Back To NORMAL ... huh???

As you will have seen by now .. my shop newsletter updates are 'back to normal' with stuff about Deb's life that shouldn't be considered 'normal'. sigh .. I live in a zoo!

I actually didn't completely realize I'd slipped away from my 'chatty format' until I received that email from another stitcher. I knew I wasn't happy with my newsletters but ... the obvious reason was totally overlooked! I think part of the problem came from having to write them here at the shop 'after hours'. At home, my wireless no longer works (Verizon says it does though as they show me within their 'area' .. yeah right!!!) and regular dial-up connection is so slow. And with hubby, cats and dog seeking my attention, I'd be at the computer for up to 4 hours (or more!) trying to get the newsletter completed. Then here at the shop, while the connection is SO fast, I'd be here till 8pm with no dinner, blood sugar dropping which meant I'd be wandering around looking at stuff instead of typing (and not really realizing it!) and getting grumpy because I was still at the shop. LOL ... Guess I just got to the 'gist' of the product info and ignored 'me'. But .. back to 'normal'.

I've been stitching like a mad woman, and also felting scarves like crazy! I did two on Wednesday .. and here they are:

I used dyed wool and some really clunky funky yarn that had bits and pieces of curly locks and metallics and other neat stuff woven into it. Found the skeins at the St. Charles cash & carry Market .. that's the only way I could have afforded to get 'that' yarn' .. expensive even at wholesale, phew, but worth it!

I'm felting the 'easy way' now that the weather has turned and I cannot 'wet felt' outside (or in the garage ... the squirrel throws nuts at me!!!). I'm using the ArtFelt method! It's not as 'zen' as rolling, rolling, rolling by hand, but you still have the 'artistic layout' bit going for you. Here's the FIRST one I did with an ArtFelt KIT:

All materials and easy step by step instructions come in one easy kit! Really! Check it out here!

That's how I was able to do two in one day. And with some 'inventive thinking' on my part.

I have two 5' long tables that I had put end to end
so I could do the layout. You start with a piece of the ArtFelt paper 72" long, so it seemed easier to try it that way, rather than just have the 'ends' of the paper hanging down on either end of the table.

Problem! As soon as I put the tables up and turned my back ... two, count em! TWO CATS immediately took up residence on the tables and would NOT leave. Ever tried to lay out loose wool and yarn strips with cats right next to you. I don't think I need to say more on that! EPIPHANY!!! Went into the linen closet and got an old fitted sheet. Put two of the fitted ends over the end sides of one of the tables with the sheet hanging down .. instant TENT! Cat city! FUN!!!!!!!!!! Mocha and Padme spent most of the afternoon attacking each other from either side of the 'tent' and I was left to my own creativity in peace (somewhat). The Tent Cat City was such a hit, it's still up and in the living room. Told you .. I live in a zoo!!

"Why Did You Change?"

I received the following e-mail yesterday morning ...
"What has happened to your friendly and homespun newsletter? Where is news about your mother? I always enjoyed your refreshing description of your week and all you did and your latest projects. Now this epistle is so cold, just like all the other impersonal newsletters whose only aim is to sell their ware. I always looked forward to Fridays and "words" from you.
How about returning to your old way at least once in a while?
A sad subscriber "

What was so interesting about that e-mail was this ... I woke up 'wide awake' Saturday at 3:00am (gwad I hate that!!!) and while trying to convince my brain to shut up and go back to sleep, that very thing was what was running through my head. I'd just written such a cut and dried newsletter that it was bothering me! The last few newsletters had the same impersonal feel (or lack of feeling) to them too! I totally agreed with her!!!

Newsletters are a funny thing. If I make personal comments or talk about (well - ramble, as I tend to do) what's going on in my life, I'll get e-mails from those who remind me that I am a 'shop' and should only talk shop stuffs. If I only talk shop stuffs, then I get emails asking me about my mom's health or if I've been 'hit with a mattress lately' .. well, you get the idea!
That was one of the reasons I started this Blog .. to keep the newsletters about the shop and this more about me and what I'm doing. Then I don't post here as often as I would like to because I want to stitch instead of sitting at a computer. And at the shop, I rarely have time to just sit and yammer about stuffs.

I will still post here .. this is different than my shop newsletters and I will make every effort to keep that difference going. My newsletters WILL return to the 'old way I used to write'. I'm a 'stitcher', I'm a 'shop', I'm an 'individual as well as a shop owner' .. and I should never have tried to SEPARATE the two. My shop newsletters will hopefully bring 'me' to your computers, with chatter about my life, my stitching, shop information, what the gals are doing in the shop, what's happening with market, my dog and my cats. My shop newsletters will return with that personal touch that so many of you have complimented me on; where stitchers have told me that reading them makes them think they 'know' me as a real live stitcher and not just a 'brick and mortar' building that holds needlework within its' walls.
Criticisms ... bring them on. Kudos .. those are welcome too! The worst that can happen? I'll lose some subscribers. The best that can happen? You'll enjoy your newsletters again and I'll possibly gain some new subscribers.

Stitches N Things IS me ... the shop reflects my personality .... and I'm sorry for forgetting that!

Stitching N Updating

I wanted to share with you my latest, back from the framer, silk gauze 'masterpiece' ... from Blue Ribbon Designs, this is "Americana Panorama" on 40ct.
I chose a 'backing' mat board that was as similar in color as the Woodsmoke fabric Belinda chose for her model, but the ivory gauze lightens it up a bit. The frame is from Eastside Mouldings and is a deep country/brick red.

HAD I KNOWN she was going to be doing a "Winter White Wonderland" panorama (not released yet), I would have waited! I'm such a winter/Christmas junkie when it comes to stitching, and have never owned a single patriotic stitchery ... oh well, I do now .. and I really like it!!

It's on display in the shop now where you can easily 'see' it!

And I just updated my SPECIALS page of my web site with ALL the SPECIALS AND SALES that will be going on during the month of OCTOBER .. in order by date .. go take a look-see! (if you do not see October with the flying witch at the top ... hold down your CTRL key at the same time as you click on the refresh symbol!

Stitchin N Stuffs

What an exhausting week last week was! LouAnn, Debbie and I were all walking attempting to talk zombies by end of the day on Saturday .. but all Market goodies had been sorted through and put out on display, boxes thrown out, and invoices stuck where invoices go. It's a good thing! Another good thing is being able to sleep for 13 hours STRAIGHT on Saturday night/Sunday morning!! Not Dave, not the dog, not the cats .. no one woke me up! That felt good .. and then I just kicked back and read/stitched the day away. And that was a good thing too!

I was thinking about the upcoming A Stitchalot Weekend Oct. 16, 17 & 18 .. and have decided NOT to teach the witch felting class I was thinking of doing.

INSTEAD ... you will have the opportunity to purchase a kit or kits ... and learn the technique right there so that you will have a completed project to take with you when you leave the weekend. You'll get me to answer questions and assist or teach the technique to you as you do it ... kind of a one on one, but FOR FREE (yep - I'm free that weekend - LOL), and when you want to learn it.

I'll have a variety for you:

Needle Felting (1) with the new Mitten Kits, either go free style and artistic yourself, or follow a paint stencil for your design.

Needle Felting (2) with the kits from Lorna where you start with a pre-felted body egg shape and go from there.

Artfelt Felting .. where you'll be creating a small purse pouch/pocket with your choice of fibers and embellishments. aka = wet felting the EASY way using your creativity in laying out the wools AND using a dryer!

Needle Punch .. from a new designer I found at Market are the most adorable little Angel Face PINS to make and wear. There will also be a little "Snow Girl With Holly" available as well!

All you need to do is purchase your kit or the supplies needed (and I'll have everything in the SNT Boutique there at the hotel, and then I'll take it from there for you! All 4 types of projects are very quick, incredibly easy, and you can take one or two or all whenever the mood suits you - not at a scheduled time!

We're gonna have FUN!!!

Buying N Flying N Things

Phew! Sorry for the so late blog about Market, but this morning is the first chance I've had to catch my breath (and also the first chance to get to the shop hours before anyone else so that I CAN catch my breath)!

MARKET WAS PHENOMENAL!! What more can I say? I honestly think that this Market was perhaps the best one in a very long time .. less rushed, quality designs wherever I looked, and more fun! There were not as many shops attending that there should have been (IMHO) and four of the scheduled vendors/designers were not able to attend due to health issues or duplicate booking issues, but .. we had 5 FLOORS to peruse! And besides the counted threads and needlepoint, there were some knitting, some punch needle, some accessory bags or embellishments or gadgets or lighting supplies, and a couple that carried felting supplies. I managed to get into every room there I believe .. of course I hit my cross stitch rooms first, and then on Sunday, after my 'scheduled shopping rounds' were completed, I got to do some "deb shopping" just for me!

I taught my Silk Gauze Class Friday morning and I do believe it was a success! That's what I was hearing that is, from not only the participants later on the shopping floors, but also from some other shops AND from Kreinik ! That afternoon I took a felting class from Judy Bielec .. just for fun .. where we created a 'witch head' .. that was another FUN fun FUN class!!

My BFF Sharon (who lives in Jackson MO, just above Cape G) arrived on Friday afternoon. So after a bit of dinner, we were able to do some of the 'early bird' shopping with those designers who decided to open early for us.

I also had some of my gauze models with me, so offered them for display to La D Da ("Friends Forever", "Leaping Cat", and "Girl In Red Dress)), Carriage House Samplings (look at her blog link from here you can see her room; the 3rd picture down shows my "Happy Hallo'ween" laying down flat, with hers' standing up at the left), Erica Michaels (her "Random Threads" in an Olde Colonial Treasure Box), and Michelle Ink's "Outside The Lines" (she had her stitched piece there and hung mine above it .. how cool to see them together like that!)

Saturday we shopped together like fiends, and ordered pizza in that night so we could sit in the room and I could start adding to my web catalog while she started packing boxes she'd brought for me. Sunday Sharon had to leave before noon. Hugs all around - it was SO GOOD to be able to spend time with her!!

I borrowed a 'flat cart' from Matt at Norden Crafts about 3:35pm with promises that I'd have it back in their room by 4 minutes to 4:00 (when Market officially closed), and hauled butt up to my room, loaded up *5* (count em .. FIVE) Boxes of merchandise, and off I went to the in-hotel UPS room .. where I was leaving them to be shipped home to the shop. No way could I bring them back with me, not flying like I was! I did have some items 'in one suitcase' (I'd brought an extra inside my first suitcase just for that purpose). Some shop owner in the elevator when I was heading to the UPS room made a comment about my 'breaking my room down early' (which is a no-no IF you are a vendor) .. I told her I was a 'shop' but apparently she didn't believe me as she reported to the Show Staff that there had been a vendor all packed up before 4pm ... sigh).

Baggage costs on flights now is crazy .. Delta/Northwest charged $20 for the 1st bag, $30 for the second, and IF a bag was 50# or over, it would have been an ADDITIONAL $90 fee! So .. it cost me around $83.00 to ship product via UPS back to Michigan, and $70 just to get my suitcases back and forth!!! Dave suggested that next year, so I could still spend time with Sharon, I should fly only ONE-way, and then he'd drive to MO and pick me up along with all my purchases and bring me back home. That sounds like a winner .. and a major money saver too!!

Flying back .. got on the plane to head back to Michigan and the first thing that's announced is that there is some 'problem' with the plane and as soon as they get that fixed, we'd be on our way. Comforting! Then got on the connecting flight from Detroit to Flint where I got to 'argue (nicely) with the flight attendant about my Kindle .. I had a book on tape and also a book to read downloaded to it. They had announced all wireless electronical devices be turned off. She walked by and saw me reading .. I told her it WAS off. I even pointed to the icon that SAID off. She said I had to turn it off anyway. I told her since it was off, I would be unable to make it any more 'off'. She said it was on. (sigh) I told her that even though she could see words on the

page (screen), the device was off, it was a memory battery operated, there was no wireless .. that I could put the screen saver on, but it would still be the 'same off' that it was right now.

I won.

Then we were told by the pilot that dye to weather conditions, it would be a bumpy trip, and that we would be flying 'low', under 4000 feet, to try to avoid most of it. Then he told us there would be about a 25 minute delay on the runway due to the amount of planes taking off. After sitting on the runway in position for about 20 minutes, he came back on the speaker and said there was a problem with the passenger door not closing properly and we were ordered back to the gate to have that fixed/checked out. (I kind of figured since we were going to be under 4000 feet anyway, there wouldn't be any worries IF the door blew off .. it was a 20 minute flight anyway so we'd just be a bit chilly, but .. I'm not the pilot so back to the gate we headed.)

A little vehicle pulled up to the plane (I had a window seat near the front) and this guy gets out .. comes on board, and after about 2 minutes I heard him tell the pilot he couldn't see where the problem could be so he was 'signing off' on the flight and we could resume. THEN .. this guy walked back to his little vehicle, got in and closed his door .. which immediately popped back open! He jerked it closed .. and it popped back open again! He pulled it closed again and reached for his cell phone, and the door flew back open! It took him 6 attempts to close his OWN door .. and he said 'our door' was OK?? I was laughing out loud.

Dave picked me up, I got back to the shop Tuesday morning and started on the stuff I'd flew back with me. Yesterday (weds) UPS delivered my 5 boxes full (123# off needlework stuffs) and the unpacking began in earnest with me unpacking, LouAnn entering into our register system, and Debbie beginning stuffing your order bags. Today LouAnn will be ringing through some orders, I'm still unpacking (1 and 3/4 boxes are sorted), and Debbie will still be sorting the items into the appropriate order bags. We were all totally exhausted last night .. tonight will be more of the same I'm sure!

But .. this was FUN .. and it really still is! I had such a great time at St. Charles .. visiting with shop owner friends, with designer friends, chatting with new friends .. I love going to Market and this one was not one to miss!! You can see what Carriage House and Blackbird Designs' rooms looked like at Market if you follow the links to their blogs from this page. You can see what is all new on my "What's New" page - you'll have to look at every page (as it will show by date added there, not alphabetical). I have to go unpack more now!

It's MARKET Time!

... singing ... All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go ....... I'm leaving on a jet plane , don't know when I'll be back again ....
Well, not really .. I AM leaving on a jet plane tomorrow morning and my bags ARE all packed, but I DO know when I'm coming back. I'll be in the shop on Tuesday with all the new stuffs I've purchased from market and was able to put in a suitcase (I've packed a suitcase within a suitcase!). The rest will be shipped UPS and .. hopefully will not trail too far behind me!
I teach a class on silk gauze on Friday am, take a felting class on Friday afternoon .. and then get to start shopping where I can (depending on who is open for early hours) on Friday night!
My BFF Sharon (who lives just south of St. Louis MO) will be joining me either Friday late afternoon or early Saturday morning. I'm hoping for Friday .. we just don't get many chances to share time with each other anymore. I'll put her to work on Saturday shopping with me!

I hope everyone has emailed the shop to let them know what preorders they want placed! I'll be in touch with the shop by phone on Saturday .. then I'm on my own!
See ya all upon my return!!! Stitch Happy!!

Felting IS Over - for this next week anyway

I had meant to post here yesterday, but Saturday at the shop was an incredibly busy day! Not complaining .. no no, not me .. just lots of customers in the shop all day long (fun people too!), lots of orders coming in all day long too. LouAnn and I were able to help everyone AND process all the orders, but didn't get to ring too many through. I guess that's what a Monday is for! To give you another idea of how busy it was, LouAnn brought me a Med. Fr. Van. Cappuccino before 10am and at 5:30pm, I'd still not had the chance to 'finish' it! Fun day .. tiring day .. Love Days Like This Though!

Anyway, this past week I had finished my felting sculptures and managed to 're-do' one scarf/shawl and make two more! PHEW
The Dogs were created with a Wool core, but 'covered' with felted dog hair the dog owner had combed and given to me so that each dog would be made with the real dog's hair! The really fluffy one IS Golden Retriever hair .. fuzzy! Mixed with a bit of beige Harrisburg wool AND 100% Camel wool! (yep real Camel - it's really too fine for needle felting as it shows every single needle poke. I bet it would be fabulous for spinning though!

Of course, it's really really hard to get any good Dragon 'hair' these days, so I had to turn to hand-dyed Buffalo (very expensive!) to cover the wool core base here. The horns and claws are 100% dyed Merino.

I'd created the pale blue scarf last week but it turned out really crappy looking. So, I decided to lay it out and re-felt over most of it - Dave has named this one "the scarf the mouse nibbled on" (as opposed to the others I had made which he called 'swiss cheese scarves")! Oh Well ...!

The green scarf was made with two different shades of wool, one that was dyed green and then over dyed, and one that was natural and then dyed .. the wool color is called "Leopard Frog" and has bits of yellows and some splattering of deep purple and bright turquoise in it. I'd purchased some wool yarn at the local
Knit shop that was also in shades of yellow-greens and greens, and laid that out on one side in rows with the two greens, and then in an argyle pattern across the stripes on the other side. The one side doesn't show well here, but it really reminds one of those old argyle sweaters you used to see. It's somewhat reversible as far as pattern goes

.

This last is my first attempt at a completely reversible scarf ... I used a Merino Silk blend so it's quite shiny ... black on one side, deep purple on the other. The black side was cross-hatched with a 100% acrylic yarn .. all different colors and glimmery. The purple side has some other yarns, some with sparkles in it, just patterned out ... and a few brighter purple 'curls' too. I'm quite proud of this one!

Well that's that .. I fly out Thursday am for Market and have to make out my LISTS so I won't forget anything. I can't even pack 'underwear' without having it on my list .. and listed for each day that I'll be gone. Can you say ... a bit too Detail Orientated???? sigh