A Cross Stitch Delight

Last week I went to a new-to-me cross stitch shop in Little Rock, about an hour's drive from me.  The name of it is The Shepherd's Needle and, be still my heart, I wanted to stay all day and I wanted one of everything.  Now if you're not into cross stitch you might want to skip this post but if, like me, you've rediscovered the joy of those x's you'll enjoy these pictures.  Ann, the owner, was so sweet and gave me permission to take pictures and post them.

I don't even have words....I was overwhelmed by all the beautiful patterns and samples.  One of these days I'm going to learn how to shop this kind of abundance but so far I just wander from one side to the other and back again, only to do it all again.  I was please with the variety of patterns, from very large to very small, from primitive to Victorian to colonial to funny to profound to ornate.  I thought her prices were very reasonable and I think that one day soon I'll go back for her "Stitching Tuesday" when you can take your project and join a few others at a long table supplied with a magnifier/light and a thread holder that looks like an artists palette.  And yes, I bought several patterns.  The first was the pattern for this sample I first saw on her website (under construction right now).

She uses beautiful frogs for holding her scissors while she stitches and while I love the idea I don't normally sew in front of a table so I don't think that would work for me.  I've begun this pattern and have completed the three scissors in the bottom middle...the smallest ones.  I'm about half way through the larger scissors with points down to the left of them.  I hope to work on this one some more this afternoon.  Of course, I bought more.

This little Sheep one came with the small star buttons - so cute.

I loved the colors in this and since I'm so looking forward to spring this will probably be my next project.

This one I skipped until I saw the sample and then I went back to it.  It's beautiful when stitched.

And who could go and not buy a Christmas pattern?

This one was just gorgeous when stitched.

This pouch made my primitive heart skip....I'm not sure what I'll do with it when stitched up and finished but I know I'll love it.  And the one below you won't like unless you love primitives...but it would be a fun one to do with a child.

And yes, I did a little stitching this week and finished this small pillow/pincushion.

I think I'm going to add a decorative button just below the word but haven't found the perfect one yet.

If you ever get to Little Rock you should make this shop one of your stops - I loved it!