An Album Post

Having started another of the Town Square SAL ornaments recently and done the ornament finishing on four others during the past few days, I thought it might be fun to have an album post of all these little beauties.  I have finished stitching all the public buildings and have started stitching the shops I would be most likely to patronize.  Once I have stitched enough of them, I visualize the series becoming the focal point of a themed Christmas tree,  which I will call Small Town America, using my cranberry wooden bead strands and some blue and white twinkling lights.  Or I might use only white twinkling lights and fill in any empty spaces with blue glass balls.   For now, since I don't have quite enough for such an ambitious display, I used one of my small tabletop artificial trees this past Christmas.  But one day I'll have at least 3 dozen ornaments, enough to fill a floor to ceiling tree.  At least, that's the plan!

So far I have stitched:

The Antique Samplers Shop by Barb Allen for The Needle's Work Antiques

The Book Shop by Mosey and Me

The Button Shop by Cecile McPeak for Just Another Button Company

The Church by DebBee's Designs

The Fire Station by Wild Heart Designs

The Post Office by Knotted Tree Needle Art

The Primitives Shop by Prairie Moon

The Saloon by Crescent Colors

The Star Theater by Heart in Hand

 The School House by La-D-Da

The Town Clock by Cricket Collection

The Town Hall by Weeks Dye Works

The Train Depot by Val's Stuff

And this is the backing fabric that I have used for all the ornaments .  IRL it is a bit of a darker navy blue.

And, currently, I am working on The Cross Stitch Shop  by Cross Stitchery.

This comes up to a current total of 13 ornaments in this series.  I have also stitched The Jail by Monsterbubbles but it turned out to be much too large for an ornament, over two on 28ct.  I'll have to use a 36 ct and consider re-stitching it over one.  I am hoping to stitch another twelve ornaments this year, concentrating on shops which I might visit, including: The Bakery by JBW Designs, The Cafe du Monde by Leslie Wristers, The Candy Shop by Lizzie Kate, The Creamery by Sisters and Best Friends,  The Fiber Shop by Hearts' Content, The Gourmet Shop by Twisted Threads, The Honey Shop by Shepherd's Bush, The Ice Cream Shop by Angel Stichin', Milady's Tea House by Milady's Needle, Sandie's Sweet House by the Sweetheart Tree,  and The Silversmith by Charland Designs.   By the end of 2013, I hope to have 25-26 ornaments for my tree.  And then in 2014, there would still be another nine or ten that I'd enjoy stitching.

A reader, in a recent comment, asked me to explain the Indy Town Square SAL.  The simplest way to do so is to direct you to the SAL blog .  I don't know if the charts are still available.  If they are, obviously I think they are well worth obtaining.  So many people have jumped on the various more expensive versions of a townful of buildings, e.g.: the various Hawk Run Hollow seasonal series and the LHN Cottage series and the Santa's Village series.  I got 42 charts of buildings for the investment of $5.  It seems a better bargain to me than any of the above.    And the variety is amazing since, not only are there 42 different shops and public buildings, each is designed by a different designer.  I am stitching mine as ornaments but people can stitch them as block style samplers like the HRH series, as afghans, or as separate smalls.  It's an extremely versatile set of charts.  I am maintaining unity in my ornament collection by using one of three very similar light to medium blue linens to stitch the ornaments and using the same backing fabric and homemade cording made from coordinating shades of blue DMC floss.   I am not sure I will stitch every chart in the series but I do intend to stitch at least three dozen.  I am not generally much of a shopper so visiting shops in cross stitch serves as my version of retail therapy ... with the added benefit that it is not nearly as expensive as the real deal.