My Folky Valentine

The heartfelt sampler above is from Carriage House Samplings called A Friendship Sampler. What a lot of possibilities! Wouldn't this make a great "round robin" project for your stitching group? Or a family tree sampler? The model pictured here has a real lock of someone's hair lovingly stitched to the center. You could do the same, or leave it out. I thought it was appropriate for Valentine's Day approaching!

There are many other "from the heart" patterns and books for you to choose from, including Notforgotten Farm's Heartfelt book, Need'l Love's Folk Heart Threads, Stone & Thread's recent "Be Mine" needlepunch, a needlepunch pattern from Carriage House Samplings titled "1824 Valentine Bird" just to name a very few.

Speaking of affairs of the heart, please keep good thoughts for my mother who will be undergoing an angioplasty on Valentine's Day, of all days! Hopefully this is a good omen! I'll be traveling down to Massachusetts mid-week to be there with her for a few days. So, any orders placed Wednesday through Friday this week will most likely be shipped on Saturday or the following Monday. Thank you for your support, and Happy Valentine's Day!

'Til next time,

Spring Fever!

Dang ole "Punxsutawney Phil" anyway! Saw his shadow on Saturday and now we've got six more weeks of winter! I've got spring fever, especially with one snowstorm after another here in Maine. Uncle!

OK, enough whining - check out this awesome new design by Stacy Nash - it might be my favorite one of hers yet, called "Netty's Sampler Pinkeep Drum" with sweet little motifs that feel like spring! Love the bunny! There are two more new ones as well, the "Hands to Work Pinkeep Pillow" (I was lucky enough to win the actual model made by Stacy on eBay last week!) and "Blue Sewing Roll" that is already flying out the door.

Betty Dekat (primitivebettys on eBay) has entered the cross-stitch arena herself with a few new patterns including this sweet "1836 Spring Tyme Sampler" that people are loving. Three other patterns are available too and I'm hoping she does more in the future.

We're waiting for some cross-stitch and new needlepunch designs from Country Stitches, probably on our doorstep next week, and I can't wait! Also coming are a few new additions from Carriage House Samplings that I think you'll like. It's great to have some fresh new designs to motivate and inspire!

Watch this space for updates on new arrivals. Speaking of updates, I've done a lot of updating on my web site and almost all my books are back online. I'm working on getting patterns back now. Notforgotten Farm's needlepunch designs are back and I've started loading the Sale Bin with a few books and Needlepunch patterns but much more will be going in there as quickly as possible! I hope you'll drop by to check things out!

Stay warm and dry 'til next time,