Heart's Ease Examplar Workes

          For those who've been waiting for its release -- Good News!  Cottage by the Sea, a Salty Yarns shop exclusive, is now available for purchase.  If you are interested, you can purchase the chart at:  http://saltyyarns.com
          A little story about how this design came to be -- My local needlework guild, the Delaware Valley Historic Sampler Guild, has a retreat twice a year in Ocean City, MD at the Lankford Hotel.  Sally, the owner of the hotel and the shop, Salty Yarns, jokingly asked if I would design a "beach" themed sampler for the shop.  I knew that I did not want to design a sampler with beach pails and umbrellas or sea creatures - I really wanted to do something different.  The sampler actually evolved from the verse I composed and the above picture is the final result.  I hope you like it.
          Here is another picture of Cottage by the Sea, but with enhanced detail.  The colors, however, are more muted as in the first picture.

A number of people tell me that the design reminds them of Mackenzie Childs pottery.  If so, this is totally by accident, but it does have the characteristics of the check and roses on some of the pottery.  To be honest, I love checks and try to use them whenever I can in my designs.  The roses are my interpretation of the wild coastal rose that blooms along the dunes in New England, the Rugosa Rosa.  It is a rather flat rose, but has a wonderful fragrance and, so,  the theme built from there.  Here is a picture of the Rugosa Rosa:



           After I designed and stitched the sampler, I had a wonderful idea for a needlework set based on the design.  "Cottage by the Sea Sewing Set" won Best in Show and First Place at the 2nd annual Rehoboth Historical Society's Needlework Exhibit, and will be available as a teaching piece sometime in the future.  Here is a picture of the design:

          Sally, is now semi-retired (or so she says) and her wonderful daughters, Sara and Mary, run the day to day business affairs of the hotel and shop.  If you ever have a chance to visit Ocean City, MD, or better yet, book a stay and the Lankford, please stop by the shop - it is filled with eye candy for the stitching fanatic (and the knitter, too).  Have a great summer, everyone!

                                       Yours in friendship and stitches,

                                                          Theresa