Well I’m all packed and ready to go for the TNNA Summer Market! First thing was the threads, canvases and stitch guides for my classes. and yes you do see some chocolate in there too! I will carry this suitcase on the plane with me, as if that suitcase were to be misplaced, lost, stolen or damaged… I might as well just not show up for my classes.

Then came the clothes. They are folded and ready to go and I will pack them later today so that they don’t wrinkle too much. Then what jewelry do I want to take? Just a few cat pins and a necklace or two.

I was doing a little stitching last night and I broke a screw on my stitching lamp. Oh no! I sort of turned it in a different way and probably shouldn’t have done that, so I guess I have no one to blame but myself. I will bring it to the local hardware store in La Jolla in the am and hopefully they can work some magic on it.

I moved this suitcase to the floor, and of course closed it to keep curious noses and paws out of it. So they decided to sit on top of it. Both of them and one at a time!

That look! Is that a hint? as where do you think you are going?

I am travelling sans laptop since I have too much carry-on stuff to take with me. So I will see you when I get back… hopefully I will be tweeting and using instagram, if I remember how?!

and until next time…keep on stitching

So says Mooch! I can’t start my day without reading Mutts and seeing the antics of Mooch and Earl and all the other cast of characters. Many of the special strips get framed and hang on my walls!

Getting back to this weekend, it is Memorial Day weekend which is the unofficial (or is it official?) start of summer. But it is really a day to remember those who have served our country. Way back when (and now am I dating myself?) it was called Decoration Day and we went to the cemetary to bring flowers to family members and especially my Uncle Sonny, who was in the service and gave his life during WWII.

No holiday for me this weekend as I will be working round the clock to get ready for market and finishing the stitching on my latest piece that will be going into Needlepoint Now in September/October issue!

AlleyCat looks like she is already ready for the weekend. Can you believe the position of this silly cat? well I hear position is everything in life! and we will see you next week…

and until next time…keep on stitching

Really! This is the end of my Blue Bonnet report…this was the night of our banquet and Mary Alice was planning quite a birthday celebration for Debbie Steihler who was just turning 60.

I was honored to be sitting with all of the rocks stars of the needlepoint world, the teachers! Janet Casey, Sandy Arthur and the beautiful blonde, I am sorry, but your name escapes me… and of course The Divine Miss M! Looks like that Meredith was sharing secrets with Debbie.

It was a few days before Mardi Gras, so we were all given beads! and we didn’t even have to do anything to earn them.

Debbie was a great sport and realy hammed it up and was quite entertaining!

Now Debbie and Tony Goerdes are enjoying a moment.

a great time was had by all! Happy birthday Debbie and I’ll let you in on a secret…sure was glad that Mary Alice didn’t know that I just had a milestone birthday!

and until next time…keep on stitching

According to Wikipedia, Buddha was asage on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. He is believed to have lived and taught mostly in eastern India sometime between the sixth and fourth centuries BC.

The word Buddha means “awakened one” or “the enlightened one”. “Buddha” is also used as a title for the first awakened being in an era. In most Buddhist traditions, Siddhartha Gautama is regarded as the Supreme Buddha.

The exact date of Buddha’s Birthday is based on the Asian lunisolar calendars, and tends to move around a bit, but it is still a day to honor a great legend. This canvas that you see here is one by Lani and if you have a Sharpei sharing your life, this would be the one for you! and if I had my Buddha piece from the framers, I would be sharing a picture of that too! When I drop off a piece from framing, unless I really have a deadline, I tell them really no hurry…plus I need time to drive to Pasadena to pick it up.

and here is my Buddha kitty, which goes with “if it fits…I sits”

and until next time…keep on stitching

Blue Bonnet Studio Time Stitching Needle Arts Retreat seemed it was ages ago! well maybe it was since that was February.

I love, love, love going to this event and I am signed up already for 2016…how about you? I am not teaching next year, but will be back in 2017 as my sistah Meredith Willett becomes a student of Japanese Embroidery while I teach.

This was my class “Studio Time” and it was 4 days of bring your canvas and get some stitches. For some it was a great adventure, since I had planned out some suggested stitches and threads ahead of time…but for others, it was stump the teacher!

Part of studio time and working on different canvases is the looking and learning from each other.

and even the students were teaching. Pat, who is seen seated and stitching is a master craftsman who has studied at The Royal School of Needlework. She was giving us lessons in silk shading of a reindeer on a Tapestry Tent stocking.

Mary Alice (seen standing) is the master mind behind this all, and stopped by to see how we were doing!

Even Meredith Willett stopped by to add some of her Southern Charm to our class. she was showing us an Elizabethian technique stitch!

AlleyCat and I are going to spend the day on the couch as I stitch and she sleeps!

and until next time…keep on stitching

I found this on Facebook the other day…isn’t this the cutest? I was in Newport Beach yesterday, which is about 80something miles north of here…and it poured and poured for a few hours! Rained driving home for awhile and then it stopped.

No rain at my house early last night, nada, zip, zilch…dry as a bone. But 25something miles away at PetCo Park downtown, it rained enough Thursday night that there was a 2 hour rain delay for the baseball game. But again nothing here. Go figure!

An email in my inbox from the Cravory Cookies here in San Diego tells me that today is National Chocolate Chip Day. Don’t these cookies look wonderful? It is making me hungry. I think that I need to check these cookies out, what do you say?

Friday is my game night (that is if we don’t get a rainout)…so I will see you on Sunday. I want to finish up with my pictures from Blue Bonnet, so I promise no nonsense!

and until next time…keep on stitching

Really it is! I kid you not! Today is the national ride your bike to work day. These days I don’t have far enough to ride my bike to work, but I love the idea. It is a great way to exercise, diminish the traffic and a way to help the environment by diminishing the emissions.

So if you’re not riding, how about stitching a bicycle? This is a great canvas by Quail Run Designs, not the shop, but the canvas line.

I’m getting anxious about market and seeing all the new canvases, threads, books, bags and toys. Decisions! Decision! Decisions! I head to Colombus 2 weeks from today.

AlleyCat looking for that sun! I hope she enjoys it as there is some rain in our forecast!

and until next time…keep on stitching

Did you have a great Mother’s Day? I do realize that for some as with any holiday, it is a tough, tough day… and my heart goes out to you.

But for me who no longer is working in the hospitality industry it was a great day as I didn’t have to go out of the house to work. I still worked in my own way since I put in a marathon day of stitching, sorta kinda like what I did when it was in my corporate life. I am trying to finish up a piece for the magazine that will be in the September/October issue of Needlepoint Now.

Felix would always sleep on my lap while I was stitching and now AlleyCay does. She doesn’t bother my threads or my moving hand, but just hope that I don’t have to get up or I hear from her!

I am about 90% finished with the stitching, and I need to tweak one more color of thread yet, a funky purple, one that has reddish hints to it rather then blue. And I hope that I can find my invisible beading thread, otherwise I can see me buying another spool! Do I want to go for the thread today? or it can wait till tomorrow or Wednesday when I will be in my LNS anyway. I really need to work on the stitch guide for this piece today, as I like to do it when it is fresher in my mind and the piece is in front of me.

My kids bought me a new orchid for Mothers Day! I have been trying to rebuild my collection, since I lost some to a fungus amoungus. This was from Costco and really quite the deal for what was in the planting. I just changed the pot and very pleased with it! I might go back today (since Costco is less that a mile from my house)  to see if there are any left.

and until next time…keep on stitching

from me and the kids to all the mother’s out there… hope that you have a great day!

My wish too is that your kids, whether 2-legged or 4…behave! and bring you lots of love and the purr~fect gift!

and until next time…keep on stitching

Have you seen it yet? do you have yours? Well if you haven’t figured out yet what I am talking about, well… it’s the new book by Jo or the bible as we have called it for years. And it’s still the bible even though it is new and revised.

Note that the cats do rule! as how many cat canvases do you see on the cover? I believe it is not one, but TWO!

and I’m in the book again! With the Rainbow Birds by Laurel Burch from Danji Designs that I stitched with Brenda Hart. I never said anything to anyone as I wanted to make sure that what was selected to be photogrpahed really was in the book.

I really haven’t had a chance to pour myself into the book and get lost reading and absorbing every bit possible in just one night…but I’ve got that to look forward to this weekend.

It is raining this morning and it is so wonderful and so needed. We just need so much more rain, really days and days of it. But we will take whatever Mother Nature wants to give us.

Look closely as there is 2 cats in that pile!

and until next time…keep on stitching