Sleds and Santa SNEAK PEEK!

It's summer now, but we're busy prepping all of our big holiday releases. We'll be shipping our "famous" holiday shipment to needlework shops around the world on Wed., August 12. It will include the 2 Snippets below, the Snippet previewed in our previous blog post (S123 I Can Drive a Stick Snippet), and MORE goodies.

Stay tuned for all the sneak peek photos for our holiday release in upcoming blog posts!


MORE LITTLE SLEDS sliding your way SOON!  We've been getting requests for MORE little sled designs since we rolled our first batch out last fall.

I used the classic "Night Before Christmas" poem as my inspiration and captured 3 little scenes from the Christmas Eve classic. All 3 are included in one little leaflet S121 Night Before Christmas Sleds Snippet. We've also included little embellishments for each sled...tiny red button, antique gold star and white snowflake button.

Left - "Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse"

Center - "The stockings were hung by the chimney with care"

Right - "Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound"

Every year we also do a Snippet Santa, and Santa '15 is also flying your way soon! Every year I sit in front of my sketchbook and wonder..."what in the world is Santa going to do this year?"

This year I was inspired by the sheer joy and exuberance of the holidays and decided on a "Celebrate" theme! Santa is throwing his hands in the air, and classic Christmas motifs are all around him. For some reason, I had the BEST time stitching this little model. He's so crisp and folk-art-ish...I love this little Santa!

I requested something different from my finisher, Mona, and we decided on a holiday pocket. Then I got to my photographer - in my middle of my chaotic house move - and realized I didn't bring any toys/goodies to peek out from the stocking. 

We thrashed about the photography studio looking for small sized treasures until we discovered some (stale) Christmas candy. You can put WHATEVER you want in your little Santa pocket, or finish him anyway your holiday heart desires. No, we didn't eat any candy - not even tempted with this suspiciously old candy!

S122 Celebrate! Santa '15 Snippet 

In case you're wondering, the little sleds we did last year are pictured below - S116 Sled Dudes Snippet. They will coordinate color-wise with this year's batch of bitty sleds. We stitched our models on perforated paper, then just trim and attach to sled ornaments - quick, easy, wonderfully cute!

The little sleds look great on your tree, or make super gift toppers and special little gifts. You can finish one sled in an afternoon or evening...quick and fun!

Check back next week for more SNEAK PEEK previews!

Time for some scary stitching!

Sure, it's the middle of the summer...but my mind is on Halloween! There's nothing better on a hot summer day/evening than a big glass of something cool, the AC and ceiling fan moving some cool air, and some spooky stitching in my lap.

I got on a "one color groove" this year and had a blast designing a couple quick Halloween projects.

Our S120 Nevermore Snippet is already available! It's quick, it's spooky, and it's full of great finishing possibilities! (Does anyone else think the buttons we used on our finish look like spooky eyes? Didn't plan this, but now every time I look those eyes are staring back at me!).

I had a difficult time deciding what fabric to use for stitching - everything looks good with BLACK, you know! I finally chose a fun gray Pewter overdye linen from Picture This Plus. 

I'd like to challenge all of you to do some crazy, creative things with this little Snippet! 

Whether it's a funky fabric, or a great finishing idea, or BOTH, please be sure and post your finished picture on the I Love Stitching Lizzie Kate Designs Facebook page. This is a fabulous place to share all of your great finishes and works in progress with the stitching world. I'll look forward to seeing what you all dream up.

***If you're not a member of the I Love Stitching L*K Designs Facebook page (it's a closed group), just apply for membership...so easy. BTW, this is not an "official" L*K page. This page is under the kind care and leadership of Wilma Cherney, and we all appreciate her work on this page so much! It's a super venue for sharing our projects and getting inspiration from each other.

The project above (S123 I Can Drive a Stick Snippet) is coming to shops in mid-August. 

Just like S120 Nevermore, it only uses one color, so it stitches up so quickly! Also like Nevermore, there are a zillion possibilities for choosing fun fabrics and creative finishes. I stitched on 28 ct. Ale overdyed Lugana from Picture This Plus. You could use purple, chartreuse, anything pale or crazy that says Halloween to you. We finished it with some black pom pom trim and a tiny little broom, of course!

I saw this saying a couple months ago, and laughed out loud! Then I ran to the computer and started graphing. I don't know if everyone else finds this as funny as me, but it struck my funny bone, for sure. And sadly, NO...I cannot drive a stick (really, I can't!).

Don't be confused - we used black covers on both of our Halloween Snippets. S120 Nevermore is available NOW and S123 I Can Drive a Stick will be in shops in mid-August.

Only 101 more days until Halloween, the most BOO-tiful day of the year! Happy spooky stitching!

Pre "Little Mystery"/Post Surgery Update!

DISCLAIMER: If some of the following post doesn't quite make sense, if the humor isn't quite right, if anything at all isn't right in blog post below...blame my pharmacist!  Actually, blame ME for taking the lovely post-surgery painkiller drugs that came home with me last week.

I'm HOME with my new knee, lovely scar and tons of Steri-strips holding me all together. Just like another famous Kansas gal once said..."there's no place like home, there's no place like home...".

A few other things have changed, too. The Handi-wrap plastic wrap has now moved from the kitchen drawer to the bathroom countertop to enable showers. Alan is on call to deliver cold drinks, rides to physical therapy, and foot rubs on demand (for some reason a new knee makes my foot ache and cramp?!).

And very, VERY little work is happening at my L*K desk. Some days I don't even make it through the office door. Thankfully I've been planning ahead for months to squeeze in this surgery. Then, because of massive delays on completion of our new house, we ended up beginning our move 2 weeks ahead of surgery...yikes!!!

It was such a crunch to get everything moved in and organized, I joked that I needed to schedule surgery to get a rest...and I did! (and I DID get most things unpacked/organized before surgery - couldn't stand the thought of facing a mess later!).

Part One of "A Little Mystery" Sampler ships next week, so I'm assisting by assembling the embellishment packs. I did the printing ahead of time, and our helper Carmen has been busy sacking. Alan updates me daily on the "A Little Mystery" pre-order numbers, and I'm trying to stay caught up on embellishment packs. Above is my comfy spot in the sunroom...embellishment goodies on lap, handy Ikea aqua rolling table beside me with all the essentials...drink, cell phone, magazines, remote...I hope it will hold model stitching soon...currently suffering from fuzzy brain. 

Our sneak peek collage photo shows some goodies from "A Little Mystery". The 2 sided fob in center bottom is the BONUS project that comes with Part One.

Embellishment packs are also available with Part One. Above is the little insert and I'm stuffing these packs with all sorts of goodies for "A Little Mystery" sampler and the 3 BONUS projects. I'm pretty sure there's a nice assortment of tiny buttons and beads on the sunroom floor, but I'm NOT getting down on my hands and retrieve them now!

The weekend before my Monday morning surgery, the "kids" returned home from Chicago and KC to initiate the new house AND celebrate Alan's 60th birthday. We were blessed with gorgeous Kansas weather in June and spent the weekend on/around/in the lake in our backyard.

They even cooked us Sunday lunch. Son-in-law, Jeff, was the grill master!

Grand-dog, Henry, came to visit and discovered his gift for dog-paddling! Once he got "in the swim" he darted back/forth between our kayaks and rafts. Whoever decided to put a handle on the top of dog life vests was a genius! So handy for plucking him out of the water when swim time was over.

Alas, things are quiet at the relocated Ebright household. I'm so happy to look out the window and find Alan tossing in a fishing line after dinner. Actually catching a fish is optional...the relaxation is optimal!

Alan will be shipping "A Little Mystery" sampler Part One to shops this Wed., July 15. If you haven't got your pre-order into your favorite needlework supplier, it's never too late. We'll be shipping Part Two and Part Three later this summer, so you're invited to join us on our summer of stitching suspense.

One more thing...thanks for your many prayers and happy wishes on my knee replacement. They are truly appreciated. Our frig/freezer are full of goodies from our friends. We have been blessed with the community of friends we have here in Wichita and the L*K stitching community everywhere!