I hope you and your family are well. This year has been one of anticipation. We are all anticipating and watching for something, and hopefully that something is good. In this newsletter I have lots of new tabletopper and motto designs to share with you, including new Halloween and Christmas tabletopper designs. I even have a new unofficial color of Anne Cloth to share with you. In fact, there are too many new topper pictures to include here in this newsletter. After reading this newsletter, you can follow the links below to my website to see all that is new from Dutch Treat. This time of year is stitching time, and I think you will see something here that is worth your time to stitch.

As always, let's start with a personal update. This year for me has been a busy one. I have done lots of traveling for family and for work. I took on the ambitious task of stitching the Simple Gifts set, which is a set of 12 tabletopper designs, one for each month of the year, and completed the designing and the stitching in less than a year. I am still leading music and the worship team at the traditional service at our church. I am still cat herding. We lost one old cat this last week (Bootsie - age 16) and gained the neighbors old cat (Zip - age 17) with their permission. If you have been reading my cat updates over the years, you know that all the neighborhood cats end up at my house sooner or later. My son also has the cat whisperer gene. For the moment, at our house, the mix is Bruce and the girls. The girls are each very much their own cat. I have mostly had male kitties and this new mix is an adjustment. If I weren't quite so busy I would really miss not having a mellow orange tabby who adored me. As it is, I am the scoop and feed person and Bruce gets most of their affection. It's okay, you can't stitch really well with a cat in your lap unless their fur color matches your project.

Read on and see what is new. If you are on Facebook you can connect with me under Dutch Treat Designs to see what's new. I don't post there often enough, but you can get updated a little more often than this newsletter. I'd love to hear from you with an update or a project report. We are a community who stitches, a stitching community. Stitching is the common thread, and each of us brings something unique to the mix when we interact. Keep stitching and sharing.

Claudia

Now in stock, an Anne Cloth fabric color you will love - Antique White
Those of you who shopped at my store might remember that great one-time-only shipment of a special dyelot of antique white we had. We only got it in once, and it sold out in a little over a month. We were never able to get it again, until now. This fabric run was supposed to be white but it's actually antique white. This dye-lot is listed on my website as Antique White. We have enough to last for a while but if you like stitching on Antique White, now is the time to stock up.

Tabletoppers and more

The Simple Gifts Series
This set is a series of 12 tabletopper designs, one for each month of the year. In each chart there is a tabletopper and a hang up design for the months listed.
These months are available as charts. Each chart is $8.00

077 Simple Spring (May) & Summer (August)
078 Simple Halloween (October) & Christmas (December) - shown below
079 Simple Fall (November) & Winter (January)

Not yet available - 080    The complete set   Cost - $48.00
The full set includes a tabletopper and a hang up design for all 12 months, plus a bonus afghan using all 12 monthly designs. The release date of the full set has been changed to the end of 2011. I am still stitching the afghan model! Once the afghan is done the full set will be released.

Simple Halloween & Christmas
These months are available in chart 078 listed above or as a chart/fabric pack detailed below.

Clicking on any picture will take you to our info page about these designs

Currently not all of the Simple Gifts months are available as chart-only, but they are all available as an individual chart/fabric pack.

Simple Gifts Chart/fabric pack and thread sets
If you are interested in stitching only a tabletopper from this set then consider purchasing the months you want to stitch as a chart/fabric pack. A separate thread set is also available from us if needed. This combination is our "kit" option for the Simple Gifts set. Most packs retail for $24 - $26. The price of each thread set varies. This is where you follow a link to our website to see what is available:

Dutch Treat Designs website

Each chart/fabric pack contains: a single tabletopper chart, 9 SQ Anne cloth fabric, size 12 pearl cotton for the Nun stitch, needles, and a thread card.
Each thread set contains: the DMC size 5 pearl cotton and Caron Watercolours threads needed to stitch one tabletopper.

Here are some of our current Simple months you might want to stitch:

Clicking on any picture will take you to our info page about these designs

A new tabletopper that is not part of our Simple Gifts set

#082 Seahorse Chart -$7.00   Kit price - $40
Released in August 2011. Suggested fabric colors - Natural or Ivory (cream) Anne Cloth

Clicking on the picture will take you to our info page about this design.

New Motto Designs

#816 Long May It Wave Chart $8.00   Kit price - TBD
Stitched on 9" x 12" Blue Starlight paper from Wichelt Imports. The finished design fits in a 9"x12" frame.
This design is an adaptation of an 1876 Centennial motto.

Clicking on the picture will take you to our info page about this design

#817 Learn To Do Good Chart $8.00   Kit price - TBD
Stitched on 12" x 21" brown custom cut paper from Dutch Treat. The finished design fits in an 8"x20" frame.
There are two different stitching color options offered in this chart. This one is the more traditional version.

Clicking on the picture will take you to our info page about this design

Questions? Here's our contact information:

Dutch Treat Designs
P.O. Box 161, Livermore, CA 94551-0161
Please use the P.O. box for payments, requests, flyers, etc.

Phone number:
925-294-8621