A dear friend of mine, well I should say a dear friend of ours, a friend of the needlework family accepted a lifetime membership to a special needlepoint shop. She didn’t especially want to join and of course we didn’t want her to go so soon.

But this needlepoint shop is a place where you always have your scissors, never loose your needles, all the stitches lay perfectly, you never run out of threads, your selection of stitches always works perfectly and you never have to say “where did I put that darn laying tool?!” There are plenty of canvases available and everything else that you could need to stitch.

Beth Robertson, of the Fabulous Four fame is the one that left us all too suddenly. Here in this picture, you can see her sharing her brilliance with Pat in a Fab Four class at seminar. Pat, was this Columbus? you were working on that Japanese Rooster from Barbara Russell’s line. The one with that amazing needle weaving that Tony gave you and the one when you asked “why oh why did you give me this background stitch yet AGAIN?”

For you who don’t know Beth or know her that well, I would like to share some more pictures. She was funny in a dry humor sense of way, a great laugh, cranky at times… well can’t we all be that way? and so smart!

Beth is in the pink… well I guess they are all in the pink! She is to the far left standing up. I believe that this was probably role call before class started at seminar a few years ago.

Here Beth, Tony and Suzanne were helping Meredith set up her booth at the summer trade show in Columbus 2013. Hey where’s Meredith?

oh maybe she’s there now!

I’ve always loved this picture as it just shows how much that these 4 share… here they are teaching each other a stitch!

Beth is in the purple as Meredith explains the techniques used in this piece.

She was sitting at our table as of course I was listening while stitching.

To Meredith, Tony and Suzanne…my deepest heartfelt sympathies. And to your family Beth and of course Rayne and Rudie, your canine kids.

and to Beth, I will especially treasure my last class that I took with you just a few short months ago… the early morning breakfast every day, the mid-afternoon latte’s and of course laughs at dinner and conversation.

Thank you Beth, thank you for the mark that you left on the needlepoint world, our hearts and especially your friendship…you will be missed more than you will know;(