highest on the seventh wave is, sadly, just a myth, but sometimes the magic happens and when it does it's awesome. Bodhi the booby bird named after his hero, played by Patrick Swayze, in the surfing film Point Break, has caught the swell and is riding a giant barrel wave which is threateing to engulf him and the daredevil chooks wha are riding their floral board by his side.  They're all having a blast, you can hear their shouts of 'yew' from miles around....and in the shelter of each other they survive."

 

   

Beach & Sunshine - from Rosewood Manor.  YES!  So much yes!  I love everything about this!!

Retirement Plan - from Rosewood Manor.  I think this is a fantastic plan!

 

   

Snow White Tree - from Tiny Modernist.  How fun is this??  I love the "branch" with all the elves!

Crazy Cat Lady - from Artists Alley.  I mean, right??

 

 

Wicked: Naughty or Nice? - from Imaginating.  Okay, who's seen Wicked at the movies?  I think you'll need to stitch this!

 

   

Let the Words of my Mouth...Psalm 19:14 - from Happiness is Heartmade.  I love this verse.  When I lived in Charlotte, my minister would always say this as he began his sermon.  It was always such a wonderful reminder of who I strive to be.

My Strength & Portion - from My Big Toe.  Another wonderful reminder, and a really pretty design.

 

 

Whatever is Lovely - from Artful Offerings.  A lovely design for a lovely verse.  I truly enjoy the creations from this designer.

 

Open Hem Tutorial - from Modern Folk Embroidery.  I wanted to get this book to see how Jacob explains doing this stitch.  I've done it many times, but I don't have it in a chart anywhere.  Well, let me say, he does a great job of expaining & diagramming how to hem your stitching!  You can do this to finish the edge of a bellpull (I have done this on my Toccata #4 that is in the shop), you can finish smalls this way to make them into little table toppers, and you can even finish samplers this way & hang them on a dowel instead of framing them.  When we did our retreats & had our continuing rolled samplers, this is how we finished them.  Then we could attach them to each other.

This is one of the things I am planning to teach this coming year, so be on the lookout!

 

Now!  We are not trying to jump ahead of Sunday's game, and one of the great things about being a Philadelphia sports fan is watching how each of the teams really supports the others!  But folks!!!  Truck Day was on Monday.  What, you may ask, is truck day? Well, it's the day that the 18-wheelers load up all the Phillies "stuff" & head south for Spring Training!  That's right, baseball is right around the corner!  Pitchers & catchers report in less than a week!!  Aaaaahhhhh......

 

In the meantime, we are watching 2 ice storms making their way in our direction.  Thursday may be a lost cause.  Having said that, if you are in doubt as to whether we are open or not, we generally follow the West Chester Area School district.  So if they are closed, we will be as well.  Of course, having said THAT, I am going to do my very very best to be here on Thursday as we have so much stuff on the way in & so much stuff to get done.

And, after all that, I've been in touch with several suppliers today about our shipments due this week.  Most are on the way!  Woohoo!  But our fabric order is awaiting pickup in Iowa & our supplier has been closed because THEY are getting the ice storm there. I am hoping (& praying) that we can find a way to get it here before the sale.  But if it becomes a matter of paying for next day air delivery (for over 100 pounds of stuff) that may be off the table.  Cross your fingers...  Another one of our suppliers had their printer give up the ghost. And they don't just have an easy little pushbutton printer ~ nope, it's one of those monster things!  So she's not going to be able to get our order out in time. 

Again, these are not life or death things.  But I have been working so hard to get things back up to snuff for y'all, especially for the sale, and I'm so bummed that some things (PARTICULARLY THE FABRIC) may not get here.  I got the orders in to the suppliers in plenty of time (for normal times!), but as we all know, things happen.  So if we are out of things you need on Sunday, please know that you can order it, pay for it (getting your discount!), leave us your name & phone number & we'll set it aside for you to pick up (or we can send it to you). 

 

Okay!  I'm gonna wind this up & send it out so I can get it to you!

 

Hugs & stitches & Fly Eagles Fly ~

Beth & all the Birds at TSS