Those words that we all love to hear, almost finished! well at least I do, don’t know about you? It is a sense of accomplishment, putting in those last few stitches, taking it off the stretcher bars, looking for missed stitches…oh shudder that thought!

I have been stitching on the grapes the last few nights with a beautifully overdyed cotton knitting thread. Yes knitting thread! Julie Pischke has always been very creative in the use of threads and yarns in her needlepoint bags. This is hand dyed just for the bags and it really is the prefect colors for the grapes. The last stop in this stitching adventure will be to attacth it to the canvas bag that is color co-ordinated to the yarns that were selected for this canvas of “Napa Valley”. There is an on line video to watch to guide you through the finishing process and also a few pages of written instructions. I am not sure if I will just applique the stitched square on or actually make the pocket. That might be just a little bit too much sewing for me! The last step on this adventure will be writing an article for Needlepoint Now about the bags.

The birds are close to being finished too as I work on the last of the leaves and the plume on bird #3. I am not sure that the stitch that was suggested for the plume works with the rest of the stitching, so I will need to sleep on that for a few days.

Now is the time to start some new canvases…will it be one of the hearts? or the Easter House? or the Cat’s Night out? or all of them? I really need to work on that panda and I will conquer needle weaving that bag!

How do you like this box of raspberries? It was suggested that next time I get blackberries. This is AlleyCat’s most favorite nap spot. and until next time…keep on stitching