the joy of stitch

One of my favorite things about this time of year is that everything slows down a little and we take the time to make things...meals, gatherings, and especially gifts.  And my favorite word of the holiday season is definitely... JOY.  It just sums up what the season is about, and without any specific ideas about what should bring you joy.

For me, joy is spending hours and hours making beautiful things by hand.  To give to others, to decorate my home, and just to give myself the present of sitting quietly and peacefully, enjoying the Joy of Stitch.

In that spirit, I present Satsuma Street's first holiday pattern, Joy.

just in time for fall...

I love Fall, even though I live in Los Angeles where the trees don't really change and it doesn't drop below 70 degrees.  It's more the idea of Fall that I love... it just feels cozier, doesn't it?  Like it's totally ok now to wear your pajamas all weekend and curl up under a blanket and add a little schnapps to your coffee even if it's only 4pm.  So in that spirit I designed one of my latest patterns, Forest:

Wouldn't you love to spend this fall stitching these vibrant autumn trees?  (while wearing pajamas and sipping schnapps, or not)  I stitched the sample for this pattern on natural colored linen evenweave, which is my new favorite material for cross-stitching.  I was originally planning on framing it, but the long horizontal design just called out to be made into a pillow instead.

Here's a close up of these vibrant colors on the natural linen:

Now that I think about it, the only thing that would make Fall even better was if trees really did turn magenta and teal and coral and purple.  But on Satsuma Street they do!