New Releases

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas holiday! My birthday was very nice and Christmas Day was lovely as well. It was sunny yesterday and 40 degrees and ya'll know, I'll love that sunshine! And thankfully, today is more of the same.

Thank you to everyone who wished me a Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas. I just love it when my readers leave me messages! Thank you everyone!

My in-laws headed home first thing this morning. It was so nice to have them here and I miss them already. In fact, I wandered around the house after they left in a bit of a daze. I so enjoyed their company, I almost didn't know what to do with myself!

Anyway, I wanted to let you know that these designs are now available:









You can find them in my Etsy shop. The Redwork Cat designs will be available soon. I still have to do the graphic work on them.

Also, the 2008 Valentine Mystery Stitch-Along starts on January 3rd. That's a week from tomorrow. You can find in my shop as well.

For today, I have to run up town and pick up a few groceries and then this afternoon, I'll put our gifts away and then probably relax and read. I'll be back tomorrow with some of my usual chatter!

Happy Christmas!

I wanted to stop in and wish everyone a very Happy and Safe Christmas holiday. With my inlaws here, I doubt I'll have time to post tomorrow.

Some of you may know that today is my birthday! Yes, I'm a Christmas Eve baby! We'll all be heading over to my mom's house later today and then again tomorrow.

I'll be back on Wednesday. I'll release those Hearts & Flowers Biscornu designs as well as the Butterfly Fantasy designs. I know I have readers who are waiting for them.

It may take me a little while to get back to a stitching project, although I'll admit, I'm starting to miss my stitching and my regular routine. December feels like it's just going on and on. I know some of that is the weather. Yesterday, we had terrible sixty mile per hour winds, blowing snow, bitter cold temps and ya'll know what that does to me! This has really been an active Winter weather month. Despite never having been to Florida, I daydream constantly of having a Winter house there and the financial freedom for Scott and I just pack up our stuff, our cats and go. I'm seeing palm trees and orange groves in my mind and quite vividly at that!

So I may return with more tidbits about me. After the response I received (Thank you everyone!) the other day in regards to my personal beliefs, I will probably be more open and willing to share my personal self with my readers rather than hiding behind the facade of professionalism. After all, I'm a real person sitting here behind the keyboard.

So, I will end here and wish you all again, a very Happy Christmas! May no one end up with a
Sugar Rush from eating too many Christmas Cookies!

Hugs to you all!

Reading Material & Cat Pattern

While out running my errands, I was trying to think of something interesting to talk about today. With my mind on the upcoming holiday and no stitching project going at the moment, I was at a loss!

I remembered that Susan asked me the other day what I was reading so I thought I'd talk about that.

Actually, I hesitated to mention it at first since my choice of reading material is considered to be rather controversial among the norm. I have been told in the past that my business could possibly suffer from my "crazy ideas and beliefs" and that it would be best to keep this sort of thing to myself. (Please apply the utmost sarcasm on my part in reference to that statement.)

After thinking about it and after all the years that I have been designing needlework, I do feel that my work now speaks for itself. I've openly mentioned before that I don't subscribe to any conventional religious belief but rather, I believe we create our own reality.

With all that said, and probably unnecessarily, I am reading The Seth Books by Jane Roberts. If you aren't familiar with The Seth Books, Jane Roberts was a channel (a type of medium) who was able to quiet her mind enough for a non-physical being who called himself Seth, to speak through her. So the books are actually written by Seth, through Jane Roberts and dictated to Jane's husband Rob. Seth's books are about the nature of reality.

Certainly, these are not the first books on this subject that I've read. I have dozens of books on the "Laws Of The Universe" and the nature of reality but I must tell you, Seth's books are rather advanced and certainly, the most fascinating reading I've ever done!

I wouldn't recommend them to someone who is new to this type of material. Well, certainly not until they've become familiar with the subject on a more basic level. For a newbie, I recommend The Abraham Books by Esther and Jerry Hicks. Abraham is group of non-physical beings. They call themselves, Abraham and they speak thought another channel named, Esther. And in this case as well, Esther's husband Jerry takes dictation. After the Abraham books have been read, the Seth books will be easier to comprehend.

So far, I've read The Nature Of Personal Reality, The Magical Approach and Seth Speaks. I finished Seth Speaks last night. I stopped at Borders this morning and bought The Seth Material. I can't wait to curl up on my sofa and dive in!

So that's a little bit of personal stuff about me. See, I told you you might find out some interesting little tid-bit about me!!!

Anyway, before I end for the day, I wanted to share this link with you courtesy of Pat Winter. Several of my readers have asked me if I would share my cat pattern and I've stated that I prefer to keep that pattern for my personal use. I checked out the link that Pat provided yesterday to the "Best Free Craft Articles" blog and here, I found a sweet little cat pattern. It's not at all like mine, but it is a cat and you can enlarge it a bit. It's near the bottom of the page so if you're on dial-up (like me) grab a cuppa while you're waiting for the page to load. It's well worth the wait!

A Touch Of Spring

Today, I thought I'd share a photo of the gift that Kim (my model stitcher) sent to me:



Is there anything more beautiful than Spring flowers?! Kim knows that I just can't stand Winter. The only thing that really helps me get through the cold, dark, dreary days of December & January is the fact that Spring is the next season. And do I ever love Spring!

Well, Kim sent me this basket of gorgeous Spring bulbs and they're just now starting to open. In fact, I went into this kitchen this morning and I could smell them! I have them in my Garden Window and what a cheerful sight they are! And, they're purple! My favorite color. Thank you Kim! They are so beautiful! I will post another photo in a day or two when they open up a little more.

2008 Projects

I mentioned yesterday that I doubt I'll have any stitching to share until after Christmas now. With my in-laws coming on Saturday, I just don't feel like starting on a project and then having to put it down. It's ok as sometimes it's good to take a break.

Sharon B. was recently discussing her philosophy on the "Slow Cloth". Basically, that would be the type of craft that one would take the time to plan out and orchestrate slowly with an emphasis on detail, technique and craftsmanship. Not necessarily something worked entirely by hand but not one of those "whip it in 5 minutes" type of craft projects. To read Sharon's post on this subject, please click here.

Sharon was wondering if we need a better definition for well-thought-out projects that take time to create. I do believe there is a place for the "whip it up" type of projects. It's not what I do or would want to do but I know there are people out there who don't have time or patience for anything but the simple craft project. I do feel that there needs to be a separation in this area rather than all craft projects being lumped into one catagory.

If you have any thoughts on this, feel free to leave a comment here or better yet, since is Sharon's discussion really, leave a comment on her blog.

I've been thinking a lot lately about Sharon's post on this subject and it's made me re-evaluate my own projects. Generally, I don't start something that I can't see myself finishing. I really don't have any UFO's so to speak. A couple of Works In Progress yes, but nothing that I can't bring myself to finish.

You may remember my antique crazy quilt that I bought over the Summer and intended to repair. I'll admit, after starting on it, I do prefer to just do my own CQ projects from scratch. It isn't as much fun to repair an old one but I still intend to do so. Perhaps just a little at a time to get it to the point of it being stable so it doesn't deteriorate any further.

The only other project that I have going is a "sane" patchwork quilt that I started a few years back and only work on in the Winter months. The quilt is done but I've been hand-quilting it and decided that that is just too boring for me. Thankfully, it's almost done and I hope to have it completed by the end of the Winter. From now on, when I get a bee in my bonnet to make a patchwork quilt, I will either tie it or I will machine quilt it.

I can see now that for the most part, my choice of stitching projects is based on what will hold my attention long enough to see it through to completion. For the most part, I choose small projects that I can do in a couple of weeks. It's not so much that I like to have a lot of finished projects to show for my time, but rather avoiding a feeling of being overwhelmed. I do get bored with projects that take more than a few weeks to finish.

It may come from my over-active sense of creativity. I always have a lot of ideas floating around in my head and although I don't keep a "visual journal" as many artists like to do, I do keep a list of the ideas that I really like and want to eventually create in a physical form.

I do have several projects planned for 2008. First is that I plan to partake in Sharon's Take It Further Challenge. This is a year long project where Sharon will post a concept for stitcher's to work with.

The challenge is to take the idea, develop it and push it towards a resolved design during that month. In other words you interpret the idea and apply it to fiber or paper.

Stitcher's can work in their normal medium, for example, in my case, I will be working in the CQ mode. I will be stitching each month on a different 9 inch block and when the year is over, I will assemble them into a quilt.

You may remember that I didn't stay with the TAST challenge. I fully intended to but at one point, I got busy with my work and couldn't keep up and then in other cases, I couldn't apply the weekly stitch to my current project. I also realized that learning new stitches just wasn't what I was interested in. I always go back to and use the basics. Those simple basic stitches that I learned as a child and I will honestly and openly tell you that I am absolutely ok with that! For me, crazy quilting isn't really about the stitches. It's about the over all composition and balance of a piece. And of course, it's about the embellisments!

The other project that I am planning on doing is my Peacock Quilt. It's all pieced but I can't remember when I did the piecing so I can't find the photo in my Flickr album. Anyway, back in the 80's, I stitched a peacock on black satin. It was a pre-stamped design and I never finished it into anything. I came across the stitched piece over the Summer and decided to make it a focal point with CQ worked on either side of it. I still have to pick up a frame that the CQ panels will fit on or I have to ask my husband to make one for me. I really dislike stitching without some sort of hoop or frame to hold onto.

Of course, in between the Take It Further Challenge project and the Peacock Quilt, I will be doing some more purses, some cellphone pouches and of course, more cats for the Comfort Doll Project.

Well, I guess that's quite a bit of rambling for one day. I'll end here and be back tomorrow with more one whatever pops into my head!