Hands To Work

Teaching This Weekend

I will be teaching at Shelley Musmano's (Covered Bridge Needlearts) first ever retreat in Columbiana Ohio.  I'm so looking forward to getting everything done and arriving there to catch up with old friends and relax.  How exciting to spend time talking to adults that aren't my relatives!  Woo Hoo!

My project is called An Acorn Necessary and is pictured below.  I used two colors of Lakeside Linens linen and Crescent Colours threads.  The third side is a beautiful wool that I got from Pat Cross and the top is a tin acorn cap from Sue Spargo.  

I will also be teaching this class at Dyeing To Stitch in November.  Happy Tuesday! 

   

A correction, fake birthday and GIVEAWAY!

I was alerted by a sweet girl named Cathy that I got two colors switched on the Love, Me chart.   Change the symbols for Cranberry and Old Brick.  I'm sorry for the confusion and all new charts have been corrected.

Courtney's fake birthday was yesterday.  Her real birthday is Christmas Day and that was fine when she was a kid because we would have the family party in November, a kid party either before Christmas or in the summer for a half birthday and still have cake and such on the birth day.  But as an adult, her birthday is forgotten.  She has always wanted a birthday on just a regular day so last year she designated April 30th as Fake Birthday Day.  She had to work yesterday and had finals so she was only able to stop by for dinner and home made strawberry shortcake.  It's hard to believe that she is 25!  This what she looked like at age 4:

In the spirit of Ree at Pioneer Woman, I'm having a giveaway.  No, it's not a $500 Home Depot gift card or a KitchenAid Mixer.  Sigh.  Remember when I was so bummed that no Fossil wallets were to be found in the style that I desperately needed?  Good news.  Courtney found one for me on ebay.  It now is living happily in my purse.  In my excitement, I thought I would see what ebay had to offer and bid on a few of the wallets to see if I could get one for Elisabeth and a friend.  Courtney did the same.  In the end, we both ended up with THREE wallets and so I have one to share.  I will post a picture of it tomorrow and give instructions on how to win.

I'm making pretzel bread rolls today.  Found the recipe on line and it is the final present for Courtney as she loves pretzel bread.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they are as delicious as they sound.  If so, I will share pictures and the recipe. 

Have a great day! 

After Nashville

I'm still recovering from the trip to Nashville.  I never ever get sick.  Really.  Until now.  I have the flu that is going around and it has me down.  Useless.  The last time I had a flu like this was in high school.  And that was so long ago that it doesn't even count!  I'm still sending out charts to the distributors.  I think everything will be done by this afternoon.

I had a wonderful trip to the  market.  The girls went with me.  Courtney drove the whole way there and back which I was so thankful for!  We took John's truck which is a F350 diesel with a stick.  I have no trouble driving a stick but the truck is soooo big!  I can drive it but I"m not all that comfortable.  Guess Courtney feared for her safety so she did the job.  Elisabeth and Lily went as well.  Lily was quite a trouper...only had a little melt down in the ride down in the last hour of the trip.  While there, she rolled over twice from her back to her front and once we got home she mastered the back to front maneuver.  She is quite the busy girl...she will turn three months this week.  Makes me a little nervous.  Her Uncle Matt was very physical as well and when he was running at nine months, the fun began.  I say that tongue in cheek!

We roomed beside Barb and Alma and they were delightful as usual.  Their room was amazing.  Even had a fake fireplace.  If they don't mind I will post the movie that I took of their room.  And Kathy and Anne's too.  Awesome, both of them!!!

Here are the two designs that I didnt' get a chance to post before I left.  The first one is Ellen Myerscough which is a repro from my collection.  The frame is from Crescent Colours~The Family Tree.  The second is Blosoms of Spring which is the third in the series of Blooms (Harvest and Winter).  Sharon from Crescent Colours is making a frame for this design and once I have it, will repost the picture.

AnnEliza Hastings

A sweet little repro using Needlepoint silk on 40 ct linen.  Mine is hemstitched and pinned to an antique cupboard.

Thanks Joanne for another great stitch!  And Carmen for hemstitching for me. 

Alpha-Bat

This design is called AlphaBat.  I don't have the info in front of me but I know that it's stitched on 40 count linen from Lakeside and I think it's Autumn Gold.  The threads are over-dyed cottons.  Again, sorry about the quality of the picture.  I just ordered a new lens and spent the extra $30 to have it overnighted.  Always something....

The awesome frame is from Crescent Colours Sharon...and Joanne Ambrose did the stitching.  Both did the work at the last minute (cause that's when I work best) and I don't know what I would do without them!  Thanks guys!

First Picture

Here is picture number one.  I'm sorry for the delay but my camera broke and I'm having a hard time getting pictures!  This one is called Love, me.  It's stitched on 40 count autumn gold by Lakeside Linens using Crescent Colours and Sampler Threads.

I'm hoping that Barb and Alma give me some staging lessons!  I'm so not good at it!  Oh, I forgot....you will be getting an alphabet with the chart.  Cause I'm guessing that you won't want my name or Chuck's name on your piece!

Resolutions

On January 1st, most people have their resolutions in mind and are ready to make big changes.  I think about it too but usually only resolve to do the same old things...weight, attitude, money.  But there have been some big changes in my life and so I'm going to share what I resolve to do in 2008.  I'm posting it here as part of it has to do with my business.

I'll start with that.  Hands To Work.  I love my little business.  And I plan on continuing.  I think there has been some speculation that I might give up designing as my new charts have been almost non-existent.  Here's the plan.  I have guilt about not being a Kathy or a Lori or Paulette.  I set myself up by trying to adopt other's standards.  I'm not doing that any more.  If I only release one design a year, that's okay.  Of course I wish I had Kathy's amazing ability to produce so many pieces, but let's face it.  She is unique.  So no more beating myself up about what I don't get done.  Maybe that will free up my mind to actually do more creating. 

I'm going to pare down.  I am a very impulsive person.  Due to that (sometimes) personality flaw, I have accumulated a huge amount of stuff.  Antiques, charts, fabric, stuff.  I know so many things are draining me.  So I will start putting some things on my site for sale.  And I have really, really good stuff.  Chuck wants his garage back!

Whew.  That feels better just writing it out.  Most important in my life is my family.  Elisabeth has hard times approaching as she has to go to court regarding custody of little Lily.  She is being very brave.  But she is scared to death.  And is going to need a lot of support.  I watch Lily while E goes to school.  I help Courtney when she needs me.  My sister is having some trials and I want to be there for her as well.  Our parents are getting older and we find that we have to be more available.  So family comes first.  No matter what!

I have much to do before leaving on the 7th for Nashville.  I'm very excited about the trip.  It's such fun to see my old friends.  And I make new friends every single year!  I room beside Alma and Barb on the sixth floor and boy do we have fun!  Courtney and I make "special" gifts for several of our friends for each market and we haven't started on the 2008 collection!

Finally, I have a musical recommendation before I go back to work.  I recently found Colbie Caillet and LOVE her.  I've listened to her album Coco all day.  So google her and take a listen.  She's awesome.

See ya!