Are you as crazy about Halloween as I am? Do you know that it is the second most stitched holiday right after Christmas? Well it is! I had stitched these a few years ago to teach at TNNA Summer market. They are canvases from the Meredith Collection where they had painted single doors from their “door vignettes.” I chanelled my inner Susan Portra and gave the door some steps so they wouldn’t totally look like they were floating in the air. They were fun to stitch!

They had been languishing in my stitchy closet when I came across them over the summer and sent them off to be finished at Marlene’s. Check out the skulls that she used in the bow on the left one. The other has spiders, but they don’t show up quite as much!

I am sure you were thinking where the heck have I been? Very busy! The other needlepoint shop in La Jolla has closed (I am sorry to say) leaving us the only shop in town. So my days off are few and far between between regular business, getting ready for classes and my special projects. So I will take you backwards in my needlepoint life starting with the most recent adventure!

My latest special project has been redoing the bead spinners, especially after Sundance introduced so many new colors this year!

I snuck out of the shop a few weeks ago to take a class at Absolutely Needlepoint with Susan Portra (and more about that later) and saw that this is how they had hung their beads. It’s a 3-prong hook that holds 15 tubes across. Well I took a picture and when I got back to the shop and looked at mine, there were only 8 tubes hanging.

I ordered some hooks right away and have been working on it a few hours each day. This side that you see are part of the size 11’s.

We had a little casualty with this tube! But this project has been an eye-opening experience about how many beads we don’t have! Especially when I get to the matte beads and the size 14’s. So a big bead order is in my future!

So back to my 2-days at Absolutely Needlepoint and this is my beautiful class kit! And you ask me why I go to other shop to take a class? Well I get to see other shops, meet the amazing team members that work there, pick up wonderful new ideas…such as how they hung the beads and get to know another shop owner a bit better. Thanks Lu for making me feel so welcome. Looking forward to coming back again!

A very full class with Susan Portra teaching her interpretation of Melissa Shirley’s Red Bird Santa. and ohh did I mention that I can stitch and learn without any interruptions!

Susan is demonstrating how to make a tassel on a canvas.

Speaking of tassels, look at this one that Susan makes for one lucky student!

AlleyCat is still the only spolied child in the house at the moment and it will probably stay that way till next year. It had been extremely hot this last week and she is sitting under the lamp with her eye on a moth. Couldn’t you find a cooler spot you silly girl?

Happy Halloween to all! It’s almost time to change the store displays and Tony Minieri will be at the shop in less than 2 weeks…