He Loves Me!

Here's a preview of our new design releasing next week at the Counted Wishes Festival. As you can tell by the crease across the center it still needs ironed :) Then it's into the frame for the chartpack picture. We've got work to do to be ready by next week!

Our design made the back cover!

We were super excited when we received our copy of Just Cross Stitch Halloween Collection 2011 and turned it over and saw our Candy Corn Buddy on the back cover! He's the one that's shaped like a candy corn and circled in red :) 

 He's actually in the book a total of 4 times! 

Sorry. This is our first design that has been published by someone other than us. Can you tell we're excited!

New Halloween cat bellpulls!

This is the first bellpull in our new product line of metal stitching accessories and finishings. Click on picture to be taken to our website. Retail min is 1 bellpull. Wholesale is 2. This black cat bellpull is purr-fect for Halloween or any cat-lover!  Could also be used to hang a small towel.

Overall dimensions: 9" wide x 9 1/2" tall
Thickness: 1.024 mm
Slot for fabric: 4 1/2" x 3/8"

Made in the USA!

DMC & Buttons

 

We've got the DMC & button colors picked out for our newest design. Love these colors together. Now just have to get this thing stitched.

Retro Spots preview

 

Here's a preview of our newest design called Retro Spots. When Mike designed this, it originally started out as garden spots. I thought the design looked sort of retro so we picked out retro colors-turquoise, orange, brown, and white and went with that. As you can see it's not quite have way finished. Each square takes about 4 hours to stitch so I still have a bit of stitching to do.

June Vacation

I know it's been a while since we posted anything. June was a very busy month for us after taking off 10 days for a vacation.

 

The vacation was wonderful. We got to spend it with family in North Carolina on the Outter Banks. (keep an eye out for some beach/ocean patterns :0) I had only been to the ocean twice before. Once was just a quick stop on a mission trip...not long enough to swim. The 2nd was with my sister and a friend in April...to cold to swim. So this time it was nice and warm and we were there for an entire week so I finally got to swim in the ocean!

We stopped at the North Carolina Aquarium. It was much nicer to see the sharks from behind glass then out in person out in the ocean.

Mike, his dad & mom took a plane ride over the islands. I passed on the plane rid but he got some good pictures and that was good enough for me :)

One of the last evening we went to an outdoor drama Waterside Theatre on Roanoke Island called The Last Colony. It was absolutely amazing and ended up being one of my favorite parts of the trip.

 Now we're back at work designing some new patterns. I'll try and post a few previews the next couple a days.

Patriotic Pincusion

As promised, here is a quick picture of the Patriotic Pincushion. The entire design is stitched in Kreinik threads. The new Hot Wire is great for adding dimension! We are working on the special pins for this. This will be released as a pattern only (no kit this time). Accessory packs will be available though.

We also have stitched a vintage version. This uses all Gentle Art threads except for black DMC for the "fuses". There are cute little glass stars attached for an extra dazzle.

Sneak Peek at Turtle Love

 

Bright Colors

 

Antique Colors

My husband loves turtles so I designed us a cute little wedding sampler for our 5th Anniversary. There is also a bright colors version that we had stitched in honor of my sister and her new husband. We should be getting these framed this coming week. We also have been working on another new pattern called Retro Spots. It's about 1/3 of the way finished. Lastly I got one version of the newest pincushion stitched this morning. I'll try to post a sneak peek of it as well within the next few days. All 3 new designs will be releasing in

June (hopefully before vacation :)

Sneak Peek at April Showers Limited Edition Kit

April Showers LIMITED EDITION kit
This kit will be debuting at the Needlework Show. If we have any kits left over we will list them on our website after the show. Shops at the show get first dibs.

We need the rain to see all those beautiful flowers we've waited for all winter. This adorable design will lift your spirits on those rainy days with it's bright colors and the age old saying "April Showers Bring May Flowers".   A cute little cottage sits among the flowers while rain is gently falling. The little drops of rain are really beads that glisten just like real rain!   Kit includes limited edition Gentle Art threads, 28ct. African Daisy hand-dyed joblean, Mill Hill beads, and pattern. The kit is a limited edition due to the threads used. Once there gone there gone.

Stitch Count: 47  x 46

Floss: Limited Edition Gentle Art

Fabric: 28ct African Daisy Hand-dyed Jobelan

Embellishment: Mill Hill Beads

Item Number: #K003

Stitches Used: cross stitch, beaded cross stitch, petite stitch, backstitch

Indian Blanket preview

We are getting the patterns made up this week so watch our website for this pattern soon!

It has rained all day long here! So it was a good time to work on a special April Showers kit for the Online Needlework Show this month. We will have a limited number of these kits as they use limited edition thread from the Gentle Art. Will be adding a small preview later.

Stone Dragon is Finished!

Raymond from Canada stitched this last dragon (for now anyway) for us. You can view his stitching album here.

Earth Dragon is Finished

Thanks to Kim for stitching this one. Visit her blog here!

Universe & Water Dragon are both finished!

We've been falling behind on our blog updates and I'm going to try and get some pictures uploaded of finished models.

 

Water Dragon  

Universe Dragon

Thanks so much to Carin for stitching both of these for us. You can visit her blog here.

Fire Dragon is Finished!

The model is finished. It turned out even better that we thought it would. Thanks to Lee-Ann!

Contemporary Flower Model is finished!

Thanks so much to Dianne for stitching this so fast. The original deadline was March 27th but she had this done in a week! We where pleasantly surprised to receive it back in the mail so quickly.

Water Dragon Progress

Here's a small preview of the Water Dragon that Carin is stitching for us. She's doing an amazing job!

Fire Dragon Progress

Lee-Ann, out model stitcher, just sent us a picture of the progress she's made on the Fire Dragon. She's doing an amazing job. Plus she's quick! ;)

Tiny Turtle Crochet Bookmark

I know I should be cross stitching on my St. Patrick's Sampler design but I came across this little guy and got side tracked. Mike loves turtles and I had to make this for him. As you tell by the picture, he's a little lopsided. He still needs 2 legs but I ran out of thread :(

http://www.crochetville.org/forum/showthread.php?t=120678

A couple of days ago we released Valentine Square. In the last few days we've been busy with other holidays. Above are previews of St. Patrick's Square & Easter Square. We've been trying to keep them all around 5.3" to 5.7" on 18 count. Other holidays are coming soon!

New Release Valentine Square

Stitched all in one color of floss on red Aida, this Valentine design really "jumps" out at you. A tiny border of hearts separates the design into four squares. In each square is symbol of things associated with Valentine's day, such as roses, candy, hearts, love, and sending Valentines.
For shops to purchase wholesale please view here.

Come on Spring!

  It's supposed to be 2 degrees tonight with a wind chill of 10 below. Brrr! We cannot wait for spring! Here's a peek at 3 of many new designs that I've been stitching on to help chase away the winter blues. I just love the color of the 14 count Summer Yellow aida (picture doesn't do it justice) and wanted to design something to stitch on it. When I look at the deep yellow it made me think of sunflowers. Since the fabric is so bright I thought using one color would really stand out. It ended up being so "fun" to design and stitch we couldn't stop so now we've got a whole series of these! :)  We're still picking out fabrics for the rest of the flowers. Hopefully we all start to see the Daffodils coming up soon!

Mike is on a Dragon kick!

Mike took over the computer last night and this morning to do some designing. He is on a Chinese dragon kick right now so he has got rough drafts of 5 new designs! The dragons are each a different color with a Chinese symbol inside. There is Earth, Fire, Galaxy/Universe, Water, and Stone dragons.

New Releases! Field of Hearts and Irish St. Patty's Day

Two new releases for the Counted Wishes Festival! Just in time for Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day. 

 

First in a new series of kits is Field of Hearts Pincushion.

  The design if full of red, pink, and white hearts. Embellished with beads, Kreinik, and 3 exclusive heart pins. (shown to the right)

Makes a great gift! Quick stitch with a stitch count is 29 x 29. This is a limited edition kit.

Kit includes 28ct. Dirty linen, DMC & Kreinik blending filament, Mill Hill beads, exclusive pattern, 2.5" flower pot (unpainted-you paint the color you desire), and three 1.25" tall heart pins. There is a limited amount of these kits available. Materials needed but NOT included: paint (your choice) for the flowerpot,
2.5" Styrofoam ball (used in model) or cotton batting to fill pot and stick pins in, glue or pins to secure the design if using Styrofoam ball.

  

Irish St. Patty's Day

This design has "La Fheile Padraig"(Irish for St. Paytrick's Day) written in stylish old english style. The words are set off by the sparkling shamrock border. Stitched in 2 colors of DMC and 1 color of Kreinik. Chart only. 

Approx Finished Size : 9.4" x 5.6"
Stitch Count: 131 x 79
Floss: DMC & Kreinik blending filament
Fabric: 14ct white aida
Item Number: #006
Stitches Used: cross stitch & backstitch