Sinister Craftiness

Halloween treat bag by Shepherd’s Bush
Desert Sand Cashel linen (28ct)
Stitched with DMC

Harvest scissor fob by Shepherd’s Bush
Tumbleweed Belfast linen (32ct)
Stitched with DMC, WDW

Halloween needle roll by Shepherd’s Bush
Tobacco Cashel linen (28ct)
Stitched with DMC

Still waiting for my JN linen to arrive, so I’ve been stitching up a basket of Halloween smalls in the meantime.  These three are from the stash I bought at Shepherd’s Bush in July.  So cute, and they stitch up quickly;  what’s not to like about Shepherd’s Bush?  As if these were not enough, they have some darling new designs just in from the St. Charles market.  Thing Two hopes we will soon add the Scaredy Sheep fob to our basket.  I’ve also been working through the Blackbird Designs booklet, ‘Tis Halloween.  I’m going to limit myself to just a few of those stockings; Thing Two has been choosing his favorite designs out of the booklet for me to stitch.

Here’s my little helper in action.  We bought the mini pumpkins from the grocery store, picked up fallen leaves around our yard, and he had fun putting everything in the basket.

2000 years ago
the angels sang
shepherds watched
wisemen came

2000 years ago by Shepherd’s Bush
Vintage Country Mocha Belfast linen (32ct)
Stitched with GAST, WDW, DMC

Thought I’d do a little Christmas stitching while I wait for the new Halloween designs to arrive.  These four designs originally appeared in the 2000-2003 JCS Christmas Ornament Issues, but have since been reissued by Shepherd’s Bush.  I picked up this chart, along with the reissued In A Stable, and all the charms during my visit to the Shepherd’s Bush shop last month.  The mats for these were darling, so I’m considering splurging for them.

After Moab, I had a long break from stitching until the Thursday before we returned home.  We took a short drive from Cache Valley south to Ogden, Utah to spend an afternoon at Shepherd’s Bush.  We were one of the very few visitors who would be approaching Ogden the opposite way from the driving directions given on the Shepherd’s Bush web site, but we know our way around Utah’s street numbering system and found the shop easily.

Like the Grand Canyon, Shepherd’s Bush is challenging to capture in photos; you want to spin around, taking pictures from all angles, from the baskets at your feet to the herbs, antiques, and projects hanging from the rafters, because there’s so much to see.  Almost too much for a first-time visitor to take in!  The Shepherd’s Bush ladies have had much more experience taking pictures of their displays, so be sure to take the tour on their web site to see how pretty their displays really are.

It was 100° the day we visited, so after parking under a tree for shade, we hurried inside.  Click on the pictures to enlarge them, and follow the jump to enter the shop …

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English Christmas cushion by Shepherd’s Bush
Natural brown linen (32 count)
Stitched with DMC

Here’s the second stocking stuffer kit I treated myself to last Christmas.  At the time, I was so busy with handmade gifts that I wasn’t able to make any of the holiday decorations I had hoped to stitch.  This year I’m starting early, beginning with this needle roll, and there are two larger projects by Victoria Sampler and Theresa Wentzler which I’m hoping to begin soon so they’ll be ready to display come December.

This needle roll is a little different from the Tudor one in its use of a few specialty stitches:  herringbone, pattern darning, and pulled thread.   I also like the beads sewn to the lace points.

By the way, this is my favorite dish for keeping beads handy while I’m working.  It’s curved just right so the beads naturally gather together and stay in the center, not threatening to escape all over the table.  It’s originally a sauce dish; I bought it and several other different ones at Shiga’s Imports.  They’re the perfect size for holding beads, blending filament, floss bobbins, orts … pretty much everything.  They look great, too!

Tudor needle roll by Shepherd’s Bush
Ivory linen (32 count)
Stitched with DMC

Last Christmas I bought a pair of these Shepherd’s Bush needle roll kits as stocking stuffers for myself, and I’m finally getting around to stitching them.

My first experience with evenweave fabric was a Victoria Sampler needle roll kit, but that was a disaster.  It wasn’t the fault of the kit at all; VS kits include detailed, easy to follow instructions, but even the best chart can’t protect a stitcher from her own unoordinated idiocy.  I miscounted several times (it took a while to get used to stitching over two threads) but my biggest mistake was attempting to adjust the size of my stitches as I continued, hoping to compensate for the errors, rather than unpicking it all and restarting.  Instead of getting back on track, the mistakes got worse and worse, and I finally had to abandon the project entirely.  That experience taught me the value of unpicking as soon as I realize a mistake has been made:  as irritating as it is to admit I goofed and spend all that time undoing the subsequent perfect stitches to get back to the one incorrect stitch, it’s always worth it to admire the error-free project when it’s done.

So this project marks my return to needle rolls!  These Shepherd’s Bush needle roll kits are cute and easy to make.  Both the kits and finished rolls would make nice little gifts.  I was able to complete the stitching one day, then finished it the next.  For now, my local needlework shop has a great selection of Shepherd’s Bush, and in a few months I hope we’ll have time to visit the Shepherd’s Bush shop in Ogden as part of our summer vacation.  I’ve also ordered a replacement Victoria Sampler kit, and am eager to do it justice this time.