MAYFLOWER PROJECT FABRIC

CROSS STITCH EDITION 5

 I hope you are not tired of this  yet. I know I am ending this marathon soon! This series is from Sue Hillis. If you can read and look at the pictures, you can follow her EXCELLENT finishing directions. If you don't buy these and want to do it in a participation class here at TWIS, it will cost $60, so these books are a BARGAIN!

The first one, FINISHING MADE EASY, ($20.50) walks you through ornament finishing, mounting techniques and trim application.

The EASELS MADE EASY help you go a step beyond the above and do what we call the flat fold technique where you can actually build in an easel stand in the back of the small piece so it can stand up by itself. When the season is over and it needs to go into storage, the easel back folds down so
display piece is flatflatflat. $16.50.

Down here is a wonderful little leaflet that I somehow overlooked. She had a model of the big piece at the bottom and I was smitten. If that is too much to bite off for you, the trees done individually are so adorable.$12.25.

 This was what I was babbling about during the discourse on the HANDS ON publications. In particular, the flags on the clothes line. This is the chartpack with the SULKY threads to do both projects. This one sets you up to be able to do the piece as a drum, or frame it flat. $37.00

 I love Teresa Kogut's designs! Her Christmas and Halloween make me want to drop everything and either stitch or do punch needle. We can get her designs in either format. The top pair exemplify "What's not to love" when it is Santa and animals! Clearly, that is my weakness! The left most one with the sheep is SANTA KNOWS, 118 BY 139, $10.50. The one on the right with a nod to the Bremen Town musicians is JOYFUL SCENE, 110 by 86, $10.50.

We ran out of NEWCASTLE BOUQUET but I ordered it because it was so stunning! PET ALL THE DOGS is 268 by 146, $16.50

 HOPE FOR THE WORLD may upset some with the juxtaposition of the Nativity and Santa, but I found it winsome. St. count is 96 by 142, $10.50.


I didn't even go through the Plum Street Samplers nor the With Thy Needle and Thread, nor Jardin Prive, nor Blackberry Rabbit, nor Marie Dricoll, and not Marjorie Massey. In other words, there were lots more people to whom I freely handed over my money (excitedly pushed into their hands). We will be open soon, and I have saved these surprises for you. In the interim, my email is twisinc@comcast.net for orders. Include your address and phone and then I can call you for explanations or your credit card number.

Cross Stitch Edition 4

 This is a sampler reproduced by NeedleWork Press. It is actually two samplers stitched together. One end was done in 1836 and the other side was the following year.  Stitch count is 194 by 93, $31.

This book also contains two samplers. Pictured at left is THE DUTCH STEPS OF LIFE 1790. The steps of life are frequently pictured in Dutch samplers and each step represents 10 years. They are pictured in the bottom level of this sampler. There is a human figure on each step that pictures a different age.  The stitch count is 286 by 384.

This second sampler in the book features a house with a stepped gable or roofline. This is the SARA WISSE 1797. The sampler has a count of 122 by 158.  The book is $31.00

 This book also contains two samplers. Deventer is a city in the Netherlands. The town's museum contains 18 samplers, all made by girls coming from one family. The sampler pictured on the cover of the book was made by Ida Dorothea Lamberts in 1806.
The count is 398 by 315.

They don't have information about EH, the maker of the 1811 sampler, but you can see that she stitched many of the same or similar figures. It might be a case of school girls attending the same school where the instructor presents some generalized patterns and the girls color at will the figures as suggested and then embellish with other motives.
The count is 437 by 334. The book is $31.

 This is a great design created by Riverdrift House to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the passage of the Mayflower from Plimouth, UK carrying 102 passengers. The back sheet of the pattern is a very thorough annotation of what all the motives in the pattern represent. It is very interesting! The stitch count is 217 by 217 and the pattern is $14.50.

Last year, Samplers Not Forgotten presented us with the ENGLISH GARDEN and this year we could fall in love with the FRENCH GARDEN.  This is an original sampler. The stitch count is 271 by 351.
$24.50

The Scarlett House had three pieces that I brought back. I have reordered SEEKING REFUGE. We still have the charming ornament, BRINGING HOME THE TREE which is 103 by 61, $12.25.

MARY KEMP 1862 is the other one on the right. There is a bit of over one stitching so this is not suitable for Aida fabric. The stitch count is 155 by 130, $18.50.


(Below - Blogger is being stubborn which is why I gave up last night and went to bed!)This sweet piece is STABLES AT HOLLYBERRY FARM. What a pretty house!  This counts 327 by 239 and is $14.50.

Cross stitch Edition 3

I came back from market with a stack of  LA-D-DA designs. A TWO RABBIT SAMPLER is really fun and should have been in people's hands by Easter. Then we had a second chance and they missed May Day. We always went to my grandmother's with flowers on May first. We would ring the doorbell and then run off into her extensive gardens and orchard. 175 x 151, $14.50

La-D-Da Quaker is 164 by 158 and is only two colors with a fancy alphabet. $14.50

 If you don't want to turn BLUEFLOWER DRUM KIT into a drum, just frame it flat. It comes with sufficient WDW to either stitch it with one or two strands. The fabric to go on top of the drum is included and it is a WDW wool in Dove.

 I haven't made a drum but I do know that Vonna Pfeiffer has a tutorial on her flosstube. I am sure there are more. $31.00

 The FOR A FRIEND KIT comes packaged with Gloriana hand dyed silk and it looks like it has a silk ribbon that you ruche for trim for the edge of this little pin cushion. $31

This is lovely advice for us to keep in mind currently. She suggests 36 count cocoa for KINDER THAN NECESSARY but you may use whatever fabric you choose. The bottom border is composed of Algerian eyelets, but they can be stitched in cross stitch if that is the way you fly. This piece is 110 by 86, $12.25.

A QUAKER WELCOME from Lila's Studio was one of the hottest tickets when we came back from Nashville. I had to order this from the distributor because she wasn't at Nashville. A customer reported to me that it took 4 skeins of Onyx and not the two the designer specified. I was shocked and forgot to ask her if she was using one or two strands. It is a beauty, like everything that emerges from Lila! 232 by 172, $16.00.



ANNA OHMAN, 1873 is a monochromatic beauty. I love the grace of the wingspread bird. The forest theme in the border and the corners is meaningful to me.  158 by 156, $14.50.

 JANET ROBERTSON is a brilliantly colored sampler reproduction of a piece by a 7 year old. It is a Scottish sampler. 100 by 231, $12.50

This is from Liz Matthews who is the daughter of Kathy Barrick. I discovered that she had a flosstube channel the other night when I didn't  stitch having fallen on my arm. The arm is fine but is in brilliant colors!

These trees fascinated me a market. They were just so organic. The had a tree branch to hold it upright and there was floral moss around the base. It felt very elegant.

 They can be stitched into a rectagular shape and framed. Finishing directions in a detailed video and step by step directions can be found on her web page. The above is the SWAN TREE and the pink one is the MAY FLOWERS TREE.

Stitch counts are 128 by 136 and each pattern is $12.25.

 LONE ELM LANE is an overlooked designer. The two items pictured to the right are both mounted in one of their own Shaker boxes. The one on the left is IN THE MEADOW and the stitch count is 155 by 155. The one on the right is a bit smaller and is entitled ALLELUJAH. They are each $12.50

COME TO THE WATER, the leftmost leaflet has a stitch count of 157 in each direction. If you want to use the scripture, they have graphed it for you and it replaces the alphabet in the top. $12.50

HOPES AND DREAMS is only 64 by 120. They make the wooden device. I should have picked up a price list when I was with them but I was so anxious to keep moving that I forgot. I have asked them to send it to me.
$12.50.

 TRUE FRIEND is the small piece on the left. It counts to 68 x 65. The framed piece was done on 32 count with GAST threads and the pincushion was bumped to 36 count. $8.25.

FAITHFUL FRIEND is her annual memento to her friend, Meg, who lost her life to cancer. Profits from this design are donated to the American Cancer Society. 131 by 59, $7.50.

YOU GOT THIS is another fundraiser for the ACS. This message of encouragement can be used as a gift for so very many situations. Count is 73 by 95, $7.50.

FOLLY OF ENVY is the designer's interpretation of Margaret Matilda Baron's sampler of 1834, stitched at the age of 11. Stitch count is 173 by 171, $14.50

Cross Stitch - Edition Two

 Cathy from HANDS ON is one of the most prolific designers in the industry. She works very hard at it and was a shop owner at one time, doing her own finishing and that of her customers. I am going to try to get her to come out here for a class.
MY STITCHER'S HEART is the first offering. This piece was the subject of her first Floss Tube video, and apparently the whole production was fraught with little disasters. There is a larger hexagonal design with several ideas to take smaller motives out to use in faster gratification pieces.$14.50

WELL ROUNDED is a clever presentation of the four seasons, each season presented in three designs in three different sizes. You could make a club out of it for yourself and stitch one a month. I think I would like to do a bell pull with the 4 designs, the only dilemma being which size to choose. Why are these decisions so difficult? Okay - I think I like the top row! I stopped working on my HIS EYE IS ON THE SPARROW because I have a boo boo so it is in time out until the urge to start another BAP arises, and then I will finish HEIOTS. Since stopping that, I have completed two small pieces and now I am doing beads.Chart is $23.

 This is an adaptation of artist Annie Quigley. I can almost remember the scent of the dried laundry when my mother would bring it in the house and I am getting the same sensation from this. The model was stitched with Sulky 12 but she does give you DMC conversions. In a later edition, I talk about Summer House's "Liberty Hill Farm". These two designers got together and mutually chose colors and the packet that comes with LBH has sufficient thread kitted to do that one and stitch this one TOO!  $10.25

 Ort tray, scissor fob and one of Cathy's pincushions with a stitched gusset! These are small enough projects to have time to do all three and with a summer theme! $12.25

HEART IN HAND is one of my steadiest sellers. I don't sell a lot of them, but we eventually sell through the designs. Some of them are so classic that I am surprised that we don't sell more. This Christmas Square Dance is a continuation of the series of the months of the years and I feel that those who bought the earlier part of the series will also buy this one that contains three projects, each one 40x40. $13.50





 You need to stitch a monochromatic and these two are ideal. If you haven't experienced it, you will find that the project flies faster because you are not having to stop to thread your needle with yet another color. Doing it in a  hand dyed thread is even more fun because you get to watch the color ebb and surge as you go along. The bluebird is 118 by 40 .and the redbird is 100 by 40. They are each $12.50

Unfortunately I didn't stitch one of the above but I chose this. When I read what it said, I was done for! It was 80 by 84 and started center and worked up from the center to do the top left quadrant which is really weird for me. I didn't have the thread for the turtle so I counted over and did the teddy. I should have done the scallops across the top ALL THE WAY, but, no! That would have been too much of a good thing, and I really put the teddy in the wrong place, so we had a bit of ripping. Loved the little house, heart and flower that came with the chart. I did it for little Finn, but Grandma is keeping it at the store for a while, or at least as soon as I get a frame made.
$14.50.

I got one of these because it has an Adam and Eve, speaking of which ...one of my breaks from HIS EYE...was a little A and E from  With They Needle and Thread but because she is so hard to deal with, I may not hang it in the store. She doesn't keep her distributors stocked.  In any case, these are all small: A&E - 73x63, Deer - 103 x 83, Dear Sister - 81 x 60, Love the Giver - 81 x 70 and Tiny Token - 38 x 56. These are great for using up your remnants. $12.50

This is the companion to HIS EYE... and when I heard she was working on this, I thought I had better get going on the prequel! I adore this. IT is in brighter colors than the one I am doing and this will be the next BAP I work on. Size is 435 by 363, $25.

 Judy Whitman is one of the most elegant people I know, and she's one that has been around a long time. I used to buy her counted needlepoint designs before I ever moved to MA in 1983. Her personal elegance is examplified in her designs. She did one of the nicest things for us and she is going to do it again. Many of her little Christmas ornament designs have gone out of print and she brought them all back in one little spiral bound book. It is so nice to have them all in one place. $18.50

GREEN GABLES will take you back to a time when you read of Anne's adventures. $10.50

RABBITS IN THE ROUND was sure to be a hit for Easter in my book. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to be together before Easter. I will stitch it in navy blue for my DIL for next year, navy being her color of choice. $10.50.

FRENCH COUNTRY SWANS was picked up by a few who were in the shop for that week and a half period before people began to refrain from going out. $10.50

SEASIDE SERIES VI will outsell all the others in this series, just because there is a mermaid on it.

 Kathy Barrick has reproduced a small, simple Quaker sampler that is 147 by 187. This is very achievable and you could have fun, if you are not a purist, choosing a color that goes out on a limb in a nonconventional way.
AH to EE is $12.25.

 SARAH HUGHES, 1821
Had to buy it as there is an Adam and Eve, and look - there are two ships. I like sailing ships. You'd think I would detest them, as a yacht figured prominently in my divorce. This is a long, tall one - 180 by 415, but there is lots of empty fabric!
$18.50.

I'm partial to horses, too, particularly black ones. My Billy was a little black Welsh pony. A VISIT FROM SPOT is 119 by 116. I'd consider doing this for my sister as she was horse-crazy and now is a professionally horse-crazy woman. $12.25

B.R.'s MOTH  - She reproduced a moth last year too, but I think this one is prettier. I will leave this for someone else to stitch. As a teacher, there were many names that I wouldn't consider when it was time to name my son. As a middle school biology teacher for the first ten years that I taught, each student had to present me with insects representing 10 different orders of insects. I'm done with insects! $12.25.

Designers whose names begin with L will be next, but first I am taking a break from this. 

A sunny afternoon is calling my name!

CROSS STITCH REPORT - Edition One

I am sitting on a lot of literature still from the Nashville Market and in MY mind, this is an asset that is rapidly turning into a burden as there are new things I would like to order. There are a few notable pieces that are missing from the collection, but I grabbed one each of what had been displayed on the two spinners in the needlepoint thread area and I also absconded with literature from the big spinner and the small format spinner next to it at the end of the fabric table. If this is effective, I will continue next weekend with the literature from the spinner next to the radio.

I will have to break it up because all these pictures are  a drag on downloading this visual newsletter. Get ready for more editions!


ANNIE BEEZ-Bunny and Bee - 196 x 88  We had it in time for Easter, but there are a lot of you who are rabbit enthusiasts. $12.25


Missing is THREADNEEDLE STREET - I sold one copy and then I looked as it, intending to take one home and I realized that there was a very painful mispelling and two missing apostrophes.

Missing apostrophes can easily be remedied but leaving out the second T in the word STITCHES drives me crazy. I knew that an eon ago when we changed our name from NEEDLES AND NOODLES to THE WORLD IN STITCHES. In those days, people wrote checks for their purchases and frequently made the error of leaving out the second T. It was at that time that I started to use the acronym TWIS because I knew that common error would come to cause trouble in a URL.

 LOVE ALWAYS-101 by76 - Great wedding or anniversary piece.
$12.25

Sorry that I haven't taken time to edit these pix, but it is Sunday and that's my bed. CBS SUNDAY MORNING is over and I am watching PHANTOM GOURMET because I am looking for inspiration in something different to make.
THE HAYNES SAMPLER -246 by 201. $19

Thank goodness that BENT CREEK reprinted this wedding piece. This is one of my all time favorites. 208 x 46. $7.25

THE BLUE FLOWER - Huckleberry Farm
252 by 229 - She wasn't at market, but I responded to her email right before market and brought this in. I think this sampler, pictured below was one of the most outstanding, original samplers of the season.$14.50

Susan Jones is the designer for FINGER STEP DESIGNS and she does wonderfully practical chart pack collections, my favorite being her one on BARGELLO. This one is called SOMETHING FISHY and had a myriad of stitches that you can do in a fish sampler format. Once you have stitched it, you have a study piece from which you might choose stitches for your next canvas. I have one of these with fibers and one without for those of you  who have a collection of threads and want this for a stash buster. The one I grabbed is yarned with Gumnut Yarn Buds, a hand dyed silk perle from Australia. $130.

Australian FOX AND RABBIT had a nice small alphabet/spot sampler combination in a small format. JANIE TIBBETT 1893. Stitich count is an easy 92 by 111. $16.50.

Their other winner, in my mind, was CHARLOTTE MILLS 1844. She's a big girl at 264 by 328. They don't carry as many varietal threads as we do because the costs of importing American hand dye threads is prohibitive for many of their citizens, so they call for DMC colors. This is easy to switch to GAST, CCW or WDW. This spot sampler has the most amazing border! $21

Get ready for Edition 2 which will begin with the versatile and prolific output of HANDS ON DESIGNS.

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