I wonder if you’ve been wondering where I’ve been? I didn’t realize how long it’s been since my last post. I haven’t been stitching, not at all, not a single stitch, nothing, nada…so not much to talk about. I hit these slumps every so often with my stitching where nothing thrills me enough to want to stitch. Trust me it’s not that I don’t have plenty of choices! And part of it is that I am working way too much, so stitching is the last thing that I want to do. And last but not least, I’ve been saving myself for Meredith Willett’s Charley Harper online class. I will share my progress with you when I start it as my bestie and I are stitching this together, so it will keep me on task.

Have you been stitching lots? Have you’ve been zooming with Laura Taylor? I know lots who are and they absolutely love, love, love it! Did I say love? So many of the stitchers have been calling for threads for their canvases and I thank you!

This is the last canvas that I finished and picked up from the framers a few weeks ago. Canvas by Patti Mann and framing by New Creations Picture Framing. I have never had trouble with my beads moving and this is one time I should’ve run a line of beading thread up through the lines of beads. Someday I will need to take it apart and fix it, but for now it’s figuring out where it will hang.

The kids were absolutely entrenched in their kitty tv this morning. They stayed here quite a while and I should’ve videoed them as they were quite entertaining!

Miss Meow insists on laying on the IPad when she joins me on the couch. I wonder if it’s the warmth of the iPad or a way to get my attention?

Mooch loves his ripple rug which was a gift from a dear friend. It brings them many hours of enjoyment, well actually all of us! who am I kidding?

I’ve been watching many hours of playoff baseball. I will admit that I am disappointed that the Padres were eliminated so quickly, but really enjoying watching other teams play at PetCo Park, listening to their announcers speak highly of the city, our team and the ballpark. I will be rooting for the Rays since they’ve never won a World Series.

Stay healthy and keep on stitching!

Is it art imitating life? Or the other way around? Well Mooch sorry this is not you, as Bastet was an Egyptian goddess of cats. Even though you are a god, you are not a she!

I picked my piece up from New Creations Picture Framing yesterday and I needed to play hooky from work to do so. I am sure that I will pay dearly for it tomorrow and maybe the next few days too. But you know what? It was so worth it!

I know exactly where I am going to hang this! On the cat wall in my bedroom and there is a spot for it, but not sure if I will hang it right in the middle of that spot, or off center so I have room for others. So for now I will enjoy looking it at from the couch. I have finished 2 other black cat canvases since this one, so now I am #4in2020. I have 2 more black cat canvases to stitch, but I think that I need a break from stitching black cats.

Mooch in all his glory,,.

And Miss Meow, even though Mooch’s paw is under her!

Stay healthy and keep on stitching! Which is what I should be doing instead of goofing off.

I have no idea! I have been making time to stitch lately and I finished this, so I am at #3in2020, which I am sure pales in comparison to yours.

Meredith Willett of course, told me in a class once upon a time that if you make time to stitch at about an hour a day, you’ll be surprised how much you can finish. You know what, she’s right!

This is what I’m working on now, canvas by Pepita. Sometimes you just need some basketweave and not to think too much. That’s what this one is. I will do another darning pattern stitch for the background with a light silver Kreinik. Mooch was posing or was he asking “is life imitating art? Or is it art imitating life?”

And this is my next canvas! Yes you might say I have a black cat thing going on. This is a custom canvas of Mooch painted by JP Sligh of Labors of Love. I think he really captured his eyes, which everyone comments about!

I was working on threads the other day. I will work the background first and then the cat. I am not very good with long and short, so it will be a challenge for me. I see more and more long and short done very lightly, so I will try that.

What are your plans for the 4th of July? I’m pretty much staying in, stitching and browsing through my stash closet as I need to look for a few things. And of course spend some time with Mooch and Miss Meow!

Whatever you decide to do, enjoy! stay healthy and keep on stitching!

Yes Bastet is a she and goddess of cats and one of the most well-known figures of the Egyptian pantheon… and that I googled!

and yes she is finished as I told you that you wouldn’t hear from me until she was. Almost did finish last Sunday, but I have found if you push those last 2 hours to “finish” that it usually has to come out…so I didn’t!

I did start this along time ago at one of the ANG seminars (American Needlepoint Guild) with the original Fab Four. Suzanne Howren, Tony Minieri, Beth Robertson (gosh we miss you!) and Meredith Willett. Then Ruth Schmuff did a mystery class with this one, which I signed up for some more inspiration. As I moved along, some of the ideas and stitches were mine and then the final touch was Meredith Willett teaching the peyote beaded circles on top of the lotus flowers. I am not sure I like the starkness of the straight gold line in the top section of background and I may tweak that.

She is ready for the framers as we picked it out just before the world changed. Since shops were closed, I was thinking they weren’t framing, so what was the rush? And it was too that I was working way too much…well still am, but making time for stitching. So I will UPS it tomorrow!

I have this companion piece “On the Nile” that I am now motivated to move into my stitching queue. This is a rather large canvas, stitch guide by Tony Minieri and both canvases are by Tapestry Fair. I need to read the guide and organize my threads.

My kids never fail to entertain me! I really don’t know how he squeezed himself under this cabinet, but he did. I laid on the floor to take a picture and play with him and very soon I had someone on my back!

I am, but not so much. I finally finished beading the words on this canvas the other evening and now I’m trying to come up with a background. I’ve been pouring through my books and other ideas and tried something last night… but it’s not working so it’s coming out!!!

I really don’t stitch as much as everyone else has been as I’ve been working way too much. A few stops or a work errand on the way home and then I’m too beat. If you have a lot of pieces that are ready for the finisher, I wouldn’t wait much longer to turn them in. You see the finishers are already 2 months behind and now with all the stuff that is coming in, the finishers will be overwhelmed! Most of them already have moved up their deadlines.

I’ve been doing extra cleaning in the shop these days, a little rearranging and straightening up as we get ready to partially open very soon. I redid one set of the planters in front of the shop with some new succulents. I need to do the other one yet, but didn’t buy enough plants. I didn’t want to shop this weekend as I figured the plant places would all be too busy!

I have been enjoying watching lots of baseball, Korean baseball, old World Series games, All Star games, San Diego Padres and World Baseball Classic, which I believe I was there at the games in San Diego in 2017. I have been enjoying it and right now it’s Dodgers and Mets from 2019… that’s not too old is it?

I’m hoping the next time we talk, I will have this one finished too! Since this picture was taken of Bastet, a Tapestry Faire canvas, I did finish the background on the right hand side of the tail. I need to do the opposite side and the 2 middle goldy sections yet. This background stitch of Ruth Schmuff’s is rather challenging, so I need to be well relaxed which I am today.

Somebody has been attacking the toilet paper at the house lately. Wasn’t sure who.. but pretty sure it was Mooch. Well caught him in the act the other day as I heard the noise of the roll and went to the bathroom with the phone in hand. He was so enthralled with his artwork, that he didn’t even pay attention to me!

So when I asked that million dollar question “what do you think you’re doing?” this was the answer I got!

Or don’t miss at all? It’s been almost 2 months…

Well I don’t miss the traffic at all. I’m sure you can relate if you live in an area where there’s lots of traffic. I usually go into work pretty early, so the traffic is not bad. I go into work even earlier now, with most mornings I am there by 6am, so there is no traffic at all! It was going home, but now that’s no problem at all.

What else don’t I miss? Hmmm… I have to think about that one. What about you?

Now what do I miss? Well that list is much longer. I miss working with all of my Needle Nook family. It gets kinda lonesome working by myself 2-3 days a week. I miss our customers, especially our regulars and our Monday’s stitch and bitch group. I miss our classes at the shop and will we ever be able to get back to that again? I miss my stitching group, my stitching friends, my stitching routines, my stitching trips, travel…

I miss walking into a store without having to wait in line. I miss retail therapy… I miss, I miss, I miss… what about you?

on a happier note, a few pictures of my kids as they watch kitty tv every night and early mornings too. They love this window as the birds are very active in this area.

Happy Mother’s Day to all! Wether your kids are 2-legged or 4-legged.

Stay healthy and keep on stitching!

It’s been almost 3 weeks since last time I talked with you. Where has the time gone? It either feels like time stands still and the days drag on and others it seems to fly by. I’ve been working many hours, some days almost 12 hours, 6 days a week and many days only 1 or 2 are working. So that’s why you haven’t heard much lately… well enough of that,

I do want to thank everyone who has been supporting their local needlepoint shop or not so local. I’ve been shipping round the world lately and I’m committed to try as hard as I to get your orders to you as fast as I possibly can and to keep the shop going so that when we can open our doors, we can! So thank you!

My kids Mooch and Miss Meow are the highlights of my life right now! I look forward to coming home to them. Miss Meow always greets me at the door, but Mooch well he’s a different story and makes an appearance only when he’s good and ready.

This is one of the prime kitty tv watching areas. It looks like they were talking to each other.

They have lots of kitty tv watching positions! Here’s another…

and yet another!

I really haven’t been stitching much as many nights I’m just too tired! This was a few weeks ago and like the other cats before them, enjoying sleeping on me or next to me while I’m stitching. Miss Meow all of a sudden poked her head up as if to say “let me see what you’re doing?”

Stay healthy and keep stitching!

Please! About 2 weeks a popular shop blog photographed boxes of their thread deliveries that had just come in and speculated and I will repeat speculated that she was concerned about running low, running out and what were we to do?! Well I was too and in case you didn’t know, I am the manager at the Needle Nook of La Jolla which is a very busy shop.

Another very popular blog picked up on that speculation over the weekend and commented that shops weren’t getting threads delivered and what were we to do? It was suggested to rummage around eBay and Etsy for threads. Let me tell you that at this time it is MOST IMPORTANT that you support the shops that are open and mailing out orders!

I want to set the record straight that Silk & Ivory, Planet Earth, Vineyard, Gloriana, Amy’s Burmilana, Fleur de Paris (which ships Kreinik and DMC) Rainbow Gallery et al are up and running and shipping. Some are shipping at the speed of light while a few others are not at normal speed, but what is normal now anyway?

This was just part of my 49 packages that I packed and shipped last Monday, I can hear you saying well why not 50? Well I ran out of steam and I worked almost 12 hours on Monday.

I work most days by myself as do most shop owners, or there might be another person there sometimes, but we stay far apart…it’s like we’re mad at each other?! One day a week my thread lady comes in and pulls threads for those challenging canvases and that’s the day I take off.

I am doing this as I feel a responsibility to get stitching stuff in your hands as what else are you to do? I also want to keep the shop viable so that when we can open the doors we are still here for you and I want my staff to have their jobs waiting for them. So please support your shops.

I have gotten thread deliveries in from Vineyard, Silk & Ivory, Planet Earth, Amy’s Burmilana and Fleur de Paris in the last week, so my walls are 90% full! And first thing tomorrow it’s Rainbow Gallery and Gloriana orders. I am working so much that I don’t even stitch much myself!

Mooch is not wearing a mask! He loves those little balls will bells in them and carries them all over the house. I’ve tried to get him to play fetch with me, but he’s got his own agenda!

Miss Meow was ready for her closeup!

Please support the shops! Stay healthy and keep on stitching!

Yes I really did take this picture upside down! As that is the way I was working on it. This is a Tapestry Faire canvas “Bastet” that I started a long time ago. It’s one of those that goes in the closet to be forgotten for a few years and then comes back out. I am pretty close.

What I was working on this canvas last was adding these beaded peyote circles that my “sistah” Meredith Willett showed me when I was at the Blue Bonnet Stitching Retreat. It is the purrfect addition for these circles, don’t you think?

Do you think that I should get hazard pay for this? Funny thing is that I didn’t even feel it!

Here’s the top with both sides done!

And here’s the whole canvas. I’m close, very close! Just the rest of the background.

So here’s Mooch and Miss Meow helping me stitch! Mooch could really care less, while Miss Meow…well she’s a different story! But sooner or later I can get her to leave my threads alone.

They’re both there! And I love it when they’re there!

This is a spot that I would prefer that they’re not there! But you know cats, they have their own agenda. She looked too cute and had to take a picture before I ask “what do you think you’re doing up there?” which they know means to get down!

And Mooch needed to do as her sister did!

So are you getting a lot of stitching done? So for me not as much as I am working 10-12 hours a day. Lots and lots of orders, thank goodness! But with 1 person working, it’s not quite as fast. Many stitchers say no problem, I have lots to do and others really need a new project, so we’re working as hard as we can to get those orders out! I do feel a huge responsibility to get stitching in your hands!

Stay healthy and keep on stitching!

That time is standing still? Where a single day feels like it’s a week long? Or is it me?

I was looking through our 100’s of canvases the other day, trying to find one for an order. Yes we are in the shop as there has been so many orders, dozens and dozens. I feel that we need our stitching even more now. But we are working solo and we are locked into our home away from home trying to help everyone’s sanity by shipping their needs and wants. I have had a few 12 hour days, but I digress!

So I came across this canvas and have always wanted to stitch it, so I pulled it down and started looking at threads. I feel that I need a “comfort food type canvas” where I will do the cat in basketweave, bead the letters and then pick a background using Silk Lame Braid. I took my beads out today ay home and under very close supurr~vision picked out my beads. If you follow Needle Nook of La Jolla on Facebook, or even if you don’t, check out the picture! I didn’t download it for this blog post, but maybe next time.

As much as I want to finish this, I really want something without such a challenging background. I stitched all day Sunday, but between trying to get Miss Meow to leave me alone while stitching and an error in the challenging background I didn’t get as much done as I would like. I have to say Mooch could’ve cared less about my stitching and hope it stays that way!

Of course the million dollar question is “will Mooch ever grow into his ears?” I think he’s rather handsome like this, what say you?

Miss Meow is under the canvas and on my lap…AlleyCat would sleep like that forever, but never bothered my threads. I wonder if she will ever get that way?

Stay healthy and keep on stitching!