Merry Christmas

Bonnie Olson, from Brookfield, MA, surprised me this week with not just a note card with the wild sledding girl from "Christmas Joy Ride" printed on it, but also a magnet adorned with an image of her sampler. Bonnie simplified the design and stitched it on 45 count linen over two threads.

Here's her 4.25-inch square sampler attached to a mini sled. What a fun idea and a beautiful photograph, Bonnie! Thank you for sharing this.

Merry Christmas! Wishing you all a fun and creative New Year!
Marty

Cover Girl!

Thanks to 

Needlework Retailer 

for putting 

Christmas Joy Ride 

on the cover of their holiday issue! 

Also, I've received a number of questions about 

a new DMC color in this design,

 # 3882, Medium Light Cocoa. 

Apparently it's not so easy to find, but

# 839 Brown is almost identical!

Thanks again to 

Lakeside Linens for the 40-count Misty Rain linen

Weeks Dye Works for the Hand Over Dyed floss

Valley House Primitives for the hand-grained frame

Kathy Bonham for her excellent stitching skills

and Megan Chriswisser, Editor of Needlework Retailer, 

for making sure the cover printed just right!

Another reason to visit Fayetteville, NY

Please stop by A Stitcher's Garden housed in a renovated barn along the Erie Canal, complete with a view of a beautiful pond. Jan's shop specializes in counted cross stitch supplies, and offers stitch-ins, classes and an annual retreat. She is currently displaying an assortment of Carriage House Samplings models until Christmas.

Thank you, Jan!

A New Carriage House Release

Family Tree Portraits 

was inspired by folk art portraits...

lockets with portraits ...

(I saw this in Virginia's Museum of the Shenandoah Valley with my mother-in-law) 

And silhouette-art ...

(here I am circa 1964)

Plus, someone told me at a needlework show that she'd love to 

stitch her family tree!

So I'm providing three charts

with three distinctive borders

that show a couple,

and a two-generation family,

and a three-generation family tree,

designed so that you can choose

hair colors and styles

hats and glasses

that reflect your family members.

Expand or trim the borders to hold as many generations as you like.

Add a family pet...

Fill with medallions and hearts

And in the case of the family tree,

use hearts to show marriages and

use brackets to show offspring

Thanks to Lakeside Linens for providing the fabric

Needlepoint Silk for the floss (DMC conversions are provided)

East Side Mouldings for building the frames

and Sherri Berkman, Sharon Schutjer and Kathy Bonham

for stitching the models.

Suggested retail: $18.00 for all three designs

Last Sneak Peek

Family Tree Portraits 

will let you create your own family tree

Add glasses and hats...

Change hair, eye, skin, clothing colors... 

Even add a family pet!

A Second Sneak Peek

This is a sneak peak at the second design 

included in my upcoming release,

Family Tree Portraits.
Imagine
your family members
in cross-stitch!

Happy Halloween!

A Question + A Sneak Peek

Would a design with the model stitched in Kreinik's Silk Mori stop you from purchasing the chart if DMC and NPS conversions were provided?

My sister Janet sent me a collection of beautiful colors, milkpaint and regular, that are very tempting to use, but I'm not sure how easy they are to find in shops.

I'd love to hear your thoughts! Thank you!

In the meantime, here's a sneak peak at an upcoming release. There are three designs included with this chart, titled Family Tree Portraits.

A Second Contest Winner!

Congratulations to Nataly Koplovsky from Duxbury, Massachusetts!

She was the first to suggest my painting, Red-winged Blackbirds, as a cross stitch design and I think it works. In fact, Sharon Schutjer just stitched it to perfection. Nataly will be the first to receive the chart after the model is framed and the chart printed.

Nataly has been stitching since age five when her grandmother taught her how to embroider towels and pillowcases. She's currently stitching the Shores of Hawk Run Hollow (just starting block 10.) She loves all things needlework as well as shopping for antique needlework items.

Thanks again to all of you who suggested this and other paintings. I plan on trying some others that you recommended. If I like them as sampler designs, you'll be the first to receive a copy, free of charge.

Marty

A New Carriage House Samplings Release

Get Ready!
Get Set!

Stitch!

Christmas Joy Ride 

celebrates the joy and frenzy of the holiday season! 

Stitch count: 132 wide x 120 high 

Lakeside Linens’ 40-count Misty Rain

DMC and Weeks Dye Works Hand Over Dyed floss 

Suggested Retail: $10.00

Thanks to Kathy Bonham for stitching our model!
And to Valley House Primitives for the beautiful hand-grained frame!

If you find yourself in Rockville, Maryland ...

27 of my oil paintings are on display at City Hall,

111 Maryland Avenue, Rockville, Maryland

through mid-November

including the painting above, right, 

the inspiration for Silver Landscape

A New Release and a Contest Winner!

I'm happy to report that Veena, from Northern California, is the contest winner! 

She was the first to correctly identify the painting that inspired my new release, Silver Landscape.

Veena has been stitching since she was a teenager. She enjoys stitching reproduction samplers, especially those with a pastoral focus, and American folk. Congratulations, Veena!

Silver Landscape's palette was inspired by some new natural shades from DMC and beautiful Vintage Flagstone linen from Lakeside Linens.

Here, by the way, is the painting which gave me the idea for the chart. I painted it in autumn, but when I went back to the area in the winter, I found it more striking.

Chart details: 

260 wide x 183 high 

DMC / NPS

159 / 742 Gray Blue, Light

317 / 673 Pewter Gray

413 / 674 Pewter Gray, Dark

840  / 184 Beige Brown

935  / 356 Avocado Green, Dark

3011 / 345 Khaki Green, Dark 

3013 / 331 Khaki Green, Light

3782  / 971 Mocha Brown, Light

3864  / 121 Mocha Beige, Light

3884  / 964 Gray Brown

3893 / 851 Light Tan

Ecru / 992 Ecru

$12.00 suggested retail

The second winner will be announced soon! I received so many suggestions to try various paintings as cross stitch designs. Thank you, all!

Sneak Peek

We have a winner of the first part of our contest. Someone correctly identified which painting was the inspiration for an upcoming release. We'll announce the person closer to the release date, but in the meantime, here's another sneak peek.

I'm anxious to try out many of your suggestions for another design based on a painting, so hopefully I can soon announce the second winner!
Thank you all for participating!

Clue 2

A clue!

Thank you for all those thoughtful cross stitch ideas based on paintings at www.martybarrick.com

I can't wait to try a number of them out!

No one has yet to guess the inspiration for my next release, 

so I thought I'd offer a clue. 

Feel free to try one more time even if you've already emailed me: 

chsamplings@gmail.com 

First one to guess correctly wins a copy of the chart 

on the release date, August 16.

Good Luck!

A CHS Contest!

Be the first to correctly guess which painting on my website (martybarrick.com) inspired a new cross stitch design and win the chart when it is released on August 16th. The design doesn't look exactly like the painting, but there are some similarities in composition. The winner will be announced August 16th. Please email chsamplings@gmail.com with one guess.

A Second Way to Win

Convince me, in an email to chsamplings@gmail.com, to design a pattern based on any of the paintings on my site. If I choose your suggestion, and am happy with the design, you'll be the first to own the chart. The chart does not have to copy the painting... maybe just the theme will be the same. This winner will be announced as soon as the design is stitched. Deadline for your suggestion (just one please) is August 16th.

Good luck and thanks for participating!

Marty

Extra, Extra!

I love Jill Bobbin's twist on "Ode to the Newspaper" 

She customized it for her father's 80th birthday by changing some of the newspaper names, adding his name and birthday and including a kindle! Thanks for sharing this, Jill. I bet he doesn't receive anything like it!

I included this cover image in my final email to my co-workers at The Washington Post two years ago.

Atlantic Cod, a New CHS Release

I stumbled across an old fish book that described how the Atlantic Cod was the staple of New England diets for centuries. Cape Cod, I read, was named after the abundance of the fish in the area. Once the fish were preserved with salt, then shipped and traded, images of the cod appeared on stamps, legal documents and weather vanes. There's a four-foot, eleven-inch wood carving of a cod hanging in the Massachusetts State House.

Thanks to Kathy Bonham for stitching our model, Lakeside Linens for providing the beautiful Misty Rain linen, Needlepoint Silk for the floss (DMC conversions given) and to Valley House Primitives for creating this "Old Wood" style frame!

Retail price of chart: $12.00

Almost Here... A New Carriage House Samplings Release!

Can it really be five months since I've posted a new release? 

Too much snow shoveling and not enough designing!

Here's a detail from my latest chart:

You can tell I've been dreaming of sun and water!

Hope you've had a much more productive winter!

Marty