Foxberry Cottage Crafts is a Canadian home-based business producing original counted cross-stitch embroidery designs which feature the beauty, culture and history of Atlantic Canada. The original Foxberry Cottage Crafts started in 1994, first as a local producer marketing on Cape Breton Island only, then expanding into mainland NovaScotia and the other Atlantic Provinces. We are primarily a wholesale business, selling to shops, but do provide a retail service for customers living outside our marketing area. Foxberry Cottage Crafts was purchased by Dawson Farrington of Bridgetown, Nova Scotia, in August 2005 and will continue to offer a unique, quality product as in the past.

Our designer, Donna Troicuk, received training in Interior Design at the University of Manitoba. Her interest in stitchery goes back to age 4 when her mother first put a needle in her hand and taught her a simple backstitch. She went on to try many forms of sewing and crafts but was never satisfied with commercial designs, and could never resist "tweaking" them to her own liking. This inevitably led her to create her own designs in whatever the craft du jour.

While Donna has experimented with various software programs and scanned photos, she prefers to work up her designs the old-fashioned way, starting with sketches - most often from photographs and post cards - which are adapted to a grid, and only taken to the computer in the latter stages of development.

As for subjects, our personal mandate is to feature "the beauty, culture and history of Atlantic Canada." Many of the earlier designs are site-specific. But as interest in the designs spread farther afield, we now have a second criteria: the design must also hold up on its own, regardless of cultural or historical reference.

We work very closely with Donna and will be using her expertise and experience in creating two new designs per year for the Foxberry Cottage Crafts line.

The kits include chart, instructions, 100% cotton Aida cloth, floss (see below) and needle. The cover sheet shows the finished kit and usually a brief factual write-up on the subject. Every aspect of the design and layout are produced here in Nova Scotia, from logo, photography and layout to preparing the charts and instructions, cutting materials and packaging.

ABOUT FLOSS...

We have always aimed to use only DMC embroidery floss as so many customers request it. Unfortunately, after DMC (France) suddenly imposed a minimum order per colour which surpasses our needs by far, we were forced to look into other options. As of September 2005, we are sorry to say that, although we will try, we can no longer guarantee that our kits will contain only DMC floss.

At first we did not provide DMC numbers with our instructions. (My cousin said it was like giving out the KFC recipe.) Later I began to add the numbers as I updated instructions for new print runs - but problems arose. Even with DMC, there are sometimes noticeable variations in dye lots. Availability of my stock can also be an issue; I sometimes have to substitute one colour for another. So - with apologies - these numbers will be coming off kit instructions. (Chart-only packages will continue to list DMC numbers.)

Most designs are now available in a chart-only format. In some cases colour selection in the chart may differ from the kit. The difference is usually slight. The colour number in the chart is the preferred choice.

Prices on this site are shown in Canadian dollars and - while aimed at an international market - are based on the suggested manufacturer's retail price that we provide to our trade customers so as not to undercut them.

Most experienced stitchers agree that our prices compare favourably to similar products on the market. To those who do not agree, please consider that these are exclusive designs, that a great deal of care has gone into creating as accurate a representation as possible within the oft-times frustrating limitations of colour selection and working to a grid. The kits are prepared by hand in small lots, and as such should not be compared to those kits of inferior design and/or quality stocked by mass merchandise outlets.

Before ordering from us, we encourage stitchers within the Atlantic Provinces to check our Stores page for a shop in your area and support your local outlets. Otherwise Foxberry Cottage may be competing with our own customers (retail shops) - and that just wouldn't be right.

RETAIL CUSTOMERS - See Order Page
WHOLESALE CUSTOMERS - See Wholesale Info