From Wikipedia … Keep Calm and Carry On was a poster produced by the Government of the United Kingdom in 1939 during the beginning of the Second World War, intended to raise the morale of the British public in the event of invasion. It had only limited distribution, so was little known. The poster was rediscovered in 2000 and has been re-issued by a number of private companies, and used as the decorative theme for a range of products. There were only two known surviving examples of the poster outside government archives until a collection of 15 originals was brought in to the Antiques Roadshow in 2012 by the daughter of an ex-Royal Observer Corps member.  It was intended to be distributed in order to strengthen morale in the event of a wartime disaster. Over 2,500,000 copies were printed, although the poster was distributed only in limited numbers. The designer of the poster is not known.

I came across this version of Keep Calm some months ago and knew immediately if not sooner I had to have it on canvas. Sandy from Peacock Alley was able to pull strings and jump through hoops and do whatever she does to get it painted for me. She actually delivered it to me in person at the Columbus market…now if that isn’t personalized customer service, I don’t know what is! Thank you Sandy. I am sure that if you have to have one too, give her a call at Peacock Alley and she will make it happen!

Wow this is really a blank, blank canvas! okay do I want to bead the letters? do them in French knots? stitch them in Kreinik? or something else? do I want the the cat fuzzy, sleek or elegant? and then the background? I would never just basketweave it! Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love to basketweave, but this is calling for something else. Something with an overdye or maybe with Kreinik and beads?

Too many choices, too many decisions! I can’t make up my mind, so I took a little trip the other day. Yes I goofed off and took a ride up the coast to visit Susan Portra at Newport Needlepoint. The weather was beautiful and the ride was quite spectacular as the skies were as blue as could be. The view of the coast, the sand and the surf had me reminiscing of when I first moved to California 30 years ago and quickly falling in love with this state.

It was great seeing Susan and being in her class and it has been way too long! We talked about stitching, stitching and more stitching. I got some wonderful ideas for my canvas and as you can see I got a little bit of everything, beads, Kreinik and Sparkle Rays. She loved my color choice of Hyla’s High Cotton in Acid Green for the background. I also found a Planet Earth Fiber 6 strand silk that works too, a little darker in the skein, but once you open it and just work with a few strands of the thread, it isn’t that dark anymore.

I will start with beading the letters and stitching the cat, saving the background for last. Not that I know when I will have time to sneak this into the rotation, but I will try to sneak it in from time to time.

There has been a little gremlin in the blog the last day or so that wants to reroute you to Google Chrome. Don’t know why it is doing it and it doesn’t happen all the time. My web guy, yes I have a web guy and that makes me feel ooh so very special! He is looking into it and hopefully can remedy the situation. But of course it doesn’t happen all the time and usually when he goes to the site, it is just fine…so how can he fix it?

On a sad note, my heart just aches for the residents of Aurora, Colorado and the unthinkable tragedy that they experienced yesterday. Aurora is the home of NeedleDeeva and after I heard the news, I texted her a few hours later and said “please tell me that your son did NOT go to the movies last night?!” See I know that everybody doesn’t get up before the sun does as I do most mornings. I was relieved to hear that they were accounted for. You are in my thoughts and prayers.

AlleyCat was doing her best to Keep Calm last night. and until next time…keep on stitching