More winter... and a nice surprise!

Another shot of a winter evening as I was waling home from work. This has been a good winter, I think. Not super cold, and with snow. I love snow, the more the better. It insulates, keeping the bitter cold at bay, and in the spring gives the trees a nice deep watering. Besides that, it's beautiful.

 

On another note, please stop over and take a peek at Maria's blog,where she has stitched up one of my cross stitch designs. Thank you Maria, it's beautiful!

My first order off the press and off to the distributer...

After the desginning and the stitching and the photographing...there is Production...

and then... the Finished Product!

Then it was off to post office to mail 240 cross stitch patterns!

The Gift of Stitching

 

Please stop by a great on-line magazine, The Gift of Stitching. Every month Kirsten Edwards, of Sydney, Australia, has a nice mix of traditional and contemporary designs, that are beautifully photographed, along with charts and interesting interviews with designers from all over the world. She has graciously chosen my desgin "Red and Blue Houes" to be among many other featured desgins in the February issue. You can see a little peek here, February 2010.

New Valentine Chart

A new chart just for Valentines.  I hope you enjoy it!

Free Valentines Chart

For Valentines I have a free chart for cross stitch or needlepoint! You may download it by first clicking on the image, then right clicking on the larger image and saving it to your computer. I would love to see any completed pieces of this pattern and how others interpret it and finish it.

Winter Evening

On the way home from work the other day.

Old Friends and New Friends

Old friends. When I was a kid I loved Ragedy Ann and Andy. They were my best friends and I was never with one or the other. Consequently I've been through many Regedy Anns over the years. This photo shows a pair that my daughter gave me a few years ago. Until that time I had been without both for many, many years. Bear is another old friend, shown here. He has always been with me and somehow survived more years than I think you would want to know! He's missing one eye and has many scares and wounds from past adventures.

All Ragedy Ann and Andys should have "I Love You" engraved on their chests. Otherwise you can't be sure they're the real deal. (Is this sort of like a tattoo? I never thought of it that way before.)

New friends. Here is my lastest Ragedy Ann. She is handmade and came to live with me all the way from Maine as gift from my sister.

And here is Enid another new friend. I got her from Sweet Nellie. She makes all her dolls by hand using a nice combination of crochet and sewing techniques. They all have a very whimsical character about them and are truely unique.

Sometimes it takes awhile to get things done

 I work in a research library where there are hundreds and hundreds of books. Not only are there books on shelves, but there are books at the desks of library staff, who are doing something to that book. Ordering, receiving, cataloging, marking, conserving and many other things. This volume was going to the commercial binder to be bound in that thick buckram that library books are always bound in.

 

However, at times things just don't get done; no matter how hard or how long it takes. Note the date; Fegbruary, 1947. So, for 62 years this book has been floating around the Government Information Department, where I work, and trynig it's hardest to be noticed and get bound! Now, having worked in the library as the one person who sent books to be bound, this brings a smile to my face. My job is different now, but by God I know I can get this book bound!

New cross stitch patterns

Two Girls

Winter Flowers

Red and Blue Houses

Here is a group of cross stitch pillows I've been working on for the last few weeks. They are my own patterns and it has been a lot of fun to design them and then to know, as they are being sewn, that this is the first time anyone has ever used the pattern! Well, I guess little things make me happy.