Oh, fall! I love you. Even the torrential rain you sent us all day long on Halloween did not dampen my enthusiasm. We came home with ten pieces of sopping wet candy and one soaking wet Little Red Riding Hood. Amelia conked out and I put on new pajamas and made a list of things I want to make. I reorganized my studio last week. I have been sewing LIKE CRAZY. I'll show you when it's not so incredibly dark all day long and I can take some photos both of the studio and of my new projects. Wool, yarn, floss, tiny buttons, tiny stitches, quilts, sparkly things, ornaments, little animals, granny squares, teapots, knitting needles, bring it on. My fake fireplace is lit and my chai is hot. It's very good!
I've been getting a lot of questions about whether there will be a new ornament kit this year, and no, I will not be doing a new kit this year. I didn't do one last year, either. Back in 2012, when Amelia was born, I kind of made the decision that I would stop doing them. I did do one that fall (Night Before Christmas), and I loved it, but for several years — six, in fact — ornament kit design and production kind of took over our lives here, in a way. It definitely took over our space, and it really took over our time. And because Christmas ornaments are such a deadline-oriented project, I was just feeling like there was no wiggle-room in it, schedule-wise, for me. I'm a pretty impulsive crafting person. I get an idea and I get on it. If I'm feeling it, I bust a move. If I'm not, I don't even try. I didn't think I could design for Christmas in April, and I really want October to be about birthday stuff and pumpkin patches and Halloween costumes, and getting ready for our own family holidays. Also there are other ideas I have for new projects and designs that I, in my limited amount of work time right now, just want to be free to follow. So, I never say never, but for now and indefinitely, I won't be doing new ornament collections. I walk to do some other things — a new quilt pattern, quilt kits of a sort, new crochet patterns, a softie bed kit. I have a million ideas for 2016.
We still do have ornament kits available: Ice Skating Afternoon, Snow Day, Sweet Home, Winter Cabin, and Night Before Christmas are all available in the shop. Walk in the Woods is totally sold out and will not be restocked (though it, and all of the other patterns, are always available as downloadable PDFs). Winter Cabin has less than 50 left, and it won't be restocked when it sells out.
I found out recently that the Mr. Basil Fox kit is going to be featured in the holiday gift guide in the December issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine. EXCITING! This was an awesome and totally unexpected surprise. The magazine comes out in mid-November, and although it can be hard to predict the response, I do expect that the web shop itself will see a surge of new traffic around that time. We do not plan to be restocking anything between now and Christmas. So if you are interested in buying a Basil Fox (or Winter Cabin) kit especially but even anything else in the web shop, I would do that in the next two weeks, before mid-November when the magazine hits mailboxes and newsstands, because there is no time for us to restock anything this year.
If you click on the images above each photo should take you to the page in my web shop where you can buy the pattern or kit for yourself. And because I love you, we are offering free shipping on all domestic (United States only) orders today through Thursday, November 5 at 9 p.m. PST (because that's when I go to bed). You don't need a code, just go on over. The image above is made of thumbnails that will take you to all of the individual product pages for items pictured. Happy sewing, dear friends! And thank you so very much for all your interest in my work over these many (fifteen!) years that I've been making patterns and kits. You are the absolute best, and I'm so grateful. Thank you. Xoxo
***Gina asked a question that I get asked a lot — what is the best project for a beginner, or someone with enthusiasm but not a lot of sewing or needlework experience? I honestly think that the Winterwoods ABCs Sampler Kit is the best project. You can read my counted cross stitching tutorial here, which will teach you everything you need to know. And with a bit of practice you'll have such a good, cozy time with this one. Each motif is small, and the gorgeous hand-overdyed thread means you hardly have to make any color changes to have a rich, textured piece. I have gotten more emails from people who say they have never stitched anything before making this one and they loved it. It's one of my very favorites, and I hope you have a great time with it.
