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About the Company
 | Sandie & Dave Vanosdall
Photo courtesy of J. Larry Walker
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The Sweetheart Tree™ was founded in 1984 by designer Sandra Cox Vanosdall
and has produced thousands of designs for cross stitch lovers. Now, well
known & respected in the industry, the company provides a complete selection
of high quality cross stitch designs to stitchery enthusiasts all across the
United States and abroad.
Designs are available in leaflet, kits and card formats and represent a
multitude of different styles from whimsical to traditional to contemporary.
To date, 800 spectacular LEAFLETS are available, many of which are
traditional samplers designed to blend well with modern decor. Most are
worked with traditional cross stitch techniques and have delicate motifs
worked in soft pastel colors. Many leaflets also have a variety of added
stitches with explicit diagrams and clearly written directions to help
expand the needleworker's repertoire.
The newest arrivals to the product line are our exciting new LIMITED EDITION
KITS, TEENIE KITS, BISCORNU KITS, QUADRIELLE KITS & KNOB KNOCKERS.
LIMITED EDITION KITS have been carefully designed to enhance the decor of
your home. There are luxurious decorator pillows for your boudoir and tiny
sachets to add fragrance to your surroundings! And now added to this
collection are a series of delicate band samplers worked in pleasing pastels
which feature a variety of added stitches. Each Limited Edition Kit is
decorated with specially selected embellishments such as Sterling Charms
and/or imported Crystal Embellishments which add three dimensional sparkly
accents in your needlework. Several Limited Editions are produced yearly so
be sure to check our Website frequently for the latest Limited Edition so
that you can collect them all!
TEENIE KITS are sure to please even the most demanding and experienced
stitcher. These kits have been designed to bring you a wide variety of the
latest trends in needlework. Specialty fibers and embellishments are always
included and most Teenie Kits are all-inclusive. Most Teenie Kits will be
packaged in re-usable clear hinged boxes large enough to hold your stitchery
& scissors, but small enough to fit in your purse! Stitch while at Little
League or piano lessons or travel with your project for real enjoyment while
away from home. Wherever you might be, all you need to do is open the box
and begin stitching.
QUADRIELLE KITS - What are "Quadrielles" you might ask?....Well, they're
four-sided decorative hanging ornaments - and - they're simply gorgeous!!
The Quadrielle Series is new to the product line having been introduced in
early 2011. Each kit in the series will be "all-inclusive" so everything
needed to stitch them (except your stuffing material & tassels) will be
included in the kit for you.....even the needles are included. Finish your
Quadrielle simply or choose your own colored streamers to add a decorative
poof at the bottom. (Hint: the Quadrielle Series will soon expand to include
Quadrielles for special holidays like Easter, Halloween and Christmas and
will also include Quadrielles for special people like Mom & Dad - be on the
lookout for these Quadrielles coming soon!)
BISCORNU KITS - Beginning in 2008 a brand new series of Biscornus were
introduced and they quickly became VERY trendy! - wildly popular and just
plain cute with their quirky shapes. Each kit in this series of 14
Biscornus was designed to coordinate with one of The Sweetheart Tree's best
selling Teenie Tweenie decorative scissor fobs - Biscornu kits are
"all-inclusive kits" so everything (except your stuffing material) will be
included in the kit for you.
Our KNOB KNOCKERS are chart packs and they quickly helped to solve the awful
dilemma of what to do when we have run out of wall space to hang our framed
needlework! They are the perfect way to showcase your needlework skills
while at the same time using them to decorate your home. They're quick to
stitch and just plain fun to display! The "Knob Knocker Collection" includes
Holiday and Seasonal "Knob Knockers" and some are just for a touch of
whimsy! It is easy to change your Knob Knockers to suit virtually any
occasion & there's another bonus too....when they're not in use your Knob
Knockers can be stored flat in a small amount of drawer space.
The Sweetheart Tree has also become very well known for its innovative
TEENIE TWEENIE COLLECTION™, a series of small cards with colored photos on
the covers. The Teenie Tweenies feature high-quality designs which are
small, easily portable and very reasonably priced. Incorporated within many of these designs are many added
stitch techniques with explicit instructions and clearly drawn diagrams all
adding a bit of a challenge for the stitcher while not making the project
overwhelming. Each design is also enhanced with Charms or delicate imported
Crystal Embellishments which are carefully chosen to blend with both the
theme and color scheme of each specific design. Many charms are further
embedded with imported colored crystals or natural semi-precious stones such
as Turquoise and Red Coral. Since its inception the Teenie Tweenie™ format
has expanded into a wide variety of designs featuring holiday themes &
special occasions. The series began with tiny heart shaped patterns
featuring various holiday themes and seasonal florals. Their diminutive
heart shapes make them quick and easy to stitch and with their reasonable
price stitchers want to collect and stitch them all! As the series continues
designs for many special occasions have been included. Have a wedding or an
anniversary on the horizon? - or perhaps a graduate to honor or a new
arrival to the family? The Sweetheart Tree™ has the small high quality
Teenie Tweenie design that you're looking for!
Watch our Website for timely updates on NEW DESIGNS as we continue to bring
you the best and most complete selection of high quality cross stitch
designs and embellishments on the market...and, of course "Happy Stitching!"
from The Sweetheart Tree™. |
About the Designer |
 | Sandie Vanosdall
By Elizabeth Tittle
Adapted and Reprinted with permission from:
Just Cross Stitch, June 1997 |
Sandie Vanosdall, founder of The Sweetheart Tree, can trace her love of
needlework and designing back to its roots. As a child, her grandmothers
planted the seeds for her current career as a designer by introducing her to
and teaching her about stitchery, colors, and other aspects of being an
artist. "My maternal grandmother taught me the basics of embroidery. She had
this wonderful Victorian home, complete with an oversized porch swing where
I could sit for hours on summer afternoons and work on stamped tea towels. I
remember being very happy and loved in that house," she reminisces. She
describes her paternal grandmother, who also had a tremendous influence on
her, as "a self-taught artist and a woman before her time." As a young,
impressionable girl, Sandie delighted in the time she spent in her
grandmother's studio, awed by many colors of paint and all the accoutrements
of the trade. "Through her studio window she could also see her tiny fish
pond surrounded by bright pink bleeding hearts and other perennials. This is
an idea that I sort of adopted from her at our first office where I had a
wonderful water garden outside my window where I could escape to feed the
fish, watch our resident frog, 'Jeremiah' and enjoy a little of nature's
beauty."
Sandie was a young housewife and mother looking for unique ways to
personalize and decorate her home. Although she had a degree in Speech and
Hearing Therapy and had worked in the field for six years, she decided to be
a stay-at-home mom when her son was born. The birth of her daughter took
place soon afterward and life became hectic.
"Cross stitch is such a calming hobby. Days seem to race by with lightning
speed and countless pressures get piled upon you," Sandie observes. "Cross
stitch is something that you can pick up and, almost as soon as you get the
needle going, the stress just dissolves."
Sandie took advantage of quiet times when her two youngsters were napping to
stitch designs that would enhance her decor. She soon began experimenting
and customizing the charts she purchased. Her one-of-a-kind works of
needleart attracted the attention of a shopowner where she took them to be
framed. "The owners kept asking where these designs had come from. When I
explained that I had designed them, they convinced me to sell them through
their store. In addition, they introduced me to many influential individuals
in our current industry," she explained. "The Sweetheart Tree was the name
of my first design and was subsequently chosen as both our company name and
our logo."
While it may sound like everything just fell into place, it wasn't that
easy. Sandie recalls how she strapped her two children into their car seats,
fed them graham crackers to pacify them, and visited needlework shops far
and near. This allowed her to get to know shopowners face-to-face and
introduce them to her line of designs.
Sandie notes that her designs have changed quite a bit over the years. She
shares her observation that the changes that she has experienced over years
in her life have certainly had an impact on her work. "I'm not following a
trend. I'm just following my heart," she comments. "The progression in my
designs reflects what has gone on in my life - the logical progression of a
family. My family has always been my number one priority."
She has sketched birth samplers and other nursery pieces, patterns for
holidays, family trees, gifts for teachers, and the list continues to grow.
"My husband says that we're like the Hallmark store for cross stitchers in
that we have a design for almost every occasion-from special occasions like
weddings, graduations, and anniversaries to holidays like Christmas, Easter,
or Halloween." "My personal favorites are our new "Teenie Kits." There are
an ever-growing series of small but elegant designs that are embellished
with beautiful Sterling Silver charms or imported crystal embellishments.
They have wonderful color pictures on the front covers and they're fun to
stitch. They give the stitcher just a bit of challenge, but they don't take
forever to complete."
Twenty-seven years after the company began Sandie is still full of
inspiration and ideas for future cross stitch designs. She currently lives
in Paradise Valley, AZ with Dave, her husband of 38 years, and resident
office "kitty-critter" K.C. Their two children live nearby.
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