Post from end of July: I know that most of the rest of the continent has had hot hot weather but here in the foothills of the Rockies in the city it has been cool. No complaining mind you as I said before good for working, getting lots done, which is awesome! Then I can take a week in August and enjoy my week off! I have several things to post for you, one is huge! Diana Sheppard has finished her book and she has sent me photographs of the finished thing which I have had trouble loading. I will try again! She has done just a terrific job and used the Album to it’s potential! She has also given me permission to post her notes!

I have also received some lovely pictures from Dana Spernal. Just a treat to see some of these pieces that are my favourites done by stitchers. I love it! Here are her pictures too. My Stitching Treasures a perennial favourite, Take Time to Read – my most favourite thing to do besides stitching, and Mandala Sampler – a truly wonderful stitch for modern times. I most tell you I also took the photo of my shot of Mandala Sampler and put it to canvas, oh my gosh it is just grand. I put it on 16 x 16 and now it hangs in my living room, it looks just like I stitched it just bigger. Seeing has how my samples are always on the road I needed my picture for my wall and now I have one!

I have also received lovely pictures of a new piece that Pam of Olde Colonial Designs and I have taught at a few places. We will be releasing this at Nashville next February so look for it to come, I know some of you have been asking! I won’t post those pictures till February!

Love that you are sending pictures and I will get better at inserting images into the posts and adding to the ‘zen cart’ and all these computer things that are always a huge learning curve for me!

We were in southern AB last weekend and I have to show the canola fields – they are beautiful! Have a great few weeks ahead -I will post the new pattern in a month – Take time for Friends, the match to Friendship Sweet Bag! Look for it to come.

We haven’t forgotten, it is just a few complications which we will hopefully clear this week.
I am working on finishing instructions for a project and finishing instructions – well suffice it say that they are not as easy to write as stitching instructions! I am going to take pictures of my finishing process, pictures they say speak a thousand words!
In just a few short weeks I will be travelling to northern UK – the province of Cumbria to teach in the Lake District. A big journey and we are just about finished packing our boxes and ready to ship. I look foward to meeting our English stitchers and hope that my Canadian accent can be understood! Maybe I will be the one not “getting it” !

We are also getting our Shepherd’s Bush boxes ready as you can see with going across the ocean there will not be alot of time upon return so we have been very busy getting the product ready for both events. I am running to the printer tomorrow with the Take Time for Friends piece to get it printed….. and am printing all the class product here at home. The printer is ‘hot’!

Hope you are enjoying your summer stitching.

As you can see I am having issues adding my pictures! So hopefully by next week I will have addressed this. So be sure to check back and look at the lovely stitching of the Album and other favourites.

Well it has been raining and raining…. good for working, but where is my summer? Nevermind, I am getting lots done, yahoo! Yes, it is almost Calgary Stampede time. Not that I even go that much anymore. Used to take the kids etc. well now they take themselves… but it always makes the city a livelier place.

On to my new projects for release. We are opening for general release “Once Upon A Tree” the popular pattern first designed for Just Cross Stitch Magazine that started in 2008. As usual it has an embellishment package available for it that has all the silk threads and beads used in the piece; skeined per season. There are 4 skeins – one for each season and then the beads are labelled.

To finish off the series of biscornus started in February we now have Summer Biscornu Stackers and Winter Biscornu Stackers. Summer comes with the buttons and one length of overdyed silk and Winter comes with the buttons. They both use DMC floss as did Spring and Autumn. They are such fun to look at, I have them in my office where I can see them readily and enjoy – it is summer right!

I am hoping to work on the website with some more pictures, some corrections to a few things and generally try to make sure the patterns and embellishments that go with each other are the right ones! This is my wish to do over summer along with continuing to design for all my projects next year and events.
I hope that you all have a lovely summer and get some vacation in and enjoy family and friends.

Well what do they say absence makes the heart grow fonder? I did miss my family and my dog Cleo, what a greeting I got when I returned, never did a tail wag so hard. My family did come to meet me in Ontario for my niece’s wedding and we had a lovely time with extended family. I even got away for  a few days with my friends from childhood to Stratford – saw a play, took pictures on the Avon etc. it was great, all the spring flowers in full bloom.

But I have to tell you about the ‘Lima’ boys! What can that be you say! Well to get to Celebrations in Nashau, NH it is an all day affair with the airlines, and of course on the day I left Calgary the rain went to snow and our plane was late leaving then we had to get de-iced and so that made me miss my connection to Manchester, NH in Toronto so along with 2 young fellow who were travelling to Lima we got stranded in Toronto for the night.Now it is not what you think, we only had a drink and dinner! On a full plane out of Calgary all other passengers could get connectors that afternoon on later flight except for me and the boys from Lima, as I came to call them. It made for much more fun than a dreary evening in the hotel room waiting to leave the next day.

The gals who got me for class at Celebrations a mere hour after arriving in Nashau had a bit of a surprise as I was rather wound up but I did settle down and thank you girls for not making me feel so bad about my first 1/2 hour rant! I got it out and on we went with a lovely Thistle lavender bag class. How wonderful to see you all at Celebrations, it is so nice now that I am getting to know some of you by name and face! I love that. Thank you all for your words of encouragement and lovely visits in between all the busyiness of the show.

In Montreal with the Lakeshore Stitchery Guild we enjoyed our luncheon immensely and what a great little place – they let us visit all afternoon. A view of the Lake of Two Mountains (lac des Deux Montagnes) and a beautiful day was a treat. On my flight out of Montreal to Toronto I have to tell you – those of you who watch Hockey Night in Canada will know – I talked/met at baggage claim and walked out of the baggage area to the main arrival level in Toronto with Ron Maclean and Don Cherry!! Imagine! It was great, I was hoping I wouldn’t make a fool of myself, but I did tell them that I stitch while my husband watches hockey, and they both said “STITCHING?” and were probably disappointed they weren’t the main event!

Once in Toronto I taught for the Niagara Guild in St. Catharines, my home town where I went to high school and once again had a surprise when I went to Fort George;  working in the kitchen circa 1812 was a highschool friend who I hadn’t seen in many, many years, well since grad, and she recognized me right away and called me by my maiden name – very cool! The stitchers in Niagara were awesome and we had a wonderful time sharing and stitching together for 2 days – it went by all too quickly, it ended rather abruptly when the power went out but we were almost done the second day anyway.

As you can see it was a fun filled month and some exciting things making for good stories. Now I have to be back on the designing board and get some of my projects for the end of this year and next year started and done! Look for fun things to come, look for me at an event to come, you know I love meeting you so make sure you come and say Hi!

As ever, jeannette

Yes, it is that time again to go off to the other side of the country. It will take all day to get to New Hampshire and I am so sorry that I will miss most of Meet and Greet but somehow flights and timing of all this just didn’t work out quite right. To that;  please do come and see the projects at the main table and hope to see you in class in Nashau.Even though it seems so busy at Celebration please don’t hesitate to approach me – I only seem to know some of you by your email address, I would love to put a name to your face and definitely look forward to seeing familiar faces.

From there I will fly to Montreal and we will have a lovely luncheon with the Lakeshore Creative Stitchery Guild on the Monday. Please let Heather know if you will be attending. I look forward to seeing the Quebec stitchers; our time at  Manoir d’Youville was terrific just a few short years ago. I hope the weather is as lovely as it was then. The beautiful weeping willows across the water still hold bright in my memory.

Then it is down to the Niagara area where I grew up and see  familiar faces there too. What a blessing it is to be able to come back to places and share of our love of stitching and share in teaching and helping each other grow in our fervent interest of stitching. I hope that at each event we can learn and grow in our abilities as it gives us such pleasure and also it is such a fun social time. When I worked in nursing there was never very many people  interested in stitching as I was – although one of the psychiatrists I worked with was and we would huddle in the staff room and ooo.. and ah… over what each other was working on, what fun. Now that I am more immersed in it – I certainly don’t feel so alone with my passion and if you ever thought of taking a class or come to an event I can only say – you are missing out if you don’t go!

I am using the Mandala Sampler to create a couple of fun things, one of them is a tart pan pincushion which turned out really cute and Pam from Olde Colonial says she will have a frame for me for the other Mandala.

The round circle patterns just lend themselves to some fun things, I am stitching the over one – one right now in another different colour and it should be cool I think as a pin wheelie – I have a few other Mandala patterns that might be fun too… we shall see, it seems like for the fun stuff I run out of time! See I am doing it last minute before I leave.

Enjoy! think of other fun stuff and we shall see you soon at an event!

In stitching,

jeannette

Thank yooou! to the Portland Stitchers at Acorns and Threads, oh my gosh, it was lovely- lovely weather, lovely weekend, lovely stitchers, lovely gifts. I always say each place I go is the very best and this one was too! How can that be? Stitchers are just great and you make such beautiful things, what a treat to see your stitching and share in the joy of our ‘work’. I say work lightly as we all know it is hardly work, given the fact that we enjoy it so much.

Just a reminder that the On line Needlework show is starting today. Do go have a look at it, you will enjoy seeing the different designers and your local needlework shop can easily order what you have in  mind.

www.needleworkshow.com/

Now I look forward to the next venue! We are madly packing boxes and shipping off to Celebration of Needlework in Nashau, NH. It has been chaos and I sincerely hope I have remembered everything. It is an event of excitement and sharing of our passion of stitching. Hope to see you there.

My last event for the spring is in St. Catharines where I grew up, how absolutely thrilling it is to go your home town and teach. It will be great to see family and friends and make new stitching friends. Just remember to bring scissors and stretcher bars/Q snaps and you are welcome at any event!

In stitching, jeannette