THE ATTIC. Sandy Orton s American Sampler February s Sampler of the Month

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1 Where Samplers Rule Just 15 minutes from the Airport at the NE CORNER OF CENTER & MCKELLIPS 106 E. McKellips Rd, Suite 111 Mesa, AZ TELEPHONE (480) FACSIMILE (480) THE ATTIC 04 February 2011 Issue No Sandy Orton s American Sampler February s Sampler of the Month We are privileged to have on display two beautiful models of this classic sampler design. The one on the left is on 28c, and the one on the right on 40c. We taught this as a class in the late 90s, I think it was, and several students finished theirs and have kindly loaned us their models for display. The chart suggests 25c Natural linen with 3 strands of DMC. NOT!! We suggest a smaller-count linen with silk. With the variety of specialty stitches and techniques, you will be spending many hours with this sampler. Why not enjoy it to the fullest extent with the best embroidery supplies available?! The gorgeous flowers in the border, as well as the strawberries and blossoms, are all stitched with the queen stitch! None of the queen stitch directions that I ve seen suggest that it is a pulled stitch. However, that is how I learned to do it from the master, Darlene O Steen, The trick is to ensure that the holes created by the pulling are the same size. Look how beautifully Evie has executed her queens. The photo on the right also shows the stitch that covers the background of the entire border. Left, There is a border of two-toned rice stitches, another favorite stitch. Right, This sampler includes a good deal of over-one stitching, and we recommend doing it with a continental stitch, as shown on the right. In the 2011 publication there are some changes in the AVAS silks listed in the Thread Legend due to discontinued colors as well as new additions to the Au Ver A Soie line. As our February Sampler of the Month, you will save 15% on your purchase of the following: hand-dyed linen (36c with 2-inch margins is $17) AVAS silk + Florimell $ (I wish this beautiful AVAS overdye had been available when I started mine in 1999???)

2 THE ATTIC! PAGE 2 February June As a member of our Attic Addicts Club, during February you may save 15% on your purchase of any of the following: Weeks, Colorscapes & Zweigart Hand-Dyed Linen Custom Cuts All Overdyed Cotton Floss One Nashville Market Day Item Saturday, February 19, Our Semi-Annual Framing Frenzy This is your opportunity to save 20% on your custom framing order, including frame, mat, and fillets, when you let Sandy use her expertise in selecting the perfect frame to enhance your needlework. Give her your budget and your likes and dislikes ( I don t like gilded, but I love primitive ) and she will do the rest. This discount does not apply to the framing labor charge nor to readymade frames. All orders will be processed in the order received, and orders with deadlines are ineligible for the FF discount. Saturday, February 26, Nashville Market Day This is our biggest event of the year, and some of you travel from neighboring states to be with us as we take off the wraps on all of the best that s new in our needlework world. Doors open at 9 AM for our Attic Addict members and 10 AM for the general public. You won t want to miss it! March March 3-6, 11 AM Thursday - Sunday 11 AM, Our Annual Junipine Retreat in Sedona. FULL for this year. Sampler Sunday, June 20. Although as the third Sunday in June this is Father s Day, you will want to carve out a 3-hour time in the afternoon to join us for a very special Sampler Sunday with Barbara Hutson/Queenstown Sampler Designs with a very special presentation. Barbara is a renowned sampler expert, and we are honored to have her at The Attic. November Friday, November 4-6, A Weekend of Workshops with Jackie du Plessis. The projects (Pinks and Pearls and Lily of the Valley) details and pricing will be published in a few months. There will be some pre-stitching. November 19, 6-8 PM, Our 14th Annual BCRF Benefit, with all proceeds to benefit breast cancer research. We received our first donation this past week: Susan s exquisite afghan. (And the empty spot below was for the photo of it, which I forgot to take :~( Saturday, March 5, 10:30-12:30, Beginning Linen with Linda s Tulip needlebook design as the class project. The $30 fee includes Linda s expert instruction as well as the chart + materials for this very useful learning project. Saturday, March 12, March s Stitch-In & Potluck. We haven t had one of these since last year so it s time! Fee $10. Please call to register. Saturday, March 19, 10:30-12:30, Giant Stitch-Along There are too many projects to hold separate sessions, so if you re stitching on any of these, please join us: American Sampler, I Sigh Not for Beauty, Spanish Mystery Sampler, any Hawk Run Hollow, or Time Well Spent. Fee $10. Please call to register. March 20, Sampler Sunday, 1-4 PM The 3rd Sunday of the month means it s time for this almost-monthly time together to do some sampler stitching and show and share your in-progress or finished pieces. Refreshments served. Fee $10. Please call to register. We still have some BCRF cookbooks left. Support a great cause (all net proceeds go to breast cancer research) by buying a copy(s) of the Recipes for a Cure cookbook for a donation of $14.95 (or more) with fabulous time-tested recipes as well as complimentary designs from the following giants in our industry: Blackberry Lane Designs, Blackbird Designs, Blue Ribbon Designs, Homespun Elegance, JBW Designs, Little House Needleworks, Lizzie Kate, Mary Garry s Sewing Cabin, Plum Street Samplers, Priscilla s Pocket, and The Sampler House (Eileen Bennett).

3 THE ATTIC! PAGE 3 Series 1 has now officially ended, and Series 2 begins with the beautiful Aubergine silk color being skeined and labeled now, which will be ready for shipping very soon. There will again be 6 parts to this series, each $18, with 5 of them being 100 yards of Gloriana hand-dyed Soie Surfine silk and the other a hand-dyed Lakeside linen approximately a stitcher s eighth in your choice of either 40 or 45-count. BUT there is one additional option available to Society members in this series: You may elect to SUPER-SIZE your subscription for $34/installment and receive 200 yards of each color and an approximate Stitcher s Quarter of the linen. Please let us know ASAP so that we may enlarge your subscriptions if you wish. If you would like to learn more about the Society of Soie Surfine, please visit the blog: societyofsoiesurfine.blogspot.com/ New Colors from Crescent Colours... debuting in Nashville this weekend: New Colors from Dinky Dyes... on their way now! Left to right, from the top down: #181 Antique Mauve; #182 Dusty Rose; #183 Blue Ice, #184 Wallaby Grass; #185 Peacock; #186 Kiah

4 THE ATTIC! PAGE 4 From Paula, who is leading our Spanish Mystery Sampler Stitch-Along, here is your February assignment, which always will be featured mid-month, after our Sampler of the Month has been announced at the beginning of the month: I hope everyone enjoyed stitching January s portion of the sampler and that the top border stitched in easier with the suggestion of doing it after the first row of the sampler the great thing is that for the rest of the stitch-along of the sampler, we ll just do a bit of the left and right borders as we move down the piece. This will be great for 2 reasons: 1) If you stitch the border on the left and right, after you ve put in a row, you ll always be evenly finished and less worry of errors; and it s just a bit each month and doesn t feel like an long piece of the same, repetitive stitches. Now, welcome to February! In many parts of the world there have been some huge snow storms and record high amounts of snow. Certainly this isn t everywhere, but as I stitched the next row (the bottom row of the image in the newsletter this week), I thought that it was a fitting row as these lovely flowers could be considered spring Tulips, Bluebells, or even the first flowers we usually see in Canada, Snow Drops, and so hopefully if you are living in a location that when you look out your window, you are still seeing huge drifts of snow, at least when you look down at your stitching, you can see a lovely row of new, spring flowers emerging. Once you have completed the row of flowers, stitch down on the left and right borders as far as this row enjoy! Coming from Blackbird Designs Alma just released these images on her blog, along with the information that there will be 7 new Reward of Merit patterns! Here s 2 of them! Can t wait to see these in person and bring many of these back for all of you!

5 THE ATTIC! PAGE 5 Coming from Blackbird Designs Coming from Various Designers We will be bringing back many copies of this Nashville release, a 52-page book packed with fun ideas and projects, a collection of the projects that Barb and Alma taught in their classes and retreats this past year. Reserve your copy now. A price has not yet been announced, but knowing the popularity of these ladies books, let s hope they re having LOTS printed. Clockwise from above, Summer House Stiche Workes Mr. President $8 ~Stickideen von der Wiehenburg s Diamonds Delight $20 ~ T e m p t i n g Ta n g l e s Across the Miles $12 ~ Heartstring Samplery s Let Us Be Truly Thankful- Valentines $10

6 THE ATTIC! PAGE 6 Coming from Various Designers Some of these are already here, some are on their way. Clockwise from the left, 2 from Beehive Needleworks, Faith Aubry Sampler $11 & Lizzy Trewhart Pin Pillow $10 (and please take a moment to visit Judy s blog for a quiet interlude in the midst of your day, beautiful music and images and wonderful quotes from famous people, many about embroidery, like this one from Oliver Wendell Holmes: Take your needle my child, and work at your pattern; it will come out a rose by and by. Life is like that ~ one stitch at a time taken patiently and the pattern will come out all right like the embroidery." Don t you just love that?! Continuing clockwise from above: 2 from Brooke s Books, each $6, Bride s Tree Ornaments-Home and Bride s Tree Ornaments-Love ~ 3 from Primitivebettys, each $10, Never Enough Thyme and Spring Pillow Tuck ~ Pure and Pleasant

7 THE ATTIC! PAGE 7 More Coming from Various Designers Clockwise from above: 2 from Silver Creek Samplers, Fruit Two Die For $10 and Northwind $12 ~Just Another Button Company s newest pincushion kit, Stuck on You $38 ~ Dames of the Needle s Primitive Smalls 1 $6.50 ~ Blackbird s Evergreen Lane, Anniversaries of the Heart #11 $9 ~ By the Bay Needleart s Peony Hill $10

8 THE ATTIC! PAGE 8 Coming from Cherished Stitches $9 $16 $12 $12 First introduced at the online needlework show, this lovely pink ribbon Quaker has been very popular. A portion of all sales go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. $18. Stitched in Gloriana s Raspberry Parfait, but it would be lovely in whatever shade you choose. $18 Left, beautiful 100% linen towels ($22) in three colors, 23 x 24 inches, are advertised as glass towels, but I m not sure I ll want to use these to hand-dry glasses, although why not use the finest materials for what can be a drudgery chore?! Right, we were waiting for our second shipment of this wonderful book to fill your orders, and learned today the books are here but await corrected graphs for 2 of the 16 charts included with the book, expected to arrive on Friday, so these should ship next week. Thanks for your patience, always necessary with anything coming across the big pond.

9 THE ATTIC! PAGE 9 Coming From Courtney Collection Clockwise from left above: Peacock Party $22 ~ Black on White $12 ~ Simple $10 ~ Garden Fair $24 ~ And on page 9, the pièce de résistance, Alphabet Song $34, an original silk screen that Courtney has beautifully translated into stitches for us. Courtney says, I found the design in a book named The New Work of our Hands by Mae Rockland Tupa and published by Chilton Book Company in Thank you to the publisher for giving me permission to chart this wonderful, original silk screen. The multi-page chart, she says, should not be an indication of high complexity but rather my wish to make it an easy chart to read. Thus all the pages.

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11 THE ATTIC! PAGE 11 Coming From La-D-Da No prices yet, but couldn t wait to share the images. Clockwise from above: Yellow Bird ~ Wed to Thee (A Family Tree) ~ Sweet by & By ~ Flowery Alphabet ~ and Twinkle Twinkle and Lori always has other wonderful surprises to bring back for you! You all remember her have-to-have stitching rolls and, before that, Bees Knees! Stay tuned for what s to come!

12 THE ATTIC! PAGE 12 HandWork Samplers Mary Riggs will be closing her business within weeks as she moves from the East Coast to the West Coast and looks forward to spending time with her grandchildren, and her many wonderful reproductions may no longer be available (I ve learned not to say never. ) I have ordered a number to fill orders for many of you, but there are so many more that are irresistible. Here and on the next several pages are images of some of her reproductions. Go to to see all of her sampler charts and then let us know which you must have as a part of your collection and call or your orders. Time is of the essence. Clockwise from above: Caroline Brown ~ Elizabeth Clayton ~ Mary Benham ~ Frances Eden

13 THE ATTIC! PAGE 13 More From HandWork Samplers Clockwise from the left: Elizabeth Welford ~ Phebe John ~ Fanny Cravett ~ Mary Mathews ~ Maria Spencer ~ Mary Griggs

14 THE ATTIC! PAGE 14 More From HandWork Samplers Clockwise from above: Elizabeth Ann Stidstone ~ Catherine Ann Speel ~ Sophia Eastland ~ Be Virtuous Sampler ~ Sophia Lamb ~ Ann Gilburd

15 THE ATTIC! PAGE 15 New from Primitive Traditions Clockwise from the left: A Petite Huswife $14, a beautiful companion piece for Cathy s previous series, Quaker Pocket Needfuls ~ Just for Today $10, a beautiful message on a lovely floral vine ~ Plenty and Grace $14, created as a wedding sampler for Cathy s son and daughter-in-law, with a wonderful sentiment and a place to add your family initials. LOVE this one! ~ Welcome Home $12, a charming Victorian motto that will work perfectly as a companion piece to Cathy s earlier With Joy We Greet You ~ and a familiar one to some, Sarah Elliot s Home Port $14, formerly sold as the chesttop design as part of Sarah Elliot s Sewing Chest ensemble.

16 THE ATTIC! PAGE 16 Images from the Past Weeks Left, Culver s billboard displaying a message that shows the company has its priorities in order! Right, Paradise Bakery s delicious cookie with a Super-Bowl Sunday-appropriate decoration. Below, Ardeth s completion of Scarlet Letter s Country Life ~ amazing design and beautiful needlework. Just another in Ardeth s many, many completions. This is probably the longest! Fresh From Sandy s Framing Studio: These charming designs from Little House Needleworks are available as Crescent Colours threadpacks ($19 each) with 2 months in each pack. We showed you the models for the first half of the year in our May 14, 2010 enewsletter ~