Glorious Autumn

My days are generally spent in the shop, but the other day I needed to run down the block to our local pharmacy.  The moment I stepped outside I was overwhelmed with the colour along the street.  It seemed that the trees had turned a glorious yellow over night, or that I had been so busy that I didn't even notice.  The fallen leaves on the side walk only added to the picturesque setting I now found myself in.
I was mesmerized, breathing in the freshness in the air: I thoroughly enjoyed my stroll.
Why travel north for autumn's splendor when all you need to do is come to Port Credit.  This weekend is supposed to be beautiful, come take a stroll along the Waterfront trail, enjoy the views of the lake, and the colourful changes of autumn.  Then drop by Gitta's and see all the wonderful designs Jeannette Douglas has designed to celebrate this colourful season.

                                                                            These two  designs with their lovely reds and oranges make great fall projects.  The "Mini Pumpkin Sampler" (on the right), is the workshop we have scheduled for October 26th.

Designer of the Month: Jeannette Douglas

I first met Jeannette at the Creative Sewing & Needlework Festival in Toronto many many many years ago.  She had come to the Festival to show my mom & myself her first sampler, the Northern Shield sampler.  We both fell in love with it and wanted to see more.  The Northern Shield sampler was her first sampler in her Canadian Journey series.  And what a journey it has been;  over the years Jeannette has been designing non-stop.

As our designer of the month, we have a wonderful representation of Jeannette's older and newer designs; samplers, biscornus, needlecases, pincushions, minis, box tops, and quaker motifs.

We have also scheduled a sampler workshop for Saturday, October 26th. 

 Flo Osborne, Jeannette's model stitcher, will be the instructor.  Flo is an accomplished stitcher and teacher, and she is offering a choice of 2 designs, "Mini Pumpkin Stitches" or "The Stitcher's Needlebook" (shown above).  Both have a wonderful selection of sampler stitches, and silk threads.  Flo will also reveal a quick and easy technique for filling a designated shape with compensating stitches.   The Needlebook, published in 2010 as a workshop, will have an accompanying Sampler to be released in 2014.

Drop by the shop or visit Jeannette's designer page on our website to see all of Jeannette's designs.  Jeannette's in stock patterns and accessory packs purchased this month will receive a 10% discount.

See you in the shop.

Swedish Weaving - Guardian Angel

Christine Allan, Gitta's Designer of the Month, has designed a Guardian Angel as her contribution to our Collaboration Sampler.   The colours we chose for her design are Kreinik's #8 braid 5011 for the metallic,  3849 DMC & 3847 DMC.
As Lugana does not have a float like Huck type fabrics have, you will stitch over 2 fabric threads and then under 2 fabric threads. 



The appeal of swedish (or huck) weaving patterns, aside from being a quick stitch, is that you can simply repeat the pattern to any desired length.  Below I stitched Christine's Guardian Angle on Stockholm 11ct fabric, repeating the pattern 3 times.  Being 10" wide, I plan to finish this into a zippered case.

Here is a look at the Collaboration Sampler thus far.  It's not too late to catch up; purchase a pattern from any of the participating designers thus far, and collect all the designs.

Designer of the Month - Christine Allan

Christine Allan of Fun & Fast Swedish Weaving is our Designer of the Month for September.

Swedish Weaving, also known as Huck Embroidery, is a surface embroidery.  Worked on Monks cloth or Huck fabric, the needle never pierces the fabric.  These fabrics have threads known as floats and the needle is only run under these floats.  

This is a fun and quick technique to embellish towels, table runners, table cloths, pillows, hand bags, place mats, curtains, afghans, and so much more.

I was first introduced to this needleart form in Germany during the 2nd grade.  So if an 8 year old can manage, you can as well.  Meeting Christine and purchasing some of her designs at the NeedleWorkers MarketPlace had re-introduced me to Swedish Weaving, and that year as some of you may recall I completed 4 table runners in a matter of days.  You can see and read about these in my December 21st, 2010 post.
  
Christine's passion has always revolved around textiles, and these have grown to include designing Swedish weaving patterns.   Christine self publishes her designs and is also a regular contributor to A Needle Pulling Thread magazine.  The next issue of a ANPT magazine will feature several of her new ornament designs.  

Christine's contribution to the Designer of the Month Collaboration sampler is an Angel.

Here Christine has repeated this design 5 times  and inserted it into a card.  For the ornament she has repeated it 3 times.   You can do so much more with a quick and simple design.


For those unable to drop by the shop please visit www.gittas.com

The Toronto Sampler

While having breakfast this morning I was flipping through some of my regular tv channels, and one thing caught my eye on "Property Virgins".  I love home renovation shows, but I only watch this program when nothing better is on, and such was the case this morning.

On "Property Virgins" a couple, ready to purchase their first home, is shown 3 houses/condos.  From these they are then assisted in the purchase of their preferred property.  In this morning's episode, as the couple was viewing the 3rd house I spied a bell pull hanging on the entrance wall.  It was Jeannette Douglas' Toronto Sampler.  How awesome is that?

What made it even more thrilling for me is that chances are pretty good that the sampler may have been purchased at Gitta's.  The stitcher may even have taken the workshop at Gitta's.   We have had Jeannette Douglas teaching twice at the shop, once for the Toronto Sampler and once for the Mississauga Sampler.  She will also be our Designer of the Month this October.

Designer of the Month - Maria Gollek

This month's designer is Maria Gollek of Marnic Designs.  Maria's first original designs were her Mother & Child series, designing mothers with their children from many countries. Each pair reflects images that identify their heritage, my favourite being her Inuit Mother & Child.

Many of the models Maria has brought to Gitta's to be displayed for August are from her Welcome Series, the newest in this collection being her Loon Welcome.  With so many to choose from you can hang a "stitched welcome" for every holiday, season, and occasion.

Whether dropping by the shop or purchasing one of Maria's designs through Gitta's website don't forget to ask for Maria's free design for the Designer Collaboration Sampler.

I'll miss you mom

This past June, my mom lost her battle with cancer.

I feel lost without her, and found going back to the shop extremely difficult.  As long as I can remember, my mom & I have shared a love of stitching, and Gitta's was our shared expression of this love.
She was my best friend and there will never be a day that she won't be on my mind.
I have many wonderful memories that I hold dear to my heart, and this one is one of my favourite photos of the 2 of us.  It was taken in 1978 during a family outing on the 30,000 Island boat tour in Parry Sound, Ontario.

I love you mom, and miss you every day.