A couple of years ago my lovely local needlework shop, Reflections, asked me to design something for their annual retreat. When Mary Ann and Julie told me the retreat's theme was Fear the Frog, I was a bit muddled over what to design for it – but I knew there had to be an amphibian in the piece somewhere. Rip-it.

A stitcher's least favorite task is to remove work that has taken precious hours to do, and every stitcher knows that regardless of how many times one actually counts threads, one or two will miraculously move when one least expects it, causing a motif to be misplaced or the border to be mismatched. So this is where the frog comes in, as well as the little sampler lady who would do her best to catch it before it strikes again. (I'm afraid it's a bit too late for that, however.)

Count Twice
Stitch count: 145(w) x 49(h)

Linen used: 36 ct. Vintage Meadow Rue by Lakeside Linens (some other
suggestions would be R&R Espresso, Weeks Dye Works Parchment, or
any neutral-colored fabric.)

Threads used: Classic Colorworks cotton (with a conversion to DMC in parentheses) in:
Avocado (580)
Ye Olde Gold (832)
Barn Door (918)
Perfect Piecrust (950)
Cocoa Bean (3021)
River Rocks (3768)
Camouflage (935)

All stitches are cross stitches over two linen threads, except for the frog's tongue,
which is long-stitched, and the cage bars, which are also long-stitched (or
back-stitched, if you prefer).

The framing was done by the talented Sherri Berkman of Total Framing. Thank you, Sherri!

This pattern will be released at market in Nashville this weekend, if you'd like your shop to pick it up for you! I've got a total of 5 new designs this time, in addition to The Beekeeper (sold exclusively through Norden). I've shown you Elizabeth Sarah Oliver 1842 and Count Twice, but the last three I'll show after market, unless shop owners get them up first. 🙂 I'm so very excited to be there!

…Here are the last three releases I had for market (which was absolutely wonderful, by the way!):

This is Ladies' Maids… there are 50 different maids on this piece; no two are alike! Miss Rindy Richards stitched this one for me, and also surprised me with the most darling fob with my favorite maid stitched on it (she had asked me which was my favorite, but I thought she was just asking because there were so many!). I'm going to have to take a photo of it to show you, because it really was just too cute! (Thank you again, Rindy!)

I love that Rindy only stitched half the x's in the windows, because it really brought the window panes to life. I wish I'd remembered to put that on the chart instructions, but I didn't. 🙁

Fabric used: 36 ct. Vintage Fawn by Lakeside Linens
Stitch count: 350(w) x 195(h)
Threads used: Weeks Dye Works in Dove, Mascara, Battleship, Graphite, Taupe, Pamlico, Tin Roof, Galvanized, Charcoal, Parchment, Bullfrog, King Mackeral, Caper, Brick, Cinnabar, and Grits.

Next up is Love Thy Neighbor, which features a Tilly-and-Effy-inspired feline duo… I thought it was appropriate to use them as the "neighbors" because they don't live together in real life, and when they get together it's amusing to see their love-hate relationship unfold. Mostly they love each other though, after they've worked out their differences. 😉 (This model was stitched by Kathy Krause, who unfortunately had to spend her time stitching this while resting a broken foot. Thank you, Kathy!)

Speaking of one of the photo-bombing devils…

Fabric used: 36 ct. Vintage Examplar by Lakeside Linens
Stitch count: 144(w) x 76 (h)
Threads used: The Gentle Art in Sarsaparilla, Old Hickory, Wood Rose, Walnut, Shaker White, Heirloom Gold, Brethren Blue, Forest Glade, and Pecan Pie.

And lastly, here is My Dearest Friend (stitched by beautiful Nicole Neville!), inspired by the love letters written by John and Abigail Adams…

Fabric used: 40 ct. Vintage Gray by R&R Reproductions (fabulous new color!)
Thread Count: 195(w) x 108(h)
Threads used: The Gentle Art in Old Hickory, Honey Dew, Piney Woods, Country Redwood, Tarnished Gold, Toffee, Brandy, Cameo Pink, Wood Trail, Dark Chocolate, Brethren blue, Faded Rose, and Old Brick.

By the way, the date on the sampler is stitched in Algerian Eyelet, and reflects the year John and Abigail were married.

The outstanding frames for both My Dearest Friend and Love Thy Neighbor were done by the extremely talented and lovely Sherri Berkman at Total Framing in Fairfax, Virginia! If you give her a call at (703) 426-0660, she can get these done for you, as well as any other stitching you may need framed. She's got an amazing eye for color, and if you send her your piece, she'll send photos back to you of different moulding choices, and you go from there. Also, check out the Total Framing Facebook page, because you'll find lots of sales – sometimes even 50% off your framing order! Thank you again, Sherri, for sharing your talent with all of us. 🙂

Market was so much fun, and I can't wait to share with you all the photos I took! I was only able to leave my floor once, so I didn't get photos of too many suites, but I did grab several of the ones who were on the 5th floor with me. 🙂 I'll be back soon to show them to you, so you can get a feel for what the designers' booths were like. It's heaven, being surrounded by all those new designs and threads and linens!

One last note: if you are interested in any of my releases from this weekend, please let your shopowners know.. if they were not able to attend market, the distributors will have them very soon! And to each of the shop owners and designers I was privileged to meet in St. Charles, it was a pleasure! I very much enjoyed chatting with each of you and being able to put faces with names. What a marvelous weekend!

 See you soon!

For years I've wanted to own an antique sampler.

Or I at least wanted to be able to look at one.

But mostly I wanted to own one.

And then I met my friend Tanya of The Scarlett House, and now I own one. Or maybe it's more than one… I can't remember exactly, and that's the story I'm sticking with.

The moral of the story is this: If you want something bad enough, Tanya will persuade you to get it.

The 1837 Crown Sampler was the very first antique sampler that came to live with me, and I love dearly. What attracted me to it was the lovely coral and salmon-colored floral band on it, as well as the verse, which can also be found on other samplers from this era. I remember feeling so excited as I removed the sampler from behind the glass and just held it in my hands, marveling that someone worked on this very piece 176 years ago, by candlelight. It was breathtaking to me! Then I drove it over to my mother's house, and my dad stood by with the smelling salts as we swooned.

Here is a picture of the original sampler:

And here is the reproduction of it (which was first presented to the Sampler Guild of the Rockies back in May of this year):

1837 Crown Sampler

Stitch count: 294(w) x 229(h)
Fabric used: 32 ct. Vintage Examplar by Lakeside Linens
Threads used: Weeks Dye Works in…

Holly (2 skeins suggested)
Chrysanthemum
Hazelnut
Oak (3 skeins suggested)
Bright Leaf
Havana (2 skeins suggested)
Teal Frost
Confederate Gray
Pea Coat
Pelican Gray
Kudzu (2 skeins suggested)
Light Khaki

For those of you wondering about the name of this sampler, you'll find two crowns stitched in Pea Coat in the top portion. I love the symmetry of this beautiful sampler, and I found it to be a very enjoyable piece to work on. It actually went by rather quickly!

And for those of you who have been following Katrina's progress on hers, I'll have you know she's supposed to be framing it today, but is outside as I type this, mowing the lawn instead. 🙂 She came up with an outstanding conversion for hers, using a softer palette that included one of our favorite Gentle Art colors, Mountain Mist (in place of WDW Confederate Gray)…

I liked Katrina's conversion so well, I decided that my next reproduction will have two colorways: one that is true to the original, faded colors of the antique, and one that is a bit more lustrous and overdyed. 😉

As far as market goes, I've got everything boxed up and ready to load into the car. My only fear is that it won't all fit, in which case I'll need to get a side car for Soph and Mike to ride in.

Wish me luck, and I'll see you soon!

I am completely overwhelmed and very, very grateful for the response this sampler has gotten since I presented it those in my track at the Shepherd's Bush retreat last year. It was the first time I had been to Tina and Terri's retreat, and I had no idea what to expect or what others expected of me, so for my design, I used the best inspiration I could think of: my mom. I thought about what she would like in a sampler, and that's how A Yuletide Welcome came to be!

Stitch count: 333(w) x 172(h)
Fabric used: 36 ct. Vintage Buttercream by Lakeside Linens
Threads used: The Gentle Art (GAST) and Needlepoint Silk (NPI):

GAST: Brandy, Walnut, Gold Leaf, Grecian Gold, Piney Woods (2 skeins suggested), Pumpkin Pie, Shaker White (2 skeins suggested), Heirloom Gold, Espresso Bean, Mulberry, Wood Smoke, and Wood Trail.

NPI: 344, 125, and 127.

(An alphabet is included for the over-one personalization on this chart. Other than this area, there are two very small areas that have over-one stitching on them: the pear's leaf and the holly on the reindeer's collar.)

Now I'm in the mood for the Christmas season!

Mom finished her piece earlier in the year and sent it off to Jill Rensel to be framed. As usual, Jill did an outstanding job on the frame, and it almost makes me want to stitch it again! ….. almost. 😉 And mom's stitching is absolutely perfect, and even though I tell her this every time, she just blushes and says something like "Oh, it's not," and hopes that I'll say it again. LOL – just kidding, Mom!

FYI: Mom changed the personalization from black to red. I love it!

For those of you who asked, I won't be releasing the Lady's Pinroll yet that I designed to go with this chart for the retreat. Sometimes the little accessories that accompany a sampler require several tutorial pages, so maybe one day I'll gather them all and put them in a book, for those of you who couldn't attend a retreat, but would like to have the littles. 🙂

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog! I hope you have lots of things on your list that you're excited to get from market.. for me, market is a highlight that happens twice per year, when my favorite designers come out with so many fun, new things, all at once! (Please keep your fingers crossed that Sophie and Big Papa can hold down the fort a moment or two so I can buzz through the rooms to see what's new!)

P.S. When I was going through the Yuletide Welcome photos from October, I ran across some photos of the Yorkie that were mixed in, as she was watching me assemble the retreat kits.

I'm so excited, I can hardly stand it! I haven't been to market in several years, so I forgot how much commotion goes on beforehand.. I've even had to put Sophie to work, bagging charts and running through room-drills (since she'll be one of my booth associates), timing her on pulling charts accurately and presenting them to the shop owner. It's been like Plum Street Boot Camp around here, but she's very excited to do it. (Big Papa will also be joining me, but I have a hunch he's only going along in the hopes of catching a baseball game – not to mention being in a room full of women.)

I'll have 6 newish/new releases this weekend in St. Charles, 3 of which you may have seen online here and there. But I'll show them here again, in case you'd like a heads-up on the supplies you'll need if you'll be having your shop owner pick one or more of them up for you.

First up is a design I released at Attic Needlework's Sampler Symposium back in January of 2012. It's called A Lady's Trimkeep, and to go with it, I've designed a little lady and her little companion perched on top of her hat. This companion piece uses two of the new colors coming from The Gentle Art, and let me tell you, they are beautiful colors in person! (Cottage Blue has subtle shades of mocha in it, and it's one of my favorite colors by The Gentle Art.)

A Lady's Trimkeep & Companion
Stitch count for the Trimkeep: 195(w) x 62(h)
Stitch count for Companion: 79(w) x 49(h)

Threads used are from Gentle Art: Raven, Soot, Wood Trail, Cherry Bark, Terra Cotta and Cottage Blue (these last two will be available at market).

Please note that the chart states that the Trimkeep was stitched on 36 ct. Vintage Examplar, but both pieces were stitched on this. I somehow omitted the fabric information for the Companion!

The frame for the Companion was done by my sweet friend Sherri Berkman of Total Framing. Her taste in moulding is fabulous!

I'll be back tomorrow with another one you may have seen, along with its list of necesseties. 🙂 I hope you're all having a lovely Monday!