Kathy's Last Design (for now) and Marty's First Two...

Carriage House will be officially releasing the last design that Kathy completed before turning over the shop to me. It's called "Wash Day" and I love it! It feels like Spring!! We'll release it in Nashville so it should be in your local shop the following week. If it's not, please contact Tim at Carriage House Samplings (www.carriagehousesamplings.com) He will quickly send it your way! Thanks to Joanne Ambrose for stitching it so quickly!

And my first design: "Island Sisters" inspired by the fun creek and island behind the small farm where Kathy and I grew up ("Field Aray"). Carol Sims expertly stitched it and Valley House Primitives created the beautiful frame with a wave design! It will also be released in Nashville as well as ...

"The Kernel," a celebration of roosters and farm life! I'm sure you'll be seeing a lot more chickens and roosters in my upcoming designs. Again, Valley House Primitives created this gorgeous frame and Carol Sims did the stitching.

And upcoming from Carriage House Samplings: Tim is charting a huge sampler from 1849 that Kathy found in Adamstown, PA ... 11 year old Agness Rowlandson was amazing! (And Tim is doing an amazing job too!)

An Inspirational Sampler!

I received this Quaker sampler as a Christmas gift and love the letter forms and pastel colors! As a designer at The Washington Post, I'm restricted to a couple of fonts and black, gray and red. Soooo boring!

Happy 2011!

Here's a sneak preview of my first design, "Island Sisters" which is in production and will be available in a few weeks... Thanks to Carol Sims for beautifully stitching it! It's based on a tiny island in the creek that ran behind our childhood home outside of Frederick, Maryland. I don't know if Kathy remembers it so fondly, but I loved catching crayfish, chasing minnows and generally cooling off in the summer in this creek!

Loudoun Sampler Guild Holiday Gathering

Thanks to Kathleen Oliver for organizing such a fun event. 

It was great meeting so many stitchers and other artisans. 

What an inspirational day!

 Here is my sister Kathy Barrick with her one-of-a kind jewelry pieces! 

They are stunning!

Carriage House Samplings shared a table with Kathy's "French Sentiments."

Happy Holidays from Carriage House Samplings!

We Hope You Have a Joyful Holiday and a Happy New Year!

This Saturday, December 11, my sister Kathy and I will be at the Holiday Boutique for the Loudoun Sampler Guild in Leesburg, VA. It's from 9:30  to 1:00 at Leesburg's Holy Trinity Lutheran Church.  

I would love to see you there!

Marty

Welcome Back to Carriage House Samplings!

My name is Marty Barrick and I recently took over Carriage House Samplings from my sister Kathy. 

Here I am with my daughters at Woodlawn Manor picking up more details for a sampler that I've started designing.  My sister Kathy is the photographer.  It was about 10 degrees below zero with the windchill! 

Another shot of me in front of the 1832 stone barn at Woodlawn.

This is my younger daughter Grace who is very excited to be with her Aunt Kathy.

I want to find a way to incorporate these amazing trees into my new Woodlawn sampler.  Notice the loop formed by the branches on the right.

My husband Tim in front of the shed he just finished building in our back yard in Silver Spring, MD.  He just moved Carriage House Samplings from York to our home yesterday.  Now the work really begins!!