Once Upon a Time Sampler: May

How is it already May? My brain is still stuck in February and I have no idea why!

I realized earlier last week that I didn't blog about April's Once Upon a Time block! I'm not sure why, I love those bears so much!

This month is Jack and the Beanstalk! The cow just about kills me. I'm so glad Ashleigh designed the little bird- we are currently experiencing an epic spring migration and every free moment I have I've been out bird watching. I've been able to add 4 new birds to my life list. High 5!

It should come as NO surprise that we are launching a Halloween Club tomorrow. I've been working on it for the past few weeks and here is something I'm currently struggling with and maybe you can share with me your thoughts!

When we started TFPS, we just built super cute simple little charts and had computer generated covers. Now either Ashleigh or I stitch a version, plus two other ladies stitch for us as well. I *want* to share more photos of my personal projects but I'm afraid it's confusing to you guys! I'm afraid when you see my WIP, it might make you think that the pattern isn't finished or fully designed yet.

Last year when I was stitching Woodland Sampler along with you guys, a few people asked if we were just designing each month as we went which is/was definitely NOT the case. Since our business has grown, we have so many small elements that have to be completely spot on before we even release the pattern! For example: thread quantity! For huge projects like Once Upon a Time, that pattern had to be completely stitched before we told shops like The Cottage Needle & The Workroom which colors and quantities of floss to order. Which means, even though in my photos you see blank spaces, that chart is completely done and has already been stitched up twice!

I definitely want to share more photos with you guys because I *love* WIP photos. I love taking them and I love watching someones project grow each time they post. But I don't want to be redundant and explain "Yes, this pattern is finished. This is my own personal project" in every single blog post because I'm afraid the handful of regular readers will think "Amanda! We already know this!"

For the past month or so I've been working on my Mysterious Halloween Town Club and I've been wanting to share lots of photos with you but it's tricky deciding how much to post, when to post it, etc! I'm the *worst* at marketing and definitely need a class on it! I don't want my blog to become a giant ad but at the same time...GUYS IT'S A FREAKING HALLOWEEN CLUB AND I LOVE HALLOWEEN AND I WANT TO SHARE WITH YOU A HUNDRED MILLION PHOTOS.

So what do you guys think? Photos of cross stitch WIPs, are you into them?! Does it confuse you or does it make sense that I'm sharing my own projects?!