Now what is wrong with this picture? The weather outside has been frightful and the snowstorm that we experienced in Denver last week traveled to the East Coast. Snow on the Halloween pumpkins? I have never heard of that before!

Our class with Tony Minieri through Diversions was actually held at the Glenmoor Country Club in Cherry Hills. This is the clever decorating that put you into the Halloween spirit as soon as you arrived. We had our own private area with coffee and tea waiting for us with an abundance of wonderful natural lighting for stitching. I didn’t need to use my light that had traveled with me until I was stitching on the black areas of my canvas.

Lunch is served! as we enjoyed a delightful tuna salad open faced sandwich. A choice of carrot cake or chocolate cake was served for dessert. May I have one of each please? My class was wonderful as Tony was as masterful and inspiring as always. Judee and I have already signed up for next year when Tony returns here.

Now for me nothing says Halloween like a black cat! Can never have too many black cats

and especially if it is AlleyCat! I guess that I am not superstitious at all. and until next time…keep on stitching

Halloween is almost here! and what a fun holiday it can be. Dressing up in costume, yes even the grownups! attending parties or hosting them, decorating, stitching Halloween treasures and even cooking such tasty and twisted treats such as Red Velvet Spider Web Cupcakes, Chocolate Mice, Day of the Dead Cookies, Halloween Whoopie Pies or how about some Ghostly Lemon Pops? and so many more, too many to mention!

When stitching for Halloween, this is just a small sampling of these wonderful threads that can really bring your piece to life. This is a packet from ThreadworX appropriately named Spooky Nights. Look at all these colorful choices that is just making me think that I need to go shopping for some new spooky canvases! In this packet there are 4 colors of Legacy, you know the one that is hairy, Artisan Dyed Kreinik in size 8 & 12, a single color of Expressions which is a cotton and rayon blend, Vineyard Silk which has been overdyed, an Italian Wool, Soie d’Alger in an Artisan Dyed and 2 colors of the Hand Overdyed Floss.

A magnet that can really get you in the mood! This was a little surprise that was placed on all of our canvases at our class with Tony, as he was teaching for Diversions, located in Denver. This magnet is the creation of Fob Friends and Mag Friends, the one and the same that does those wonderful cat magnets!

I guess I love these candy canes! as here are a few Halloween ones. My favorite is the one with the pumpkin faces which was all beaded with a Sundance Bead that I swear was made just for this canvas. Just the right color.

So what are your plans tomorrow? I will spend the day in the office and then head to La Jolla as they celebrate “Pillage the Village”, taking in all the Halloween costumes and maybe a few treats too. Sylvester just had to get into the action. I knew that if I tried to move the bag to get a better picture, that I would have lost that Kodak moment. and until next time…keep on stitching.

Thinking about all that early snowfall that I experienced this week kind of put me in the mood to show off Santa Baby’s progress! The snowflakes are coming down all around him as the weather reports out there are frightful. The snow is now traveling east across the US. This is way too early for this white stuff as Mother Nature will turn the landscape into a winter wonderland. I must admit that there is allot of beauty in a fresh snowfall, but you know what? I will take my 70 and sunshine any day!

I know you are probably saying to yourself, well what did you do in class?…details! stitches! threads! I will save that for another day as I need to get those pictures to the Mac yet from both my camera and the cell phone. Class was wonderful and I learned so much about stitching. Many new stitches added to the repertoire as Tony worked his magic with all the canvases in the room. As much as I would love to keep working on my Buddha Collage by Lani, it will need to be put away for another day as there are other canvases that are first in line.

My flight was smooth as I took turns between reading, napping and being updated by the pilots on the score of “The” baseball game. It was an amazing World Series. I thank both the Texas Rangers and the St Louis Cardinals for playing some of the best ball EVER! It would have been wonderful for Texas to have won their first championship. Tell me, who could not just fall in love with Ron Washington, the Texas manager ? His enthusiasm, his energy and doing the “wash” which was the name of his movements as his players did something game changing.

The kids were both waiting for me at the door as I came home last night. AlleyCat voiced her displeasure with me nonstop and all the way to the kitchen as she demanded her dinner. She is sitting here surveying her domain all while keeping an eye on me.

Sylvester on the other hand was giving me the cold shoulder for awhile. He’s thinking well, if I can’t see you…you can’t see me! That only lasted until bed time as both of them slept on me all night long. It’s as if they are saying, “we are not letting you go anywhere!”

We are doing some updating to the blog website and for the time being, it is not accepting any comments at all, I am sorry to say. There had to be a way to eliminate the several hundred daily spam messages that were coming in on a daily basis, but unfortunately it won’t take any comments now. That is being worked on. and until next time…keep on stitching

Those Creepy Characters, those devilishly delightful Halloween characters that have been the brainstorm of Needle Deeva and Robin King are lining up getting ready to be shipped to your favorite needlepoint shop!

This month’s selection for your stitching delight is Frankenstein. He is very creepy indeed and yet so handsomely stitched by Robin. You know those Creepy Characters have really taken on a life of their own and have added new words to our stitching vocabulary that everybody seems to know and love. Words such as Creeps and Frankenfabulous just to name a few!

The Deeva is busy personally hand signing each and every canvas to add that special touch. Think of it as her autograph! She has just a few more to go through yet.

My visit with the Deeva has been just as wonderful as always. We have brainstormed for next year, worked our fingers to the bone, watched the snow fall, been powerless for way too many hours, wined and dined our way through some of the best restaurants, enjoyed our class with Tony Minieri and best of all is beingwith each other. Time goes all too quickly and after class today I will be headed back home to hopefully sunny San Diego and the kids. Of course I will be flying during the 7th and deciding game of the World Series! Hopefully I will be lucky enough to have a flight with WiFi so I can keep up with the scores or a pilot that will keep us posted. Texas had that game almost won last night so many times and I hope that they won’t live to say “what if?” and until next time…keep on sticthing

what is wrong with this picture? it is not even Halloween yet and winter arrived very early in parts of Colorado earlier today. I arrived to a balmy 76 on Monday, with time to soak in the most beautiful fall colors. Brilliant reds and opulent yellows and oranges in shades that I have not seen since I left New York so many years ago, only to wake up to this winter wonderland. Wow Mother Nature really pulled a fast one on us!

Not only did the snow cover the trees in a serene beauty, but the weight of the snow broke tree limbs and snapped power lines leaving us in the dark and the cold for several hours today. Now I just experienced a massive power outage in San Diego not that long ago and here we go again! No TV, no Internet, hot water, shower, microwave and so much more. Just think of everything in your life that depends on electricity. Thank goodness for the smart phones that allows you to at least communicate with caring friends a bit, but not too much as you don’t want to use up all of your battery!

Deeva and I kept busy organizing her stash of threads and brainstorming for next years canvas designs. We also readied the next months Creepy Characters in their bags for shipping in the next day or so. We would have shipped them today, but no power to print the invoices, shipping labels or postage. They will be on their way to you very soon, I promise!

We are ready to start our class tomorrow with Tony Minieri. I hope that Tony and the other stitchers in the class will let us share some pictures with you. and until next time I leave you with the quiet beauty of the fresh snowfall and also…keep on stitching

You know when I head out on a stitching getaway, the first thing that gets packed is the stitching stuff. Are you the same way? The clothes and other necessary things come later. First I pick out the bag that I want to take to class, the light, tools, a frame weight, scissors, needles, a notebook and of course my stitching glasses. Ooh my laying tool! just can’t forget that for Tony’s class.

It looks like AlleyCat wants to come along with me. I would love to take her, but Sylvester would get too lonely without her. Besides I am not sure that she would behave well enough to go with me, so you will need to stay behind and mind your brother and the house.

This is my canvas that I am going to start with Tony, yes yet another canvas…but we need to support our needlework industry including the designers of these amazing canvases, the thread companies, the shops, the teachers and of course, well all of it! This is a Buddah Collage By Lani. This is another canavs that will be tucked away to work on when I am all caught up. You know it is not always all about finishing it, it is the whole experience of being in class with people that share your passions, being surrrounded by things that you love and learning!

It will be a whirlwind trip with the Deeva and I am really looking forward to it! I may not see you for a few days…the Mac of course comes along with me as well as the camera. Hopefully I can get some pictures in the packing and shipping department of Needle Deeva and in Tony’s class. and until next time…keep on stitching

It’s snowing! It’s snowing! and wow was that snow ever so challenging to do! I am absolutely positive that you are thinking is she out of her mind? what is difficult about snow? well there really isn’t a large enough expanse to really get a stitch going. I like to begin in the largest area so that I get the stitch before I need to start compensating. I swear I unstitched at least one entire spool of Kreinik before I found the stitch that I finally did use. See just a T stitch or Alicia’s Lace just wouldn’t do. I had a really good one that I selected from this book that I added to the library lately. I only realized after I was half way done that I had a mistake right in the beginning! So out it came and back to the books to find another stitch.

The border is almost done, the snow has fallen and I will probably work on the package next. I have some great ideas for that present along with allot of different threads as I usually change my mind only about 50 times before I take the final stitches.

I think today I will spend most of the day stitching on Deco Kitty. I discovered yesterday that I really do have all the threads that I need to finish this piece, but I wanted to be sure. So I will stitch my fingers to the bone today in between packing for my trip to the home of Needle Deeva and our class with Tony Minieri. I can’t wait!

On one of my trips into the bedroom yesterday, look at who I found just waiting to have their picture taken…

Somebody asked me a few weeks ago if I pose the cats? Are you kidding me? Now you must be the one out of your mind! and until next time…keep on stitching.

I love these candy canes! They are a quick stitch and the possibilities are endless. Vineyard Silk, High Cotton, silks, pearl cotton, floss yes believe it or not, floss! Basketweave, tent stitch, fancy stitches, not so fancy stitches…Then there is Kreinik for just stitches and then Kreinik for French knots and of course beads, did I say beads?

I remember when Melissa Shirley first introduced these into her line, and I immediatey fell in love with them. Of course I had to stitch just a few! That was during a time when I really didn’t have much time to stitch and about all I could manage was an ornament or two. I think that in the last year I have sure made up for all of that lost time. These were stitched last year during the holiday season. A few months ago I dropped them off at my LNS for them to be sent out for finishing and look at what I picked up a few days ago after the finisher worked their magic!

I tend to really enjoy stitching in the season and once my home is decorated for the holidays, I will start stitching some new ornaments to add to next years tree! I have so many new canvases waiting for me, including another candy cane, this one the new mint green, a Debbie Mumm snowflake which is now in Melissa’s line and too many more to remember! I am thinking of a new little tree just for the candy canes.

I may need a little stash enhancement today as I want to look and see if there is a turquoise Sparkle! Braid just the right color for Deco Kitty. I will probably spend some time on the computer on stitch guides and oh I need to start packing for my trip to Denver under the careful supervision of Sylvester & AlleyCat. Then I need to settle in with my stitching by 5PM PST to watch game 3 of The World Series.

AlleyCat was being quite the character this morning as she buried her head under this washcloth. What the ? as Sylvester looks on wondering what she is really doing. and until next time…keep on stitching.

Cats are kind of like having a bowl of potato chips…can you eat just one? I know I can’t and most cat people can’t have just one cat either. I am kind of low on the cat count compared to others that have several. I would love more cats, but my house is not that big and I don’t want to upset the kids too much. We were a household of 3 cats for about 4 years, but Felix left us just last year.

Just like having more than one cat, I love to collect cat related things. Just about anything with a cat, it has my name on it. Cat bags, magnets and stitching on cat canvases are some of my favorites!

I first met Barb through the magic of the Internet and Elizabeth and I ordered some bags for us to review for the magazine. I immediately fell in love with the style of the bag, the quality of the presentation when it arrives at your doorstep and the workmanship. It is great fabric, but where were the cats? I asked Barb if she had any with cat fabric and she said that she would need to look for some. It was a busy summer and it sort of slipped my mind. Not like I need another new bag! But what we need and what we want are not necessarily the same thing.

I finally got a chance to meet Barb at expo night at seminar in San Antonio. It is always a treat to put a name with a face. She had an amazing display of bags with all kinds of fabric and of course I was able to spot the cat bag! I ordered one as I had plenty to take home in my suitcase. It arrived the other day and I am thrilled with it. There are allot of inside pockets too. I understand that she is making some accessory pieces too. This will be my new most used stitching bag now.

A new cat magnet came home with me from BeStitched, a twin to my pink cat magnet. Now I need to find a canvas to go with this magnet!

I have been getting in some great stitching the last few nights to the World Series games as I relish every pitch, every swing of the bat and every great play. Last night it was only the third time in 107 years of World Series baseball that a team rallied in the 9th inning to win the game! Very exciting and I am rooting for the Rangers to take it all. I can only hope that there will be 5 more games just as great as the last few have been before this season ends.

Sylvester is giving me that look, “like why don’t you feed me now?” That’s the trouble when you work at home and are around them lots. They think they can get me to open a can of cat food just whenever.

Now I have both of them with the look. You would think I never feed them. and until next time…keep on stitching

Santa Baby, Santa Baby slip a sable under the tree, for me. Been an awful good girl. Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight! as the words go to one of my favorite holiday songs sung by Eartha Kitt. What a voice! Actually my cell phone has this set as my holiday ring tone.

Speaking of Christmas did I read somewhere that there are only about 65 days or so left to do our shopping? The time goes all too quickly. I have never been one that does things at the last moment and actually most of my gift buying frenzy is done. I do like to shop a little all year long as usually when you are not looking is when you find the best gifts. Something special, something memorable and very meaningful. Okay I digress and you are saying to yourself, we are here for the needlepoint!

I should be working on Deco Kitty, yes I should be stitching on Mr. Crow, but what we should be doing and what we want to do are not necessarily one and the same?! Anyway I sorta kinda promised Ruth that this would be done last week and it looks like that didn’t happen. So I have been busy stitching and ripping and stitching some more. The hat I originally thought would like great with Very Velvet and Kreinik, but that was too heavy and it came out. The snow on the ground and I have been exchanging words as I am having a miserable time with getting just the right stitch! I have been trying out the darning pattern in the borders, but ether it needs to go up a few stitches or down one or skip an extra canvas thread so that it fills in just “purrfectly.” Yes I know that I could do the same border that was in Witchy-Poo, but I know that you would expect something different.

The corners have been beaded and I have the rest of the threads at hand. Several shades of “those greens” in silks, Frosty Rays, River Silks, Krienik and Ribbon Floss along with several possibilities of reds. I have the perfect silk matched for the sky, but do I want to use that? or Krienik 9294 which is called Periwinkle? or 032 white? or 101 silver? ooh the decisions! I have some more beads selected and some Swarovski crystals.

Elizabeth has been burning the midnight oil as she nears the deadline for the newest Needlepoint Now. It will be on its way to the printers in just a few short days. I am already busy working on the January/February issue. As always I want to stitch at least 1/2 of what goes in the magazine, but no time.

Oh did I say that I am on the road again next week? I am headed to Denver, the home of Needle Deeva where we will brainstorm for next year’s designs, ship the next Creepy Character to your local needlepoint shop, laugh, wine and dine in style and a trip to Tony’s that I am hoping for…hint, hint. I am saving the best for last…a canvas enhancement class with Tony Minieri at Diversions! Yes I know that I am totally out of my mind to even think about starting another canvas, but we made plans for this about 6 months ago. A girls gotta do what a girls gotta do!

AlleyCat is being a brat as she still is pouting this morning. We had some words of disagreement last night as she thought she was the one that was allowed to play with the threads. She spoke her mind and then disappeared never to be seen until she heard that can of cat food being opened this morning. and until next time…keep on stitching