Or is it Deco Cat? I am sorry Sharon G if I have renamed your canvas, but either way I know that I am going to really love working on this canvas! Look at all these great colors and in all my favorite threads. Gloriana, ThreadworX, Splendor, Mandarin Floss, Belle Soie, Au ver a Soie, Kreinik and beads, did I say beads? I started out yesterday morning by first locating where I had temporarily stashed this canvas, you know to keep certain feline children from sleeping on it… searching for stretcher bars, trimming it down to fit the bars to a t, taping the canvas and then looking for threads. Notice my needle minder on the canvas? I hope that AlleyCat who is the Deco Kitty is not going to be too jealous sharing the limelight.

I needed to run down to Needlepoint of La Jolla anyway, so I brought the canvas along as there were a few colors that seemed to be challenging to find. I really wouldn’t want to do it all in overdyes, so I thought I would look at Splendor and Mandarin Floss for the pinks or should I say raspberry and the very delicate teal colors.

At the trade shows, not only are new canavses introduced, but also new threads and new thread colors. Rainbow Gallery has brought to us Petite Silk Lame Braid in 26 colors. Very exciting! They are always very generous giving out samples for us to try. How lucky is this that the 2 colors that Sally gave me are “purrfect” colors for this canvas! as was the Gloriana Silk Floss and Florimell that Anne of Gloriana gave me. In case you are not familiar with it, Florimell is a hand dyed Soie d’ Alger. I have been collecting all the wonderful colors that they have been dying, I just haven’t used it yet.

I started beading the little black kitty already and will continue with a little more beading and tent stitching the black lines. I usually like to stitch some of the very easy areas in the beginning for more than one reason…it gives me a place to anchor threads for “stitches” that I will select for other areas and while I am working on these easier parts I can study other sections and think of what I envision to be just the right stitch for that area. Most important of all, if you make good progress in the beginning of a starting a new canvas, it keeps you stitching on this canvas…instead of tucking it in the closet, never to be seen again in this lifetime.

AlleyCat, you are supposed to be in the bag…not on top of it! Silly girl. and until next time…keep on stitching