Sometimes I spend just a little too much time on my Mac between stitch guide writing and working on Needlepoint Now stuff…so a little diversion at times is doing some traveling through cyberspace. It’s amazing just what you can find out there!

I came across Etti~cat a little while ago, who lived on the NYC subway system some 50 years ago. Read about Etti~cat through all the links provided in this article. I found it rather interesting as first I love my cats and almost anything to do with felines and secondly since I am from NY…but you may think it not so interesting and that I am slightly out of my mind!

Well it is Saturday morning, breakfast at The Cottage and a quick stop to look at some threads. I am trying to match a beading thread that I used from my stash on 2 soon to be published stitched pieces. Okay stash is good, but not so good when you can’t FIND that color of beading thread!

Su~purrvisor hard at work!

and until next time…keep on stitching

Sometimes it can be like Christmas here year round! When this unexpected package showed up at my door the other day, I was thinking, what could it be? I hadn’t order anything recently….hmmm.

Well it was a package from Sundance Designs full of wonderful new products! To start is this selection of their new rayon raffia which will be great for baskets and so much more. I remembering buying just plain raffia at Michael’s and stitching with that. Now we have all of these amazing colors and the feel of the rayon I can imagine that it will be easier to work with.

Their new metallic accents. I love the little birds and I can see nestling one into a tree or a group of flowers.

and these new color of beads! I think that I see some Glow-in-the-Dark beads here. I am in heaven with all of my new goodies and I thank you Sundance.

It will be a great day today as I work away on the July/August issue of Needlepoint Now while listening to a baseball game or two. Then it will be out to dinner with Brenda Hart and some of her students…kind of a Friday night standing date when she is in town. We go to one of my most favorite restaurants, The Manhattan in La Jolla, where I usually order the veal chop or maybe it will be Italian tonight. Who knows? It’s just being special being all together.

AlleyCat was being a good girl (by not sitting ON my laptop) as she sat besides me su~purrvising!

and until next time…keep on stitching

It is the Ides of April and Tax Day…and nothing to do with needlepoint today!

Also this is the day that The Titanic sank, the day that Abraham Lincoln died and the day that Major League Baseball honors #42 Jackie Robinson, the first black player that broke into the big leagues.

It seems that AlleyCat thinks I am spending way too much time on the computer!

and until next time…keep on stitching

National Scrabble Day! which celebrates this fabulous board game and the birthday of it’s inventor Alfred Mosher Butts…it’s amazing what you can find out on Google!

It was originally called Lexiko and then Criss-Cross Words and later became known as Scrabble. A family-friendly board game sold in over 120 countries, in at least 29 languages and found in approximatley a third of American homes. So iconic that it was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2004!

So what does National Scrabble Day have to do with this canvas by Maggie? and frame by Jim and Lisa Krause? Note the words or in this case word on the bottom of the frame? Well they use Scrabble letter blocks to write out the words. Lisa tells me that they scour yard sales and resale shops to find the bags of blocks that they use for these wonderful frames.

Back to the canvas, this was the original from The TNNA Winter Market and they do realize that the painters had an error on the spelling of one of the words. I am sure by now that it has been fixed.

Okay it’s time for me to get to work! I see that AlleyCat is already at the desk ready to sit on my papers.

and until next time…keep on stitching

Fini! Finito! Finished! no matter how you say it, it is music to my ears. Now for all of you who wanted to see what was this cardinal attatched to…here it is.

I really have been stitching up a storm these days even though you probably think that I have been just saying that! This is 1 of 5 pieces that are on deadline, 2 are now finished and the other 3 are pretty darn close.

My idea for this snowman, Topper by Pepperberry Designs was to create a scarf that looked like it was big and bulky and really keeping this guy warm. I searched across the country for just the right wool and in just the right color…seriously! From all the shops on the West Coast to In Stitches in Atlanta to The Needleworks in Austin to back to this hank of wool. Nothing, nothing at all came even close to this.

I stalled and thought and thought and rethought the idea that I must be out of my mind to use this wool… Meredith would tell me “think out of the box sistah” and not until I was with a large group of stitchers and I took a vote among them. Would you or wouldn’t you want to use this? Be honest now.

The answers were a resounding yes! yes! yes! and why not kit the stitchguide with that yarn?! What a great idea and I am sure glad that I took to heart the advice of my sister stitchers. I went back to A Stitch in Time in San Marino where I first bought the wool and Alison helped my figure out how much I would need per snowman. I bought all the wool that they had in this color and trust me, both Pepperberry and myself will be sooooooooo happy if I were to go through all of it!

I often take pictures of my stitching as I am going along to make sure that I like how things are progressing.

I am sure glad I listened as I am thrilled with the way his scarf looks! Went quickly as all of it stays on the surface as it is all couched into place, well until you get to the fringe.

Of course the appropiate magent is necessary thanks to The Elizabeth Turner Collection Big Buddies Magnets.

I am teaching this at The TNNA Summer Market in Columbus next month with lots of techniques packed into a 2 hour class from setting and designing your own diagonal plaid, tips and tricks for beading, darning patterns and what not to do when stitching one. I am  ordering threads and writing the stitch guide as we speak!

Hope you can join me in class which will be on Saturday morning May 30th. If you are not part of the trade or not attending the show, not to worry as the stitch guide will be available after June 1rst!

Those ears belong to AlleyCat as she always sleeps on my lap while I am stitching!

and until next time…keep on stitching

Well it is, isn’t it?

In my spare time, I have been working slowly and methodically on organizing around here when I came across these needles that I bought while at the Blue Bonnet Stitching Studio Retreat.

I have been using the beading needles by Tulip for a few years now. I purchased them at one of my favorite beading shops, and must admit it is the little container that they come in that first attracted me! They are not inexpensive as needles go, so I save them for when I am working on a large beading project. Just a bit slimmer and trimmer so that they slide right through all those size 15 beads.

When I saw these other needles that are made by Tulip, of course I had to pick up one of each. I must admit that I have not tried them yet…the packaging is so beautiful that I don’t want to open them up!

Blue Bonnet Stitching Studio Retreat is a wonderful getaway into the heart of blue bonnet country in mid February and is usually too early to enjoy the beauty of these gorgeous wildflowers. Stitching and shopping and more stitching, what could be better than that? Lots of classes, an all night stitching room, shopping and did I say shopping?

a trip to The Needlworks in Austin is always on the agenda.

and this is the shopping mecca in the hotel where you get to shop during class time!

Also you get to see the classes that were selected for next year. This is a Japanese Embroidery piece, small but gorgeous!

This is a beaded carousel and this class could possibly already be close to selling out. If my peyote style beading with “step-ups” was perfected, I would probably sign up for this class…but since I am in the beginning stages of beading, it’s not happening.

I did teach this year, a 4-day studio time and I must admit that when you are busy teaching, you don’t think to take as many pictures as when you are sitting in class.

This was my 3rd year at Blue Bonnet and I love, love, love this stitching retreat! I am not teaching in 2016, but will be back to teach in 2017…so for next year I will be taking classes from ??? and now that is the million dollar question!

Sylvester is enjoying his Caturday morning!

and until next time…keep on stitching

Even Mooch is thinking baseball! If you’ve been following my blog for any time now, you might have figured out by now that I love, love, love baseball. I can’t tell you when I started to fall in love, but it was most definitely in my corporate life. I worked in man’s world when present at meetings, 99% of the time I was the only woman. Many times for team building and morale boosting, we would go to a baseball game and then another and yet another. Over time it sorta grew on me and I started to learn the game and the players so I could talk baseball with the guys. Then I used to buy a bunch of $5 tickets for opening day and did my own team building for opening day…and the rest is history.

Opening day, well if you like baseball even a bit, there is nothing like it! and it was a picture perfect day.

The sold out crowds, everybody in their Padres gear and hope springs eternal since it is the beginning of the season as you think, well maybe this is the year!

The Navy Leap Froggers who helped get this party started!

The 300 sailors who unfurl this special flag…this never ever gets old for me!

To Trevor Hoffman who fired up the crowd as they introduced this new videoboard that is huge! WOW!

Off to the game again tonight and tomorrow I promise its back to stitching…and its Saturday morning.

and until next time…keep on stitching

Really it never does! and that’s why we are in such severe drought conditions… but seriously you’re messing with my baseball. It was only a 30 minute delay, so it wasn’t too bad. I kept myself busy till first pitch stitching away.

I shared this picture on Facebook the other day and someone commented that it was a St. Louis Cardinal! I really have been stitching up a storm lately as I really can do some of my best stitching to the crack of the bat, but I must admit that I am getting a little burned out. But on the other hand I am happy to report that this piece is finished! and soon to make its public debut, I just need some pictures of the entire canvas.

Adelaide’s, my florist of choice in La Jolla, has these local lilacs taking over. I bought a bunch the other day and I may need to head down there to get some more. They smell so wonderful!

I open the front door and you-know-who has to get out, no matter what I say to her. She heads right for this spot of sun.

and until next time…keep on stitching

The best two words…Play ball! as the baseball season opens. Today should be a national holiday so everyone that wants to can go to opening day! My San Diego Padres opens on the road today, but will be back home to play on Thursday and I can’t wait. I am like a little kid at Christmas waiting, waiting and waiting. Between all the new players that we have and all the upgrades that they did to the ballpark…it should be a very exciting season.

Today’s blog  is short and sweet as I have an early morning breakfast meeting. I hope everyone had a very happy Easter and Passover!

I did as I stitched lots and puttered around with my orchids and plants. Of course someone needed to get right in the middle of it all. I would expect nothing less from her!

and until next time…keep on stitching

Ukranians have for centuries have created these incredible, inedible eggs called pysanky, drawing intricate designs on eggs utilizing a stylus and wax. Such detail! Aren’t they amazingly beautiful?

Or from my egg collection? one of my favorites…and ooh my goodness, I just remembered that I haven’t added to my collection this year. I will try to stop in this wonderful shop that has these tomorrow to see what or if they have any left!

Or how about some baking with that incredible, edible egg? My sister is making all my Easter favorites today.

Or how about some stitching with Kreinik’s Easter Grass?

Of course Mooch and Earl need to stop by to wish you Happy Easter and Happy Pesach! We will all see you next week.

and until next time…keep on stitching