Big Apple Gift Bag

One of our promotions at the Fall Needlecrafts Market was a Big Apple Gift Bag. Shops were given a chance to win for every $25 spent on our designs. This prize was filled with a selection of our older designs, chocolate bars from Brooklyn's own Jacques Torres Chocolatier, and a selection of fun souvenirs from NYC, all packaged in a souvenir NYC tote bag.

The big winner was Stitch By Stitch from Cape May, NJ. Congratulations Sharon! Hope you enjoy the prizes and thanks for shopping with us at the show.

Cynthia & Theresa

Welcome!

We are delighted to welcome three new shops as customers:

Gypsy Wools of Boulder, CO is adding cross stitch to her shop. We are pleased that some of our designs are helping this expansion!

Cross Stitch & Crafts from Johnson City, TN stocked up on Sarah Rogers 1803 Sampler.

Two The Point Needlearts from Overland, KS couldn't resist our German Sampler Series.

Should you find yourself near any of these shops, stop in for a little stash enhancement!

Theresa and Cynthia

A Stroll With The Queen

This is our newest design in our German Sampler Series: The Queen's Garden. It features many floral and bird motifs such as carnations, iris, primroses and storks that are reminiscent of what a queen would have in her private garden.


I stitched the model using Pearsall's Silks on Lakeside Linen 32 Ct. Meadow Rue, although conversions to DMC, Soie D'Alger and Needlepoint Silks are provided. The water in the fountain is stitched with the herringbone stitch, but all the rest is cross stitched over two.

We already have the next three designs in this series charted. Our goal is to release them during the next year. While you wait, enjoy stitching your way through The Queen's Garden.


Theresa

Open For Business!

We're at the TNNA Fall Needlecraft Market in St. Charles/St. Louis, MO. Here are a couple of photos of our suite.



If you are wondering how all these models and display fixtures made it to Missouri from NYC, the answer is a two day drive! Cynthia and I rented an SUV, loaded it up and started driving west at 10:15 AM on September 22. After crossing 7 states, we crossed the Mississippi and arrived in Missouri at about 6:30 PM on September 23rd. It was a long drive!

Our new design being released at this show is The Queen's Garden, the next entry in our German Sampler Series. I'll have more on that piece in a later post.

If you are shopping this wholesale only market, stop in Suite 728 and see us!

Theresa & Cynthia

L'Inspiration Francaise, Part IV - Museums & Exhibitions, continued

Rediscoveries can be just as great an adventure as experiencing something new.

Musee de l'Orangerie

Located in Le Jardin des Tuileries, L'Orangerie only recently reopened after many years of restoration. It is the home designed by Claude Monet for his iconic Les Nymphaes, or, as more commonly entitled in English, Waterlilies, painted in the gardens of his Giverny home. My memories from my last visit there (about 23 years ago) were of gloomy galeries in poor condition. That's not the case any longer!



The museum facility itself has been beautifully restored, but most of all, these magnificent works of art are displayed and lit to best advantage.


I was intrigued by the brush technique used by Monet to create the waterlily flowers.

I also like the bright bursts of color used to highlight flower detail, something to try in future designs.

After worshipping the Monets, I headed downstairs to the extensive underground galleries that house both temporary exhibition galleries and a permanent collection of featuring modern and impressionist works by Monet's contemporaries.

There was a terrific Kandinsky retrospective in the temporary space (alas, no photos were allowed). You definitely want to allocate sufficient time on this visit to explore the treasures in these galleries.




One artist I discovered here for the first time was Chaim Soutine., who called to mind Monet and Chagall.

This simple painting by Renoir of roses on a velvet chair made me want to rush out and buy an identical bouquet!


I loved the delicate interplay of whites and pinks, something I hope to use someday in a design.



And I'm always happy to find a new (to me) Matisse masterpiece.

to be continued...

Theresa

L'Inspiration Francaise, Part IV - Museums & Exhibitions

My April trip to Paris lasted two weeks and allowed me to explore small museums and visit exhibitions that usually aren't on a visitor’s itinerary. Each was an adventure, taking me to unfamiliar areas around Paris and leading to some wonderful discoveries, often related to needlework and design. Another benefit: they are generally not crowded and visited primarily by locals.

Musee de la Vie Romantique

A French acquaintance recommended this small museum near Pigalle because of the special exhibition honoring Frederic Chopin’s Bicentennial. Dedicated to the Romantic Movement, at its peak of influence in Paris from 1810 to 1840, this eclectic museum is located in the private home and studio of Ary Scheffer, a portraitist of the time. Scheffer and his daughter hosted salons that were frequented by George Sand, Chopin and Franz Liszt amongst others. There is a permanent collection in the house that features many personal items of George Sand, including her tartanware needle case, a beaded necklace she made for her daughter, and other stitching items.

Perhaps best of all, the museum has this delightful garden with a tea shop providing a lovely place to recover from touring the museum over a light lunch or tea while admiring the beautiful flowers.

Musee de Toile de Jouy

Yes, there is a museum dedicated to toile! Located in a Parisian suburb near Versailles township, it’s easily reached by the RER commuter train coupled with a short walk. The museum is in a small chateau surrounded by lovely gardens on the site of the Manufacturie Oberkampf which began producing toile de jouy fabric in 1760, dominating the market for generations.

Did you know that toile is a fabric printing technique, not a particular design style? I always thought toile was limited to single color (usually black or blue) prints of pastoral scenes against a white background. I could not have been more wrong! Turns out that just about any repeat patterned fabric printed using wood or copper blocks is a toile.

Samples of what we typically consider to be toile fabric.

Of course there is a large gift shop with every item imaginable made out of toile or reflecting a toile de jouy pattern. This bookmark was too cute to resist --- and has already given me finishing ideas for a design or two!

I'm sure you notice that the toile fabric used for the bookmark is a multi-colored floral print rather than a monochromatic pastoral scene.

to be continued...

Theresa

Going Public

Our local stitching group, the Metrostitchers, take 'stitching in public' to a new level. Most stitching groups stitch in public at local baseball games, known as 'Stitch & Pitch' events. The Metrostitchers head to the local racetrack!

Crafty Gem, Winner of the 4th Race

Last Sunday the group headed out to Belmont Park Raceway for a day of stitching, horses and betting stash amongst ourselves (a Metrostitcher specialty!). Were we all thrilled when Crafty Gem came from behind to win the 4th Race! No doubt our stitching inspired Crafty Gem's final push to win by a nose!

The racing form (used to record stash bets) and Theresa's stitching

The stitching I brought with me is the next German Sampler Series release: The Queen's Garden. It was the first 'public viewing' of this new design-in-progress, seeming to be the perfect match for a day enjoying the Sport of Queens. I stitched a lot between races, and even expected to finish the model this week.

Unfortunately, I'm now frogging everything that I stitched that day! Somehow I made a huge counting error, compounded by not catching it for several days. Some designs just seem to attract more frogs in the initial stages than others.

Or maybe I was simply paying more attention to the horses and the stash bets than to my stitching?

Theresa