Saturday, June 25, 2011

New Acquisitions AKA Fun at my Local Needlework Store


I am very saddened by the loss  of so many independent retailers these days.  It has always been such an adventure to go into an independent store to see what they had, how they were different from others and just to enjoy their individual quirkiness.  Fortunately, there are still a few around.  This is one of my favorites and while not in my neighborhood, it is still worth the drive.  It is The  Stitch Niche in Arlington, Texas at the corner of Arkansas  and Bowen and while it is a bit of a drive from my house, it is a complete joy and adventure to visit.  It is a small shop, long  and narrow, with the patterns and finishes at the front and, in back, a big table with chairs for those who want to sit, stitch and pass a little time.  The shop owner does have regular class times but she is always welcoming for those who want to just come and stitch.


I was in the store a couple of weeks ago and I struck up a conversation with the owner about how much trouble I was having stitching on linen.  I couldn't see the threads well enough, the light was too dim, I was blocking my own light, blah, blah, blah and she decided to divulge her secret for successful stitching on very small  thread count linen.  This was it--



The Mighty Bright floor lamp with twelve LED's and is either plugged in or runs on batteries.  This will be great if we have another power outage.  She didn't have it in stock so she ordered it for me and I picked it up on Wednesday.  I used it Wednesday night and have to say it is worth every penny I paid for it.  Thanks, Carol, for recommending it!

I have been doing some Christmas stitching using some of the Little House Needleworks patterns.  I will post finish photos another time.  I am not sure what I am going to do with these but I was looking for something small to do and these filled the bill.  While I was in the shop the other day I picked up a couple of new little patterns.  One is another LHN pattern --

 

I am really enjoying these little pieces and will post photos later.

I also picked up a tiny pattern called "Play Time" by Sam Sarah Design Studio.


Sorry it is so small -- it is a cute little rag doll in a little wagon.  It is very small, only about 2.5 X 2.5.  I don't have any idea what I am going to do with this but it was cute and I liked it.  It does call for specialty thread, which I rarely use --  I usually just go for the DMC subs, but I think this time I will give the fancy threads a go because it just allows me another trip to The Stitch Niche!

Update

 Ok, so we visited our cardiologist yesterday to get the lay of the land for the Hubs.  Seems there is an issue with one of the grafts from ...