Happy August!

 I’m not sure how we landed in the eighth month of the year; but here we are.  It has been a fun week here at the shop.  We started the week with a visit from some young people who are in LaPorte to take part in a summer songwriting camp called The Emerging Sound.  It is hosted by People & Songs to equip the next generation of musicians, songwriters and leaders.  They came into the shop to ask if they could put up a poster for a concert taking place in November.  (“Turn Up the Lights”, November 2-3, 2018 at the Civic Auditorium in LaPorte.) They were intrigued by the needlework on display and we assured them that they would be capable of stitching, too. The next day four of them came back and we gave them an impromptu stitching lesson. The day after that they brought a fifth person who wanted to learn to stitch!  It was so much fun to share our love of needlework with such enthusiastic students. They even serenaded us with one of the songs written during their camp!  When they go home to their respective states they will be taking a skill that can be shared with their friends there.

Yesterday we had a visit from a new designer who lives in Plymouth, Indiana. Stephanie Webb produces charts under the name of Lindy Stitches.  Her designs use fun, fresh colors in a variety of subjects. She brought us a trunk show with 10 of her best-selling designs. You can see them on our newly updated What’s New page: https://www.houseofstitches.com/whatsnew.cfm.  It is very exciting to be able to showcase the work of a talented young designer!

You will also want to see the latest Farmhouse Christmas design, Cock-a-doodle-do, from  Little House Needleworks.  Mill Hill has a new quartet of kits called A Visit from St. Nick. A cute Baby Racoon is the latest from TechScribes.  Mermaids are the subject of new charts from Lila’s Studio and Tiny Modernist. Cottage Garden Samplings is beginning a new series called The Songbird’s Garden. The first chart features Northern Cardinals and Christmas Roses. There are many more designs; I will let you see them for yourself. Then just let us know which ones need to be added to your personal stash! We appreciate your continued interest and patronage!