50/50 Christmas: We love to collect annual ornaments by other designers, and thought it would be fun if we each designed an ornament every year. The designs are 50 by 50 stitches, and since we're each doing half the chart (and we split all of our other designer duties), we call this one a 50/50! Watch for these close to Christmas every year.

Brace Face: Sweet Tooth has been one of my favorite designs of mine. I though it might be fun to do a companion piece (and I have ideas for more!) No one ever designs a pumpkin with straight teeth that are all together like they should be. I had braces ... twice! So, I thought it would be cool to have a pumpkin with braces. This would be fun to stitch for your favorite kid (or adult) in braces who has to endure a Halloween with no peanut butter taffy, no bubblegum, and worst of all, NO CARMEL APPLES! Heavens! (I also have to give a shout out to Harrison, who suggested the freckles.) - Theresa

The Charmed Sampler: I have this thing for charms, and have collected quite a few over the last ten years or so. I always think, "Oh, I'll put this on a piece of needlework some day," but I never do. I thought it would be cool to have a piece that you could stitch LOTS of charms onto, without regard for style and theme. - Theresa

Dry Turkey: While exhibiting at the Davenport CATS show in May of 2005, we found a terrific little restaurant just down the block from our hotel called, "CENTRO" (pronounced chen' tro). They had the most incredible food, in fact, we ate there every night and hung out with the gals from "The Silver Needle" who were also exhibiting at the CATS show. We had a ball getting to know them and enjoyed some great food at the same time. CENTRO also makes these wonderful flavored martinis that are out of this world. ÊI found that aÊmartini was the perfect dessert toÊmy fabulous meal. So this design was inspired by lots of delicious food and new friends, much like the first Thanksgiving- (minusÊthe martinis).Ê- Sue

Flip Flops: I wanted to design some quick summer projects to take to the beach and finish inexpensively. These were fun to stitch, and require few materials -- use fabrics you might already have, and switch colors if you like. The Catch Ya on the Flip Side piece is supposed to look like someone wrote in the sand. - Theresa

Funky Family: This one was fun and fastÊto stitch. Obviously the buttons are an intergral part of this design. I can't really even tell you what inspired me on this one. I guess I was in a funky, retro kind of mood when this one came to me. All I was sure of when I sat down to design this one was that I wantedÊthe word "fAmiLY"ÊtoÊbe right in theÊcenter of the design. The rest just grew around it from there. My two daughters had a great time helpingÊme decide which buttons should go where. My youngest daughter, Rosie,Êdecided that the orange flowerÊshould go on theÊpeak of the house. I liked it andÊshe wasÊvery proud toÊhave aÊhand in the design process. - Sue

Gobble till You Wobble: Who doesn't love hte flavors and smells of Thanksgiving? This is the day that we celebrate family, friends and lots and lots of good food. Pass the dressing. - Sue

Halloween-bow: OK, so it doesn't always happen that you've got a rainbow in the sky on Halloween. But rainbows always seem so magical. I thought why not have a rainbow in Halloween colors? The googley eyes on the cloud were an afterthought. I had designed the cloud with some wavy lines that ended up looking like eyebrows and a crooked smile. If you want this piece to be a little less whimsical, leave off the eyes. More whimsical? Put on MORE eyes! :D - Theresa

Have an Ice Day: This little snowman was designed on the fly, while I showed my son how my design software worked. The little snowman looked pretty cute, so I put above his head a typo from an e-mail I sent someone: Have an ice day (I meant, "Have a nice day.") Plus, EVERY designer has to have at least one snowman, right? - Theresa

Helga Hag's Beauty Bag: This is kind of a spin-off on the Witchy Washy theme. Thinking about a witch's laundry, I thought she might also have some other beauty habits. It only makes sense she'd have special witch's make-up. The first one I thought of was ma-SCARE-a (duh!) On from there was lip STICK, eye SHADOWS, VANISHING cream...it kind of designed itself once I got started. It was a fun one to stitch as well. - Theresa

Jack and the Beanstalk: This is one of my favorite fairy tales from my childhood. There is something magical about a plant that can grow as high as the clouds (I guess that goes without saying!) - Sue

January/February; March/April; etc.: I found this series of nursery rhymes in an old Mother Goose book. There's one for each month of the year, and they're terribly old sayings. I thought they'd make a cute, different series. Buy one frame and pop the pieces in and out as the months change, make a wall hanging with all 12, or stitch them all together. These are a best seller here in my shop -- you have to see them in person...a cute quick stitch. - Theresa

Love Thy Neighbor: I actually had the idea for this piece when I saw the chocolate chip buttons at market in 2005. I thought they kind of looked like little dog poops from the yard. I told a local customer that I was going to try to design something with a good neighbor and a bad neighbor, and she suggested "Love Thy Neighbor" as the saying. Then the ideas just started flowing. You'll notice lots of little funnies on this piece -- Christmas decorations still up, a rotten pumpkin on the front step, weeds, dry lawn, dead bushes, etc. It's funny, but a lot of the stitchers who have contacted us saying they love the design admit to being the 'bad" neighbor. Hopefully we can all laugh about our own shortcomings! - Theresa

The Marriage Tree: The idea for this pattern came from a sermon that I heard a long time ago. A pastor was talking about a couple that was going through a tough time in their marraige. He compared their marriage to a tree. he said, "Like a tree, a marriage doesn't always bear fruit. Almost every marriage has a dormant period from time to time. Just as a tree needs periodic pruning, marriage needs some occasional nurturing as well. Love is the fruit of a marriage, committment is the root." I though tthat this was a very interesting analogy and thought it would make a lovely sentiment on a sampler. - Sue

Modern Spot Motiffe Sampler: The inspiration for this sampler comes from the old fashioned monochromatic samplers of long ago. I was working on a monochromatic sampler once that contained lots of little patterns, icons and symbols. But one particular icon, a chair, was so cute, that I just couldn't wait to get to that point in the piece, so that I could stitch it. I decided it might be fun to design a piece made up of nothing but fun little icons, but to give the icons a modern day twist. A cell phone, a vacuum cleaner, a postage stamp...certainly not your grandmother's sampler. - Sue

Nautical Fence: I am crazy about mermaids and stitcher friend of mine, Erin, suggested we do a mermaid clothesline or fence. For some reason, I had never thought of it and decided it was a great idea (thank you, Erin!). I sat down and came up with the design in one evening. We couldn't resist using Just Another Button Co. "posies" for her chest. ÊIf you aren't into her "flower enhancement," you can use two small shell buttons on her chest instead. My Aunt Bev has loved all thingsÊnautical for as long as I can remember andÊI lovingly dedicateÊthis designÊto her. - Sue

Peter's Cotton-Knits: This is the third in the Clothesline series. I had a really good idea of what Peter's surroundings should look like before I started designing the chart. I figured since he's smaller, his clothesline and clothes should be smaller, too. My favorite part in this chart is his little burrow/hillside house. - Theresa

Pretty Weed: This was a little idea that popped into my head during a retreat last year up in Fargo, North Dakota. Sometimes life is just a matter of perspective. This is a quick one to stitch, and the colors are a strange and fun combination of butterscotches, geranium reds, purples and greens. Decorate with a button pack by Just Another Button Company, or include your favorite bug buttons. Then hang it to remind you that although you're not as outwardly beautiful as those fashion plates on the magazines at the checkout stand, you are beautiful in your own way. - Theresa

Princess & the Pea: This was my second design for Raise the Roof. Sue and I talked early on about doing a fairy tale series. The mattresses on this one were a lot of fun to stitch. Some stitchers have said they're doing this one for friends/relatives who just can't sleep unless everything is "just so." - Theresa

Pushing Up Daisies: Oddly enough, this pattern idea came from a mistake on a quilt that my mom was working on. She was making a beautiful new quilt for our bed and on the quilt were these appliqued bluebirds sitting on a vine. She called me one night on the phone and expressed her dissatisfaction in the way the quilt looked when on the bed. The bluebirds hung over the edge of the bed and appeared to be hanging upside down from the vine. She was just disgusted about it, because she though tit looked so strange and she didn't know how she was going to fix it. I thought it was funny that she was so upset over these upside down bluebirds, and I couldn't stop laughing at her. It was no big deal! The quilt was simply gorgeous -- upside down bluebirds or not. I certainly didn't mind. I said to her jokingly during the phone conversation, "I'm going to create an upside down bluebird sampler just for you, Mom." So as a joke, I started to work on a sampler that featured an upside-down bluebird. As I was working on it, I thought that the bluebird looked dead hanging upside down from the branch. So, I took out the branch and put some dirt around him instead, and made him look like he was buried in the ground. I started adding other animals next to him, and it just sort of evolved from there. The phrase "Pushing Up Daisies" was a perfect title for the piece. Almost everyone has experienced the loss of a pet at some time or another. At our house, they usually ended up buried in the backyard garden. For me, a garden is a reminder that life goes on, though, sometimes without those we hold dear. Dedicated to all the animals we had as pets that ended up buried in the backyard garden... - Sue (**No animals were harmed in the creation of this pattern.)

Sam's Socks, Shorts N Such: This really is one of my favorites in the clothesline series. (I think I say that every time.) The colors and the fabric just work really well together. A lot of people ask what the item is on the far right of the clothesline -- it's a quilt! Notice on this one there's a bag of clothespins. Both of my grandmas used to hang their laundry, and both had pin bags that they would clip to the line. What's more American than a clothesline in the backyard with a quilt hanging from it, and a Bald Eagle casually resting on the drum you've set below? Ha! - Theresa

Santa Clothes: This is number two in the Clothesline series. Originally I was going to chart this one for boxers or briefs (which I still think is hilarious). But most people I suggested that idea to thought Santa would most likely wear boxers. C'est la vie! It would have been cute to put an elf's clothesline down near the bottom (and small). Maybe next time.... - Theresa

Scooba Dooba: Sue had started a mermaid piece and had designed the boat, alphabet, waves and leaping dolphin. She couldn't get into the groove, and was going to scrap it, but I told her I wanted at it. I touched up the alphabet, and started designing around what I thought was a really cute start to a sampler. I wanted the colors to be as bright as possible. The fish buttons were designed at our request by Just Another Button Company. Little jokes in this one, like the little fish trying to decide if he can eat that big worm and a blowfish all upset. We've heard from a lot of scuba divers about how much they love the piece. It's a lot of fun to stitch. - Theresa

Sleepy Hollow Sampler: This was design piece number one for me with Raise the Roof. I love Halloween and needlework for that holiday. But a lot of it is cutesy or goofy. I wanted a scary piece. I like the look of the water under the bridge. I remember watching the Disney version of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow as a youngster in the fall, and I always thought that bridge chase was so scary. - Theresa

Snow Fence: The idea for this one came after spying a scarf and hat hanging on a picket fence outside. At first, I thought that someone dressed up their fence to look like a snowman for winter. Later, I discovered that some kids had put the hat and scarf there temporarily while they made a snowman. I liked the picket fence idea, and a short time later, this pattern was born. - Sue

The Sweetest Thing: This pattern was a collaboration between Theresa and I. I had this cute little alphabet border, and I didn't know what to do with the blank space in the middle. So, I sent it to Theresa, and she developed an alphabet that stitchers could convert into a sentiment for any occasion. Use it for Valentine's Day, a friend's birthday, even as a baby birth sampler personalized with the baby's name and birth date. Use your imagination on this one. - Sue

Sweet Tooth: Visually one of my favorite designs of mine. It was a lot of fun to stitch as well. Originally, I had charted a bunch of pieces of candy to be stitched inside the mouth. I started stitching, and decided it looked messy that way. I had the idea for a long time of a chart called Sweet Tooth, with a pumpkin with one tooth and candy in his mouth. But it was only when I was charting it that I had the idea to swirl the vines up to spell his name (a lot of people miss this detail, unless it's pointed out.) You could stitch it with your favorite candy buttons in his mouth. - Theresa

Turkey Dressing: While a Thanksgiving clothesline was a must, I should give credit for the title to my brother-in-law Bob. This one was a pretty quick one to design, since I knew how I wanted it to look. The sunflowers were an afterthought while I was stitching it (I just went back into my software and added them...I like putting flowers on the clothesline pieces.) I wasn't sure about having a gun AND a turkey on the same piece. I put a spider web on the gun, to show it hasn't been used in a while. Maybe the Pilgrims will have tofurkey this year? (That's a tofu version of turkey meat.) - Theresa

Vlad's Vash Day: I designed and stitched this one quickly after I finished Witchy Washy, but didn't finish Vlad in time for a Halloween release date in 2004. So we held onto it until spring of 2005. Sue likes the bottle of detergent (can you imagine Dracula at the grocery store...hmmm...should I get the one with built in softener or the stain release formula? Probably the latter.) I laughed probably the first 20 times I looked at the tiger-striped thong undies. Hey, Vlad is kind of a ladies man. Note the drip-drying bat, high-heeled boots and ruffled shirt. I wanted him to be kind of hip/metropolitan. - Theresa

The Wispy Series: It seems that seasonal pieces such as these are a rite of passage for any cross stitch designer. These are my seasonal favorites of passage. -- Sue

Witchy Washy: This was the first of the clotheslines, and we fully expect it will continue to be the favorite in the series. I think it's really the spiral decorated bra that has won people over. Hey, Halloween witches need good support, too! The idea came to me while I was making a right off of the highway near my house in 2004. The clothesline popped into my head, and within a minute, I had the name "Witchy Washy" decided on, too. The design took me about an hour and a half on the computer, since it was really clear in my mind how I wanted it to look. - Theresa

P.S. Witchy Washy is now two years old, and continues to be our powerhouse chart -- we now lovingly refer to it as "That darn witch." I'm sure our printers are starting to get tired of putting it together, but we love that it's become such a favorite of so many stitchers.