Hi

Please don't faint!  I know it's been a while since I posted.  To be really honest I find that I would much rather stitch than work on the computer, I guess some of that is a hang over from my job when I use to spend up to 14 hours a day working on a computer.  I keep trying to be better.

I've been stitching away, I had 48 stitch guides come out at the January market.  You can see a lot of them on Rebecca Wood's website.  I really like the way they did the Nativity in the basket.

One of the fun projects I did for January (although they were all fun) was a butterfly for A Collection of Designs.  Since I didn't have to write a stitchguide for it I kind of went crazy.  I had great fun attaching flatback Swarovski Crystals for the "eyes" on the wings setting them inside Jessica stitches.  I did learn you have to keep the canvas flat until the glue dries or the crystals slide, also learned that you can remove the crystals without damaging the canvas but it was a scary process because they don't come off easily.  At least now I don't have to worry that they would fall off at the slightest touch.   Janet used it as an insert in a purse, the lights at market sparkled off the crystals.

One of my new projects for the June market was this Shelly Tribbey skull.  Seems like Day of the Dead canvases are going to be popular this year.  It's hard to tell from this picture but all of the skulls around the edge are beaded.  It took a while but I think it was well worth the effort.  The beading made up for how fast the rest of it went, the skull in the center was done in Kreinik #8 032 in a Kennan stitch and let the gray paint show through for the shading.  My students always look at me funny when I tell them to forget shading snow and let the paint show through the thread.  I find this works well on Kreinik, Crystal Braid and Caron Snow.

Cindy

PS  Just realized I had written some blogs which I left as a draft so I'll review those and maybe post if they are still of interest.

finished pieces

I promised I would post the two pieces I just finished stitching for A Collection of Designs so here they are:

They were fun to do and worked up really quickly, I started one night about 6 and finished the next night about 11. Don't worry, I didn't sit there the whole time stitching on these. Janet wanted the same colors used in both these pieces since they are a set. The circles on the candy cane were a challenge especially the gold ones. I used Kreinik 002v which is very stiff and had a hard time making the outline stitch lay very well. You can see that the green circles which were also Kreinik look better because it was a softer twist. Actually, the red Flair was my favorite for the circles because it did exactly what I wanted it to and looked good. I know some people don't like Flair but it's one of my favorite threads, it spreads out and covers the canvas for straight stitches but you can pull it tighter and it gets smaller for other stitches. I don't do any of the melting it that some people do, I cut it on the diagonal and just watch for any little threads to appear when the end starts to ravel and then cut it again. I also use a larger needle to open up the hole so the canvases doesn't tear up the thread as much.

Next project for Janet is to finish the very first one I started for her and then got stuck trying to find all the color of beads it needed. I'll post a picture when I'm done and you'll see what I mean. The first thing I saw when I looked at the canvas was beads for the letters, I got so hung up on it that I couldn't see beyond that even though I have had trouble finding beads. It would help if I could find my entire Sundance line but some how they have disappeared in the move. If the beads don't work, I'm not sure what I'm going to do.

Time to start packing for Seminar. I decided I didn't want to make the two hour commute every day so I'm staying in San Antonio part of the week and then will come home on Wednesday and go back for the rest of seminar.

Cindy

Another hot day

Well it's going to be another hot day in the Hill Country, temperature is suppose to get into the 100s again and no sign of rain.

I spent a big chunk of my day yesterday trying to organize my Kreinik stash. What a mess.

I just finished the stitch guide for the Alamo for the Yarn Barn in San Antonio. The canvas is from Squiggee Designs and will be available through the shop starting with seminar. I took a little liberty with Gail's design and made the columns in the front look more like the actual Alamo. If y'all are coming to seminar or go to the Riverwalk, you can tell people you know someone who has been in the Riverwalk. I did an archeological dig there for 2 years. We found lots of interesting stuff but no sign of the Alamo cannons which was our main goal. The dig was sponsored by NUMA (if you are a Clive Cussler fan, you might not know that this is the real name of the organization he sponsors that does marine archeology). Regretfully, I never got to meet Clive because he always came just after I left.

Speaking of seminar, tomorrow is the big day when we move all the exhibit pieces down to the the hotel. From the few pieces I saw when I was there one day helping check stuff in, it's going to be a fantastic exhibit.

I'm shipping off a bunch of models to A Collection of Designs today and got the background on two done last night so tonight I'll work on the glitz stuff. I'll try to post pictures later this week of some of the pieces.

Time to run errands.

Finally, Baltimore

Aarg!! Someday I'm going to figure out why it takes me forever to get signed on to this blog. It's taken me over an hour just to reach this page. Okay, now that I've vented on to the fun stuff.

I just got back from The National Needlearts Association (TNNA) market in Baltimore. TNNA is the organization for retailers and wholesalers in the needlework industry. I was meeting with Jeremy from Kirk and Hamilton who had flown over from England to attend the show regarding a project we're working on and to talk to Rebecca and Brad Wood from Rebecca Wood Designs. As a side benefit, to fill up on Maryland Crab Soup and Crab Cakes.

I delivered the canvas and stitch guides to Jeremy for the Midnight Sheep Heart and got a new project for the Dallas Market from a new designer they just introduced.

I had a great time even though it poured rain most of the time we were there and I filled up on crab cake. Saw some great new designs from Melissa Prince Designs, I'm in love with her Halloween banner and it was great to see Wooly Dreams back.

Need to go run errands but will try to get back on this afternoon and post some pictures of things I'm working on.

Mystery Needle Arts Retreat and ANG Seminar

I had a long but uneventful plane ride to Columbus, Ohio to attend the Mystery Needle Arts Retreat. If y'all don't know about this stitching experience, it's great fun. There are four teachers who over the course of a year design and independently stitch sections of a canvas. They trade instructions so each one ends up with an entire piece but done in their own colors. The instructors are Mary Hartman, Mary Knapp, Linda Reinmiller and Debbie Rowley. You sign up for the retreat without seeing the piece. They post their canvas colors and threads on line and you pick the color you like.

When you get the retreat at the reception they show you the piece, this year has lots of sparkle and to be honest I love them all. They also are getting better and better every year. If you want more info. go to http://needleartsmysteryretreat.com. We've only been coming a few years but they offer the chance to take the prior year's piece before the new piece and I've caught up and have all their pieces at home (unstitched of course).

Last night they told us that next years will be in Portland, Oregon. The nice thing is that it is a smaller group and is held in a smaller and less expensive hotel than the big national seminars. This year the hotel is in Grove, Ohio just outside of Columbus and is a really nice Drury Inn.

Well, my stitching is calling and I better get going.

More later.

So much for good intentions

I said I was going to post more often, but as you can see the month got away from me. I've been stitching like crazy and trying to keep up with other stuff in my life. I decided I needed to add some exercise to my life (moving your fingers just doesn't burn that many calories) so I've been doing water aerobics three days a week and between the heat and the exercise, I've had to take a nap in the afternoon so it's cut into my productivity. I know it's good for me, so plan to keep it up. It does get better, naps are getting shorter.

I sent off 4 proposals for classes at The National NeedleArts Association, which is the trade organization for the needlework industry. Now I have to finish the stitch guides. I'll need to ask the designers I'm stitching for if it's okay to post pictures of their pieces. If they give me permission, I'll put them on the website so y'all can have a sneak peak of what's coming.

The Yarn Barn where I work part-time is getting ready for ANG Seminar in August and we've had lots of canvases painted with San Antonio inspired designs. One of them is a 3-d Alamo by Squiggee Designs which I've stitch and am writing a stitch guide for. I'll post a picture in the next couple of days. It came back from the finisher and is just darling, if I do say so myself.

We got this strange wet stuff that fell out of the sky today, it's been so long since we had rain I'd forgotten where the windshield wipers were in the car. It wasn't much but it was the most we've had in months.

I'm off to a class but will try to add more next week.

Cindy

4th of July

I'm taking a short break from unpacking more boxes so I thought I'd just update my blog for today.

I finally got the shelves set up in my studio so now comes the fun part of unloading all the boxes (ugh). It is kind of interesting to open a box and find a needlepoint canvas you forgot you owned, sort of like Christmas morning, but it's also discouraging to see how much you have.

I did some stitching yesterday on a Princess and Me proposal for The National NeedleArts Association, the trade organization for shops. I need to get them all done by the July 21st since that the deadline. I'll post some pictures as I get time.

Well, back to the boxes.