I got home the other day to find a little box waiting for me at my door. What could it be? I haven’t ordered anything in the last few weeks. Is It Christmas already? No it’s not, as the Christmas coundown clock says it’s about 40something days yet till the man in the red suit arrives.

What could it be? Well my sistah (Meredith Willett of Elizabeth Turner Collection) spoils me as she is always sending samplings of her new magnets. Trust me, I buy lots of them too…what is it about these magnets? It’s worse than a bag of potato chips!

They make great little gifts for a friend or for yourself, a special remembrance of a shop you’ve just been in, a new city that you’ve just visited… a new canvas or just anything!

I am finishing up 2 canvases that are models for designers which I will be thrilled to say I am finished…and I am sure that they will be too. This way we can get them finished in time for market. I have to say thank you to all the finishers out there that always make sure that the models for market are finished in time, even around the busy holidays! I then have 2 little ones to start, both which will be stitches for the season.

I am taking a canvas enhancement class with Tony Minieri this weekend…a still life by Katie Molineux of Shorebirds. A beautiful canvas which I know that Tony will knock my socks off with his thread and stitch selection. Looking forward to lots of laughs, being with great friends, breakfast at The Cottage every morning and learning new and exciting stitch and thread combinations! So will see you next week…

You know those carry trays for your coffee? well the cats absolutely love them! and especially AlleyCat, who tears it up, sits on it, sits in it and everything else in between!

and until next time…keep on stitching

What a marvelous reason to salute the veterans today! I would like to thank each and every veteran and active military member for answering the call to serve our country. I wish that I could thank each and every one of you personally from Cindy (who retired from 31 years in the Air Force as a Colonel! and will be stitching with her in Tony’s class this weekend) to Nancy to my niece Miranda and everyone else in between.

This is my niece standing in the middle as her 7 month deployment aboard the USS Nimitz was coming to end a few years ago. Waiting for the ship to come into the naval station San Diego was a very memorable moment and one I won’t soon forget. I was there for her along with her boyfriend and a surprise visit from her Mom. Very special day indeed! can I tell you how proud of her that I am?

The Nimitz seemed like it took forever to dock! The USS Ronald Reagan is in her view. This is part of our landscape of San Diego. She has now since retired and is enjoying civilian life. Thank you for your 20 years of service Miranda!

I worked the day away yesterday only after breakfast again at The Cottage…

AlleyCat was keeping herself toasty under the lamp.

and until next time…keep on stitching

Thanks to everyone who is enhancing their stash with this great little canvas from Sundance Designs with a Laura Taylor stitch guide…but we are now officially sold out! and our guild thanks you as this allows us to bring new and exciting teachers to teach for us. Stay tuned for all of the exciting opportunities coming up this year for the San Diego American Needlepoint Guild Chapter.

Happy Stitching!

Yes! yes! and it is always a good time for a little stash enhancement!

Canvas by Sundance Designs based on the artwork of a local San Diego artist. Stitched and stitch guide by Laura Taylor. Design size is 5″ x 7″.

This was our Stitch-In project from our summer get together… did you miss out? and lucky you, we have a few kits leftover!

Wow look at all those threads!

Now if you were to go out and purchase each and every thread in full skeins, (and some things you need just a little length or 2 of) this is quite a deal!

This is kitted for you, many in full skeins and many in cut lengths. Lots of work went into getting this ready for our Stitch-In!

So don’t let this opportunity slip through your fingers again! You’ll be sorry, trust me. I have a few here at the house and the Workshop co-ordinator also has a few.

For the price of $118 plus shipping, this can be on the way to you! you don’t need to be part of our chapter or anything, we just want to find them good homes.

Do you recognize those ears? well AlleyCat is the only one that will sleep on my lap while I’m stitching. She doesn’t bother the threads or anything. But heaven help me if I need to get up!

and until next time…keep on stitching

Well not much really, but I just want you to see what I have to put up with! Settling in to work on Needlepoint Now work and a stitch guide or two… and see who’s here to help? Note the position of the tail?!

I was able to get her attention as I was asking “and what are you doing here?”

so instead she thought she would really help by sitting right in front of my laptop!

and then she moves over to the other side and sits right on what I need to read! OMG what am I to do?

I guess I’m not getting much done. Maybe I should think about doing something else.

and until next time…keep on stitching

It’s showtime today! so this will be short and sweet as soon I need to get myself ready and on the freeway to get to class on time.

Canvases are on bars, stitch guides printed and threads gathered into the kits. Needles, bottled water, FUN and so much more await!

A matching magnet too! Here is the ornament sized Sparkles of which you would have plenty of threads leftover to stitch her too.

Speaking of magnets, this is a cat magnet. I come home from Costco and always with a box. Throw it on the floor and sooner or later I can find her there!

and until next time…keep on stitching

Finished! Finis! Finito! now matter how you say it, it’s always music to my ears! I toyed around with the white in her hat off and on and all weekend. It had to be just the right thread, that was wide enough to cover what was painted on the canvas.

I tried this, I tried that, I tried ruching the Sparkle Rays…but that wasn’t it. I put it away and worked on other things. Then I thought of my mantra “kiss” which is “keep it simple silly!” and went back to the Sparkle Rays, but I looked for regular sized instead of petite. That was it and I was thrilled with the way it came out…but wait she still needed a few eyelashes and now she is ready for her class debut at Newport Needlepoint on Friday!

If you would to join in on the fun…either in person or long distance, please give Peggy a call at 949.650.8022. I think that there is 1 maybe 2 spots left in class. If they are spoken for, she will just need to get more canvases ordered for you!

The votes are in for her tassel on the hat and I am going to leave the Turkey work loops uncut! Now I am off to finish the stitch guide.

Lets see what the cats are up to…

AlleyCat was seeking a sunny spot as she ran out the door. Silly girl…until she heard a little noise and she came running for the door meowing all the way. Such a scaredy cat.

and until next time…keep on stitching

There is no place like home! Even though I love, love, love traveling, teaching and discovering new places…there is really no place like home!

A magnet by The Elizabeth Turner Collection from my latest stash enhancements at market.

I have been busy doing nothing at times, taking care of some long over due projects around the house, stitching, working on the 2015 January/February issue of Needlepoint Now and hanging out with the cats.

I didn’t get to see Brenda Hart over the weekend as she was under the weather and rescheduled her classes at A Stitch in Time.

Just a word or two about the beaded snowflake border… It was a great idea and as much as I love beading, it was a real labor of love. I think I counted 60 snow flakes and with the average time of 20 minutes PER snowflake…well I’ll let you do the math!

I do love my beading! No stranding threads, no laying, normally I would say no counting… but this time there was counting, and no compensating. So what’s not to love? I used around 16 grams of beads and with approximately 290 size 15 beads in a gram and again I will let you do the math. If I were to stitch this again, would I do the beaded border again? YES! YES! YES!

and until next time…keep on stitching

Well did you? For some of us, we got an extra hour of sleep this morning….for me not so much. The cats didn’t realize that the clocks fell back an hour and that it wasn’t time for me to get up, let alone serve their breakfast. All they knew is that it was time for me to get vertical! Guess who is the boss around here? well it case you didn’t figure it out, it’s not me! Well we did all go back to bed and sleep a bit more.

For me it was an extra hour of stitching last night as I burned the midnight oil keeping my little stitching fingers very busy. So many canvases to stitch and such little time!

This is what I was working on last night. Sparkles by Pepperberry Designs…and she’s almost finished! Just the white stitch in her hat and a few missing stitches in her face and really it could have been finished last night if it wasn’t for a cat on my lap. I knew that I really didn’t want to disturb her, so instead I worked on the ornament sized Sparkles.

The background and the beaded snowflakes are finished! After all I needed to test out this new beading case and with AlleyCat on my lap it was purr~fect to see how much cat hair it would pick up.

So Sparkles will be ready for her class next Friday November 7th at Newport Needlepoint. If you would like to join us in person or would love to have this sent to you, please give Peggy a call at Newport Needlepoint 949.650.8022… as for now this is the only shop that you can find her!

and until next time…keep on stitching

Day of the Dead or Dia de los Muertos is a Mexican holiday that is celebrated on November 1rst & 2nd. The belief is that the gates of heaven are opened at midnight on October 31rst and the spirits of all deceased children are allowed to reunite with their families. The following day on November 2nd, the spirits of the adults come down to enjoy the festivities that have been prepared for them. The cemeteries are decorated, a favorite meal and a bottle of tequila might be placed at the grave to ready for the return of the spirit. I think that it is a touching and moving tribute to your dearly departed loved ones.

Sugar skulls are a well known symbol for the celebration of the Day of the Dead as they are created to adorn the festivities for the departed souls. Sugar art was brought to the New World by Italian missionaries in the 17th century. Mexico, abundant in sugar cane, learned quickly how to make the sugar skulls. The skulls would represent a departed soul as they were placed on gravestones or home made altars to honor a particular spirit.

Another festive description of Dia de los Muertos and Dia  de los Muertos para Ninòs…

On October 31, All Hallows Eve, the children make a children’s altar to invite the angelitos (spirits of dead children) to come back for a visit. November 1 is All Saints Day, and the adult spirits will come to visit. November 2 is All Souls Day, when families go to the cemetery to decorate the graves and tombs of their relatives. The three-day fiesta filled with marigolds, the flowers of the dead; muertos (the bread of the dead); sugar skulls; cardboard skeletons; tissue paper decorations; fruit and nuts; incense, and other traditional foods and decorations.

I could ramble on about all the nuances of Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead Celebrations, as I find it totally fascinating…living in San Diego, the goings on are all about us.

The most important icons of the Day of the Dead celebrations are the calacas, which is a skeleton having fun in their afterlife,  pan de muerto (bread of the dead) which is baked to offer as an offrenda (offering) at the altar, calaveras (sugar skull) and altars decorated with strings of flor de cempazuchitl (marigolds.)

Over the years the Day of the Dead canvases have not been quite as elusive to find as their popularity grows…

If Day of the Dead canvases are on your stitching wish list, there are wonderful ones by Sundance and also many amazing pieces of artwork by Manuel Salas that are being painted onto canvas by Tapestry Fair. Oooh if I only had the time to stitch them all!