Imagine being an adolescent who loves fairytales and everything those fairy tales accompany. The dragons, the knights, the castles, the stories. You devour books written by Anne MCaffrey and Terry Brooks while wishing you could be in those stories. You have been cross-stiching for a few years but you are only doing Christmas ornaments picked out by your mom. Then you are in a craft store looking at cross-stitch patterns and you find an intricately designed set of carousel horses.

That young adolescent was me when I spotted a Teresa Wentzler pattern for the first time. My mom did purchase all 4 Seasonal Carousel Horses but they were never stitched. They did launch me into a new branch of the needleart world that I have a really hard time controlling - collecting.

That's right I have almost every pattern Teresa Wentzler has designed including magazines and OOP (out of print) designs. They were not easy to find and some were expensive. To this day, her designs create bidding wars and a frenzy of excitement with rare designs going as high as $500 for one pattern. Which by the way wasn't even one of her best or most popular designs.

Unfotunately, she developed arthritis and was forced to slow down on her designs. Due to a change in religious beliefs, she pulled all of her dragon designs off the internet that she owns the copy right to. I just learned today that her website is now shut down. The Teresa Wentzler Facebook Community is still open and some patterns are being sold through Patterns Online (POL).

Her designs are timeless. They are sought after works of art that inspire imagination and creativity. They beckon you to sit back, relax, and enter a world that only exists in your imagination. They also require a dedication of time, enthusiam, and skill that I have yet to see in another designer.