Happy Halloween!

This is my son, Russell, and his girlfriend, Tracey. Russ is a graphic artist and hand-painted Tracey's skeleton costume. It took him about twelve hours. Don't they look great? Tracey is expecting my first grandchild sometime in February, a girl, so the baby skelly has a little pink bow in it's hair - well, on it's skull, actually. They went to a costume party Saturday night. I used to love costume parties! When this guy was little we would decorate the front porch with those gauzey fake spider webs and large black spiders and made little hanging ghosts from squares of inexpensive white sheets wrapped around styrofoam balls. They looked great at night, blowing in the October breeze. I always had a "bleeding" candle on a table near the door, though not too near as to catch a little one's costume on fire. Not sure if Yankee Candle still makes these. One year we played a scary CD of screaming and moaning sounds in a boom box. I remember a group of little kids stopping in their tracks on their way up the front walk, wondering if they should continue or not! It was a really scary CD, even scared me playing it! Ah, those were the days! Tonight we'll be lucky if we get the little tykes from the family that bought the house next door, that is if the snow melts enough so it's not an icy walk up the driveway. We'll have our carved pumpkin on the porch at least, like we always do, and will enjoy the snack-size Reese's peanut butter cups while watching something not-too-scary on TV. Didn't have time to make a scarecrow for the porch before the October Nor'easter hit. The leaves are all buried under a couple of inches of unwelcome snow.

Enjoy your Halloween night!

Needful Things

Isn't this the cutest? This is a magnetic "needle minder", designed to hold your needle or a pin or two at your sewing table. This one is called "Pumpkin Crow", but there are a few others as well, and retail for $9.50. Size is approximately 1-3/4" x 1-1/4". A perfect little gift for a sewing buddy, or just for you.

These are sweet little "Putford" scissors. You may have seen them on cross-stitch pattern covers. Small, only 2-1/2" long, but can be used, and are great to tuck into a little huswif or sewing book.

More cool sewing needfuls are on the Sundries page under the Et Cetera category. Hope you'll check them out!

Happy Monday!

Maine's Ultimate Yard Sale Redux

We'll try this again! Maine's Ultimate Yard Sale was rescheduled from last weekend and will be held this Saturday, Oct. 22nd from 9am-2pm at the Cumberland Fairgrounds in Cumberland, Maine. I'll be set up with two tables loaded with super bargains on fiber art patterns, books, supplies and other primitive goodes. The producers of this event expect upwards of 5,000 people to attend. Over 100 sellers will be set up and there will also be Maine craftspeople and food vendors. Sounds like it should be a fun day. If you're in the area, I hope to see you there!

Another Wool Quilt

This is a fun and folky wool quilt by Buttermilk Basin called Potted Flower. Six floral blocks, some with crows, framed with sashing and an outer border. Personally, I feel the block background used for this model wasn't the best choice and doesn't translate well in the photograph, but I could see this done using a less mottled or solid sky-blue wool, or a scrappier look with various small-scale textured wools that would provide good contrast with whatever colors you choose for the flowers. The set includes six block patterns and a finishing instructions pattern, seven in total for a special price of $29.95. Finished size of this wool quilt is 32" x 57".

The rain and clouds should be leaving later today, thank goodness! My mood is definitely affected by gloomy days and I hope to feel better as the hours tick by! Have yourself a sunny day,

Natural Fibers and Zombies

Soft, subtle, elegant, natural... This is DMC linen embroidery floss, a unique fiber for your embroidery and needlepunch projects. Made with 100% European linen fibers in nine soft, muted shades to give your needlework a time-worn look and feel. There is just such a wonderful feel to this floss. 8.7 yards per skein. DMC has actually discontinued this floss so what I have is "it" for me.

And now, on to zombies! I've become addicted to AMC's original series, The Walking Dead, that premiered it's second season last night. What a great, suspenseful series! I watched the first four episodes of season one in two days on Amazon Instant Play - $1.99 an episode - and watched the last two on AMC last night before the new season began. My husband recorded the 90 minute premiere episode for me to watch today, after breakfast. Not to be watched while eating - anything! Wow - anyone else watching this?

I grew up with three brothers and we all loved dinosaurs, monsters and sci-fi. Two of my brothers went on to become horror and sci-fi authors - Jeffrey Thomas, author of the critically acclaimed Punktown, and Scott Thomas, author of Midnight in New England and the recent Quill and Candle. You can find their works on Amazon and in bookstores.

Enjoy your pre-Hallowe'en fun!

Special Purchases

Tis Hallowe'en is a little book with designs for 13 mini cross-stitched stockings with Hallowe'en-inspired motifs. Blackbird Designs created them all, sized at 3" x 5", they're quick to stitch and display. There are also four additional projects: two necklaces, a pumpkin pinkeep and magnetic needle minder. Due to an ordering goof, I have a few too many, so have reduced the price by 25%, from $24.00 to $18.00. These would look cool all made up and hung on a little black feather tree.

The classic Lake View Primitives Wool Bed Rug is an absolutely gorgeous heirloom-quality project. The complete set of 21 patterns - 20 quilt blocks and finishing instructions - is available at a savings of 20%, from $168.00 to $135.00. This will certainly keep the winter chills away while you stitch!

Rain, rain, go away. I get so unmotivated on rainy days! I'm one of those SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) people who really need nice, sunny days. We've had lots of them lately, so I knew there had to be rain eventually. I'll get through it. It's almost the weekend, after all!

Stay dry,

Ultimate Yard Sale Rescheduled

I just got word that Maine's Ultimate Yard Sale, originally scheduled to be this Saturday, the 15th, has been rescheduled to NEXT Saturday, the 22nd, due to rain and wind predicted. Same time, 9am-2pm at the Cumberland Fairgrounds, Cumberland, Maine. At least that gives me more time to gather more good stuff to sell. Hope to see you there!

Quilty Stuff

More from the Lost & Found departrment: Monthly quilted banner patterns by Buttermilk Basin. Each pattern packet contains instructions for two monthly banners, with motifs depicting the particular month. Combine fabrics from your stash along with hand-dyed wools, or go "all in" with all fabric or all wool, for a penny rug banner or table runner. More ways to have FUN as we get back to our sewing and craft projects this fall. These pattern sets sell for $10.00 each.

In Stitches,

Lost and Found

My friend Diane went searching through her studio for some supplies she's going to give me. In her search she came across some rug hooking patterns that she'd forgotten she had. Tonight, in a similar situation, I've been rooting through boxes and came across some inventory that I'd misplaced. (Sometimes inventory doesn't make it back to the right storage location after I vend at a show. Yep - not the most organized gal, and I freely admit it!) Pictured is one of the patterns I found in a group of Carriage House Samplings cross-stitch charts, Fall's Gifts. There are several others on the Carriage House Samplings Cross-Stitch Pattern page on my web site. Quantities listed are all I have and these won't be re-ordered.

I found some other things too, and will continue updating my web site, so stay tuned.

Magdalena Briner Eby

This book arrived on Friday, and what fun I had reading about Magdalena Briner Eby, her family and life in Pennsylvania during the time of the Civil War. There are lots of great color photos of her rugs and discussion about her design style and use of color, dyeing, as well as a gallery of rug reproductions hooked by one of the co-authors, Evelyn Lawrence. A definite "must-have" for your rug hooking book collection.

Pre-orders for this book will be shipped on Tuesday, as today is a postal holiday to celebrate Columbus Day.


Wishing a Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian friends!

Have a nice holiday,

Happy Columbus Day!

All of a sudden it's Columbus Day weekend. We're wondering where the fall foliage is up here in Maine. We should have a lot more color this time of year. Hhmmm... I'll have to ask a meteorologist.

Just to let you know, we need to go out of town on Saturday, and with Monday being the Columbus Day holiday, order shipping will resume on Tuesday.

Enjoy your long holiday weekend!

Supporting the Postal Service

Uh oh, poor mailman... This is what he'll look like after I drop off all the packages I just finished sealing up. Two dozen heavy Priority Mail packages are in the back of my Jeep, ready to pop the eyes out of my local postmistress! It'll take three trips to get them inside! WHEW! These mostly include the eagerly awaited 'Tis the Season book, the first big group of pre-orders. I'm still waiting for a couple more boxes of books for the second wave. So, watch your mailboxes in two or three days for your pre-ordered books, and THANKS again for all your pre-orders!

Happy Friday!

The Ultimate Yard Sale

I'll be setting up tables next Saturday, Oct. 15th for Maine's Ultimate Yard Sale, from 9am-2pm at the Cumberland Fairgrounds in Cumberland, Maine. I'll have great deals for fiber artists of all types, patterns, supplies, books and sundry items. If you're local, do come out and shop! This is an event that used to be held at a place in Gray, Maine called Stonehedge on Rt. 202 but it became too big for that venue. Now a local radio station has become the event's sponsor and it's been held twice a year at a much bigger location in order to accommodate all the visitors and folks who want to sell their stuff. Rain date will be the following Saturday the 22nd.

Hope to see you there!

FOLK Art

I had the same reaction over the weekend after I stumbled upon the blog for a brand new publication called FOLK - a magazine filled with all things primitive and folk art.

Seemed like a natural for someone with a business named Simple Folk to investigate, right? I did, and I ordered some. They'll be available soon on my web site for all fellow primitive and folk art lovers to enjoy. Issues will retail for $6.95 plus shipping. The goodies just keep on coming this fall!

Victory is Mine!

V for Victory! The UPS guy just left me two heavy boxes filled with my shipment of Victory Girls and more Buttonwood Farm books! Of course I had to cut open one of the boxes and rabidly flip through the pages of Victory Girls for my first quick look - oh yeah, it's a GREAT book! Will have to spend more time absorbing every page tomorrow morning with my first cup of coffee.

Now I know what I'll be doing for the rest of the night! Pre-orders for Victory Girls will be shipped starting tomorrow morning in the order in which the orders were placed. Backorders of Buttonwood Farm will also be heading out the door tomorrow.

Thank you again for pre-ordering! Back to work I go...

Pumpkin Time

Just added - new and returning favorite wool applique/penny rug designs from Buttermilk Basin, one of my long-time favorite designers. Shown is October's pattern for the new series of Penny Mats Thru the Year. All are 8-1/2" round and would look great on your table or grouped hanging on a wall.

Returning are a few of Buttermilk Basin's classic penny rug designs - shown is Crow in the Pumpkins, one of my favorites. Love the white pumpkins. Three of the Trio of Star patterns have returned as well: Sheep, Saltbox and Fall. See all of the returning classics on Buttermilk Basin's Wool Applique page.

More new things arriving soon - stay tuned!