One of my highlights of the show which I really look forward to is watching Liz of Tapestry Tent/Susan Roberts paint one of her newest designs right on the show floor! She has been doing this for years and usually works on a stocking, but this time it was a gorgeous poinsettia with cardinals.

The canvas is nothing but a line drawing right now. I was intrigued to see that she started with the background first and the edges of the canvas were masked off to protect from paint drips and splatters.

If you aren’t familiar with Tapestry Tent, look towards the right of the picture and you will see some of her stockings. Maybe then you might say, yes I know those canavses!

Now if you look towards the upper left, you will note some colored number 30’s. Well Susan Roberts is celebrating 30 years as a distributor of some of my favorite needlepoint canvases. Wow that’s quite the milestone! MaryAgnes of Needle Nicely in Vero Beach, Florida stitched a canvas with Susan’s logo, attatched it to a Dash and Albert bag and presented her with a gift. What a nice touch MaryAgnes! and I thank you for recognizing Susan for her anniversary.

Later in the day Liz was moved to the back of the show room floor when The Needlepoint Group was having meetings and continued her painting there.

This is Sunday and Liz was finishing up at this point. Such a talented lady and such a sweetheart too!

In all the pictures that you will see on blogs and social media, you will wonder why you never see any from Susan Roberts. Susan requests that no pictures be taken and I of course will honor that request. I make sure that I ask Liz if I may take her picture while she’s painting and she always agrees. Susan heard my camera take a picture and she quickly turned around and said “are you taking pictures?” and I answered “well just of Liz and I asked her first!” and Susan Roberts answered…'”take as many as you want then!” and we all laughed!

Ashland Sky distributed exclusively by Leigh Designs introduced a new hot pink color. Love, love, love these bags! and BTW I love Leigh too!

New fabric by Atenti. I love this fabric and I love my Atenti bag that I carry these days. I get sooooooooooooo many compliments on it! So well made and made right here in the USA.

Kreinik’s display in the What’s New?

The new Pantone color of the year Marsala…

and the new threads introduced…the 1/4″ Ribbon great for ruching and so much more! The other thread is the new chevron thread which was flying out the door at Sample It. Creates a chevron pattern as you stitch with it needing just that special area on your canvas.

This is Dena! If you tweet or are on Twitter she is Kreinikgirl. I don’t know how she does it keeping up on Twitter as much as she does! wow it seems that there isn’t enough time to shoot pictures, Tweet, Facebook and everything else while on the show floor.

Magnets by Annie Lane…when that magnet just has to match that canvas that you are working on!

You know another thing that fascinates me? is that of all the pictures that I see from market, that so many of us see different things…which over time will give you a nice variety! Of course I have lots more canvas pictures to share yet.

AlleyCat wastes no time getting back to work supurr~vising me!

and until next time…keep on stitching

To try this new thread by Rainbow Gallery. It is a rayon metallic blend and is a new thread line introduced at market. I was fortunate enough to get a designer ring last month and had a chance to stitch with it. Not only for myself but for my reviews for Needlepoint Now magazine. I stitch with it, experiment with it and all kinds of stuff before I will say I love, love, love it in the magazine! Just saying…

It reminds me of Silk Lamé Braid, but the base is not silk but rayon. A pleasure to stitch with and not a problem child like other rayons. It is composed of a combination of 9 strands of rayon and glitz. I tried pulling a strand out to thin it down, which worked!

I worked out 3 different stitches on my doodle cloth which will associate with my tips and tricks that I am (‘[;;;;; is what AlleyCat just wrote as she walked across my keyboard!) working on for a future issue of Needlepoint Now.

The cats debuted at market and I am sure that you can pick AC out! She is joined by the Siamese Cat Lulu, the Calico Jules, the Tuxedo Thumbelina and the gray cat was named at market in honor of the studio cats at Needlepoint Now!

Speaking of AlleyCat here she was helping me write the stitch guides for The Gingerbread House by Pepperberry Designs.

Maybe that’s why we sould out in about 27 minutes. Seriously!

I have so much more to share with you from market….stay tuned!

and it looks like someone has decided that they are going with me! I think that you need to stay home with Sylvester.

But look at you! you are going to be even more famous AlleyCat, now that your face is on canvas. Thanks to Labors of Love for selecting her to be a model for one of the new cat canvases that they are introducing at market. Looking forward to seeing it and the other 9 cats that they brought to life. See when I start missing you AlleyCat, I can visit with you in the Labors of Love booth!

Stitch guides are printed and ready to go, my clothes are (almost) packed and I am anxious to get on the road! I will try to tweet from the show floor at TNNA…and I had to set up everything again since they changed so much around since the last time. Instead of CatAngelis they changed me to @AngelisVicky. I really liked the other one better.

This is The Gingerbread House by Pepperberry that will be available at Sample It! Comes with my stitchguide and a magnet. Purr~fect! If you are attending Sample It, stop by and get one, or if not I am sure that they would love to take orders for your shop.

Even though I am taking my laptop, I am not sure how much time I will have for blogging…so I will see you when I get back.

I have a feeling that I will be doing lots of stash enhancin’… just saying.

The needlepoint world lost another gentle giant that leaves a big hole in my heart. Kathryn Molineux of Shorebrids Designs departed for that special needlepoint shop in the heavens.

This is one of her designs that lives in my stash that someday I will be able to stitch for me, myself and I! A still life canvas which I have ideas, just wonderful ideas for this. It will have special meaning for me now. I have a few others of hers too amid my growing stash.

I loved talking with Katie on the phone, I especially looked forward to seeing her at market… that infectious laugh, that gleam in her eyes as she showed off her new designs for that year. Did I mention that infectios laugh… and I can still hear it now. Oh what a loss, but dear Katie… your spirit will live on in your canvases! RIP and know that you made the world a better place

The 12th day of Christmas is celebrated on January 6th and the holidays are already just a memory. The decorations have been packed away, the holiday stitching finished up and already it is time to start exciting new canvases with fun threads and great ideas.

January 6th is also the Feast of the Epiphany, when the Three Wise Men finally completed their trip to see baby Jesus and deliver their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Many people think of the 12 days of Christmas leading up to the holidays, but it is really the 12 days after Christmas! Growing up, we usually took down our decorations on this day, but today my house has long been undecorated!

As I decked the halls this year, I realized that I have no nativity, no creche’ set, no manger, none of that, wether it be a stitched set or something special that was purchased. I really would like to stitch a set for myself, one of these days!

In Italy, on the eve of Januray 6th or the night of January 5th, it would be the day of La Befana, a lovable good witch who brings presents for all the boys and girls.

When Christ was born, The Three kings passed the house of La Befana on the way to Bethelehem to see the Christ child. They invite her to take the journey with them to find the Christ Child. She says she is too busy. Sweeping Constantly.

She goes to sleep and the Christmas star wakes her up. She changes her mind and wishes she went with them.

She goes to find the three kings and angels come and help her fly. She brings her baked gifts to all the good children and looks for the three wise men. To the bad children she brings coal and ashes. Now every year in Italy the good and bad children wait for the Befana, their version of Santa Claus.

Now in New Orleans as they ready for Mardi Gras, it is King Cake that is plentiful during this day. A little treasure is tucked inside and if you are lucky enough to find it, it allows you certain privileges and obligations.

In Mexico it is Dia de Reyes or Day of Kings. When I worked in the restaurant the guys would bring in Rosca de Reyes or King Cake. A sweet bread braided and loaded with fruits and if you were the lucky one to get the little baby hidden in the cake…well you were lucky enough to host the party! As the host or hostess, you are the one to bring the tamales to the party traditionally held February 2nd which is Dia de la Candelaria. This is the day that candles are brought to the church to be blessed. February 2nd is also the midway point between the winter solstice and spring equinox and if you are anxiously awaiting the arrival of spring and spring training as I am…you know that it is only a few short weeks till pitchers and catchers report! I still need to make the trip east for my first experience with Spring Training. One of these years!

Is this how you feel about New Years resolutions?

I haven’t even gotten to market yet and already I have fallen in love with all of these new canvases that I would love, love, love to stitch! And like I said, I’m in trouble, BIG trouble! I know that there will be soooooooooooooo many more temptations that lay ahead of me. Canvases, books, magnets, bags and so much more.

These are some of the new designs that Unique New Zealand is showing at market, you know the artists of the Keep Calm Canvases. They have brought to life the artwork of Vicky Mount and the first one is entitled “Waiting for Dinner.” It looks like my two when they are waiting for their rotisserie chicken treat from Costco!

 

This is “Emily’s Dinner.” Reminds me of one of my first cats that would go fishing in my aquarium!

These 3 canvas are all 10″ x 10″ and are painted on 13 mesh. For all of you out there that say I will only stitch on 18…there is nothing wrong with stitching on 13 and you are missing out on a lot of great canvases!

Okay this one is “Feed Me” and I wondering did she use AlleyCat to model for this canvas?

Well not quite! and yes I know that AlleyCat could stand to lose a little…but when you rescue a street cat and they know what hunger is, their appetite’s are never sated. So if she gets a little hungry, she eats a bit as they are still thinking they don’t know when they will have their next meal. So if she was the only cat, I could limit the dry…but you know Sylvester lives here too!

So no, she didn’t model for this canvas…but rumor has it that she has been immortalized on one of the new cat canvases by Labors of Love!

Today is a serious work day, stitch guides for market, magazine work, doodle stitching with some new threads that are being introduced at market and so much more.

and then… and then… and then…

I will retwatch Season 4 as I ready for tonight.

and until next time…keep on stitching

Ending the year brought a final finish or two, not only for the year, but in my stitching!

This canvas is “My Hat Collection” by Point of It All Designs. 3 Halloween Hats that are just painted in the middle of it all.

What a purr~fect canvas to use some of the new colors of Planet Earth Silk Ribbon! Evening Shade, Yellow Brick Road and Creepy are 3 new ones that were introduced around Halloween.

I really do love, love, love this ribbon! Great to work with, beautiful colors and comes in widths of 4mm, 7mm and 10mm. I am especially enamored with the way the edges of the ribbon are painted darker.

It is Saturday morning, so you know what that means! Time for breakfast at The Cottage and especially now that Santa brought me a gift card for me to use for my visits there. I need a pair of stretcher bars for one of my new projects…I need a 20″ and do you think that I had 1 unused pair in that length? Of course not!

It is still way tooooooooooooooooooo cold here! I hope and pray that the farming industry doesn’t suffer too much damage from the morning frosts as it is read about 28 when I got up…brrr. But I hear that in a few days it will be beach weather again. Go figure!

See it’s even cold for the kitties!

and until next time…keep on stitching

I’m home! I really am and it’s 2015 already! How did this sneak up on me so quickly? It seems that just yesterday it was 2014 and now its over already.

And what happened to the purr~fect San Diego temperatures while I was gone? Who is this imposter that snuck in? When I left to head east it was in the 70’s and this morning it was a brisk 29 degrees when I got up  and OMG…there was frost on the lawn! I heard that there was snow, just a dusting, but snow anyway while I was gone.

It was so cold last night that both of the cats got under the covers when we turned in for the night!

and it looks like AlleyCat is still sleeping under the covers. Now how does she get under there without messing up the bed? In case you haven’t figured it out, that lump in the bed is that silly girl of mine.

Happy New Year and until next time…keep on stitching

I have been asking myself lately… is it “Happy New Year?” or “Happy New Years?” and with or without the apostrophe? however, whatever, I wish us all a healthy and happy new year filled with wonderful stitching adventures, more time to stitch, great canvases, threads, books and must have needlepoint related stitching accessories!

It had been unseasonably warm while I have been here with no snow…and that’s really okay. Until yesterday when it got down to a brisk 23 out. Brrrr! that’s too cold for me, but I am heading home soon where it will definitely warm up!

But while we are on the subject of weather, for all of you that are TNNA bound to Phoenix, the temperatures will be picture perfect and may cool down slightly to the high 60’s…just saying.

And speaking of TNNA, I will be busy in my last minute duties of a final proof and assembly of my stitch guides, magazine work, stitching and packing.

No, this is not AlleyCat, even though it could have easily been! she would love this, especially with the tissue paper that she could crinkle and make a little noise as she setlles in for her nap.

and until next time…keep on stitching

In just a few days it will be a new year…which you know, so why am I telling you THAT? Wow where has this year gone to already? and we all say the same thing. But really where does the time go to? It slips by all too fast. I normally keep very busy and never let myself waste much time… there is just way too much to be accomplished, too many places to visit, new needlepoint shops to discover, new books, new threads and stitches to fall in love with and new canvases to find. Another stitching venture to relish and ooh just so much more!

I am having a wonderful time in NY with family and friends and for the first time in many, many years I will be bringing in the new years in New York..no not in Times Square, which that for sure could be on my bucket list.

I will be stitching the New Year in…how about you?