Home to unpack and re-pack!

If it seems like we don't blog very often any more, there's a reason - we don't seem to be in town much these days!  Whether it's vacation (Becky and I each spent some time in Hawaii recently) or work trips (Arizona, Vancouver, WA, and now, Pennsylvania) - we have been on the go!  Our last trip for awhile (at least for me - Becky has two kids graduating this spring, one from college and one from high school, so she's still got graduation ceremonies to attend, moving out of college housing, moving another into a dorm room, etc. - she's busy through the summer, I know!)  But I ought to be staying put for a little while very soon.

But first.....  Our last work trip for awhile is a doozy!  We've been looking forward to the Penn Dry Goods Market days!  This will be a wonderful opportunity to visit old friends and make new friends, take some classes, and shop at a wonderful Antiques Fair with booths from so many wonderful places, featuring needlework and other areas of great interest to us.  We can't wait!  Joanne Martin Lukacher will be on hand to do a lecture about the Norfolk Sampler Tradition, so if you are in the Pennsburg, PA area May 17 and 18, do drop in to meet her, have her sign your copy of the book, and please say hello to Becky and I - we'll be around all weekend!

Since I've been home from Hawaii, we've spent a few days in the workroom getting things together for a trunk show for this event - and we are so proud of some of the lovely things we created from the Schwenkfelder collection, we just had to show you!  If you don't know the Schwenkfelder needlework collection, you are missing out!  In 2008, we published a daybook calendar featuring wonderful photos of the samplers and other pieces - it's the only publication in which you can see the collection.  While it doesn't work as a calendar any more, it's still a wonderful keepsake and documentation of this beautiful collection of Schwenkfelder needlework!  We still offer it for sale, and it will also be available at the gift shop at the Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center!  The price is $21.95 and a portion of all sales goes to the Schwenkfelder needlework collection for preservation of the samplers.

There have been one or two additions to this wonderful collection since then, and we had such fun making some new items up out of familiar pieces, as well as new!  Here's a sneak peek!  As you can see, these are not the pretty, staged photos we like to do for our website - these are straight from the workroom!  (A little secret - we send off prototypes for approval to different clients, and we take a few quick snapshots before we send them away, so we can remember later what we put in them!)  These photos were actually taken with my phone, so they are really not the kind of pretty photos we like to do, but we thought you'd be interested in seeing our "process" as they say!

Here is the Elizabeth Bechtel Spool Etui all ready to be packaged up and sent off - the cost for this little beauty is $18.50, and you will find it in the gift shop during the Penn Dry Goods Show.

The Salina Schulz Horn Book

The Lydia Yeakel Horn Book

Both these horn book needlebooks are $3.00  - a perfect gift to bring back for your stitching friends!

The OEHBDDE Accordion Foldout Book - this features the lovely motif found on so many Pennsylvania German samplers.  We have charted the motif for you and on the back is the explanation of the meaning of the letters!  $6.00.

The pretty Townscape by Phebe Kriebel  makes a pretty magnetic bookmark - $2.50.

The Lonestar Quilt Button Box is so lovely - $7.50.  Inside this grain-painted box of peach and gold is an assortment of mother of pearl buttons in special shapes and sizes.  A lovely keepsake with a photo of a very special quilt.  

Salome Kriebel's lovely sampler looks stunning as a shoe etui, doesn't it? Under the toe flap is an assortment of pretty bejeweled pins and a needle, and the heel of the shoe is an antiqued gold colored thimble.  $10.00

And the pièce de résistance is this gorgeous Caspar Iaeckel Wallet - fashioned from the photo of a very special piece in the collection - it opens up to reveal an etui inside including silk threads, bejeweled pins, a thread counter and needles all nestled in wool felt.  Lovely!  $16.00.

You will also find, in the gift shop there, some of our past items based on needlework in the collections.

Flying Geese Bookplates $8.50 for a set of 10

Field of Roses Bookplates  $8.50 for a set of 10

Flying Geese Magnetic Bookmark $2.50

Patriotic Magnetic Bookmark $2.50

Lone Star Wearable Pin $5.00

Flying Geese Scissors Fob/Ornament $10.00

Sunflower Scissors Fob/Ornament $10.00

All of these items are also available by mail order from the Heritage Shop in the Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center - you can fill in the form and mail it with your credit card information or a check, or call and place your order by phone (the number is on the form).  You can even pay by PayPal if you prefer.  Be sure to put the name of the item(s) you want on the form,  as well as mentioning that they are from the In the Company of Friends Trunk Show!

The time is short before we jet east - we can hardly wait!  We hope to meet lots of you there!