shhh and please don’t tell those cats of mine where I have gone! please as there will be no living with them.

I am fully ensconced in the beautiful Pacific Northwest at the studios of Needlepoint Now while I d-o-g sit. Yes you read that correctly. Let me introduce you to my fur children from front to back-Reggie, Shawnee, Mabel and over to the left is Ollie. 4 standard poodles with larger than life personalities, full of energy and lots of love and kisses to go around.

I have also been working away while I am here. I am learning more of the goings on of the magazine…such as the final proofing, the final-final proof from the printers, which is in the process of being printed right now. In a few days some boxes will be delivered to the studios so that we can send out the preview copies that go to all the advertisers and the contributors. Your issues are mailed from the printing service after an updated mailing list is given to them, so those copies never come through here.

The newsletter is being designed and proofed and readied for delivery to you…soon!

I’ve also been busy on the projects for the January/February issue. Checking all the threads and asking the designer all the questions that I have for them….such as did you mean this? or that? or I am being challenged finding bead or thread color so and so, can you check that for me please? More lessons on Illustrator are coming and actually I am supposed to get an update installed on my Mac this week.

I am stitching away at night on a great new project that you will see in a future issue. Working with numerous cards of Flair, which my fingers seem to be sore when I stitch with that, even though I am using a bigger needle. Does that happen to you too?

So I am sure you are wondering exactly why I am here and d-o-g sitting? well Elizabeth along with her husband Jay are in China!

After finding out from Elizabeth that Facebook, Twitter and blogging are banned in China, it really makes you stop and realize that the freedoms that we have here are not to be taken lightly.

They are on a Pat Dalton Textile Tour to visit silk factories and so much more. Elizabeth has taken one of Pat’s tours before, and loved it so much that she wanted to go again..but this time she went with Jay, so that is the reason why I needed to stay with the kids. I am honored and humbled that they asked me!

I am sure that you will see lots of articles and pictures coming up in the magazine, which I know I am looking forward to that.

and until next time…keep on stitching