Christmas Open House 2013

I have three more hours to post my last blog of 2013.  I'm sitting at my Dad's house with my husband, our kids and my Dad watching some New Year's Eve specials and snacking on gifted Christmas cookies (like so much this Christmas, I did not feel like baking), shrimp, and sipping warm German Spiced wine.  It's not the wild family celebration of past years, but this feels just right.

The Christmas season for me always starts with the shop's Christmas Open House on the first Saturday of December.  The shop was decorated with cross-stitched Christmas ornaments, stockings, and framed Santas.  There were nibblies, specials, gifts for all, and lots of Christmas cheer.  To view all the Open House photos Click here.
This year's Open House was very much like those of previous years, with one exception.  My mom was very much in my heart this day, and sharing the day with many friends made it easier.
My mother always loved the festivities and cherished each and every one of our dedicated stitchers.


For those of you who were unable to drop by the shop and partake in the festivities, I would like to extend my Christmas gift to all of you.  Every year I design a Christmas Ornament, which is kitted and then gifted at the Open House.  And as it happens this year's was another Reindeer.
Click here for the chart.  Enjoy!!
And enjoy the remainder of this Festive Season.



Hoping you all had a very Merry Christmas, surrounded by the love of family and friends.

And wishing you all peace, hope, love and good health for every day of the coming new year.


Gitta's gang appreciates your business and we hope to serve you again in 2014.  Without you the shop would not be here.

A wish of Christmas!

Wishing you all the gifts of peace, hope and love for this festive season and for every day of the coming new year.

This year has been especially hard for me, and it is the love of family and friends that gets me through the days.

Have a Merry Christmas and I will post some photos from Gitta's Christmas Open House as well as my annual Christmas gift to all of you before New Year's Eve.

Where has the time gone

Much has happened since I returned home from Germany, and as I sit here writing this email I am struggling to remember it all.

Two weeks ago Carolyn MItchell was in the shop teaching her "Allure" workshop.

The ladies had a great time and plans are already underway for next year.  Carolyn is designing something new just for us.  One  idea her and the ladies were contemplating is a frame weight with pockets for all our favourite tools.  Sounds great to me, I may even join that workshop.  See you next year ...
 
I have also been busy decorating the shop and preparing for our annual Christmas Open House.   As I do every year, I design a free pattern that is then kitted and gifted

to the first 100 stitchers that visit Gitta's that day.  I thought I was well prepared this year by having designed my reindeer already in the spring.   This one, however,  along with two from previous years were then published in A Needle Pulling Thread magazine, when they invited me to be one of the featured designers in their first ornament issue.  I was both honoured and excited to be able to partake, but this then meant I needed to design another reindeer for our Christmas Open House.  I believe my mission has been successful.  I'm sure you will love "Reindeer Elegance" as much as I do.

 This year's Christmas Open House is on December 7th,

 ( as every year the Open House is held on the first Saturday of December).  

To collect the Holly Reindeer, you will need to purchase A Needle Pulling Thread magazine, but the  latest, "Reindeer Elegance", will be unveiled at the Open House.  See you in less than 2 weeks.

Returning Home

This past week, I, along with my Dad and sister,  fulfilled one of my Mom's last wishes.  She wanted a portion of her ashes to return to her native Germany, so she could be reunited with her parents.  Her own mother's death devastated her, and today the two are together again.


My Grandparent's family plot is in the "Waldfriedhof" (Forest Cemetery) in our home town of Wuerzburg.   Most of the family was present as we remembered my Mom, and shared in her love of family.

She was always torn between her love for her family back home and her family here in Canada.  She now rests both here and there; she will forever be with all of us, in our hearts for eternity.

While in Wuerzburg, my Dad took my sister & I on an excursion through town.  He showed us where he had his first apartment, where my Mother worked,  and where they first met.  "Tanzcafe Ludwig" is still there, it just moved up to the second floor in the building behind us.  Today it is a trendy nightclub.

It was an absolutely wonderful day.  Although my Mom was not with us, I would like to think that she was.





One spring I want to try to fulfill one more of my Mother's wishes.  In the last years of her illness, she had wanted to make a pilgrimage to Israel and walk along the "Jesus Trail".  She had wanted to do this herself this past spring, but  was already too weak by then. Hopefully next spring we will be able to take the walk in her place.

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.