The Saga of the Seasons in Stitches Designs

Did you ever have a good idea, that turned into an ordeal? The Seasons in Stitches started out as a good idea, but my execution of the idea caused more than one headache!

The Seasons in Stitches was a collaborative effort by several Counted Thread and Embroidery designers to produce free designs for the Winter Show and Nashville Market in 2012, to generate enthusiasm for the shows and to be a little gift for our retailers to pass along to their customers. I produced not 1, but 3 designs for the effort, way back in October last year. One of the designs was all cross stitch, and I stitched that design three times – once in a single color, once in several colors, and once in Assissi-style (stitching the blank spaces, and leaving pattern area blank). Then I designed a petite band sampler for linen, and stitched that on 28 ct. linen. Finally, I modified that design for 18 ct. canvas and stitched it again.

I finished the single color cross stitch design and Assissi model together as an ornament. The other stitched pieces I put in the mail to a friend who was going to make miniature frames for them, in the hopes of selling the frames at the market. A couple of weeks before the first market I gave her a call, asking when I might expect the models back. They never arrived!Oh no! And the ornament model disappeared as well! Since the Seasons in Stitches effort included giving away finished models, I had to quickly stitch the models again, and I was out of time.

So, I took the materials with me, and stitched on the plane on the way to market. This time I skipped the Assissi model, and stitched the single color and multi color cross stitch models, and made my first ever biscornu. I also stitched the linen band sampler again, and the canvas model again, but I wasn’t sure how I would finish these.

I finally decided to turn the linen sampler into a needle book, and the canvas model into a stand-up. I was able to get them finished in time for the second of the markets, the Nashville Market, and displayed the needle book and the stand-up at the show. The biscornu, though finished, was left at home. I think I was doomed for this particular promotion!

One more twist – when it came time to give away the models, we drew one too many names. And since I was the person in charge, guess who got to make one more model? Yep, I got to stitch another single color and multi-color cross stitch version, and made another biscornu.