Medici wool is available again!

Several years ago, DMC discontinued their line of Medici wool thread. If you've looked for it since, you may have had to scour several shops to access their dwindling supplies. But here's good news for Medici wool fans!

This past weekend, Denise at Threadneedle Street in Washington state sent out an announcement that another company is now making Medici available again. According to this notice, the new thread is "virtually indistinguishable" from the old, and that a vast majority of the previously-available colors (and 13 new colors) are available.

The picture shows a few skeins of DMC Medici next to the same colors in the new version.  For all of the details, see the announcement on Threadneedle Street's website.

An "Odds and Ends" Sale

A little over a year ago, Jane Zimmerman started her website. Jane is known for teaching wonderful canvas and historical pieces at national seminars. Over the past year, Jane has been making some of her past class pieces available through her website, offering a few each quarter.

This quarter (Jan-Mar 2010), she's doing things a bit differently. Rather than offering a few instruction booklets for the duration of the quarter, she's cleaning up. She has extras of some of the instructions from the pieces offered over the past year, and is selling them at reduced prices. Be aware that the sale is first-come, first-served, and she has limited quantities of the charts. In fact, the sale just started Thursday, and some are sold out already!

Jane will be changing the selection of charts approximately every 2-3 weeks throughout the quarter, so if you don't see anything you'd like now, be sure to check back!

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Erin update: Tooth #3 is in!

Reminder: Please vote for Erin in our local paper's baby contest. Voting ends tomorrow, Sunday, January 10.

CyberPointers ANG Chapter

I'm very happy to share the news that ANG has a brand-new online chapter! If you've always wanted to join an ANG chapter but have nothing local, or if you can't make it to meetings, or if (like me) you're looking for additional opportunities to take needlework classes, you may want to join the CyberPointers chapter.

The chapter has its own website: www.cyberpointers.org. The meetings will be conducted via email lists through Yahoo groups. If you sign up in the next day or so, you can participate in the chapter's very first meeting that starts Thursday and runs through the weekend.

A very dedicated team has been working for two hard years to bring this about, getting through many legal and logistical issues. Thank you to that team for your perseverance!

Here are the "Top Ten" reasons to join CyberPointers, as listed by Elizabeth Z, who played a major role in making this happen:

10. A place on the web to meet stitchers and chat about everything needlepoint.
9. Save gas money and help make the world a little greener by joining in meetings right in your own home via computer.
8. Get extra stitching time by not having to drive to a chapter meeting.
7. Fun fundraising projects that include some original designs for the chapter.
6. Join in a group correspondence course and have some friends to stitch with and motivate you to finish.
5. No longer have to be a MAL just because there aren't any chapters near-by.
4. Global community outreach projects that will give you a chance to make the world a better place just by stitching.
3. Access to the Chapter Project Book projects, just like any other chapter.
2. Jim Wurth is teaching the first workshop starting in March.
1. We've all waited 2 long years for this... so let's all show National that we really meant it when we said we wanted a cyber chapter!

Yes, I've joined already. Chapter dues are only $18. If you're not already a member of ANG, you'll have to pay National dues also. With TK (The Kid, remember?) on the way, I figure I'll be missing quite a few local meetings in the next few years, but with the online meetings lasting several days, I'll still be able to participate with CyberPointers.

It's amazing! The chapter just officially opened on November 1st, but already we've got over 175 members! This is obviously meeting a huge demand. Please join us!

Another new project and a SALE!

I did make a tiny bit of progress on the Bargello needlecase Monday night, but finally, after almost two weeks, my 20" Evertite stretcher bars showed up in yesterday's mail. Last night, I managed to mount the canvas for Carolyn Mitchell's My Way and organize some of my stitching area. Tonight, I'll start this - the third new project in a week! (And remember, I've already finished one of them!) From all reports, a lot of time is needed to finish the pre-work on this, and I have just over three weeks to do it.

Of course, the overflowing stash (and WIP/UFO) piles won't prevent me from ogling the lovely items being offered as part of Gay Ann Rogers's "E-week" sale. Gay Ann, a noted national teacher, sells some of her old class pieces, some as instructions only, some as kits, only for one week a year. That week started TODAY. If you liked my Strawberry Girl, the pattern is for sale again this week. As I have many of Gay Ann's designs, both from last year's sale and from eBay and other online stitcher-to-stitcher sale, I'm trying to limit my purchases. Right now, the only piece I'm sure I'll pick up is her Almost Whitework sampler. Why do I always like the BIG and COMPLICATED pieces? :-)

A new ornament

The kit for the next ornament in Jim Wurth's dodecagon series arrived in yesterday's mail. Here are the supplies for Czarina:I did start this today (recall that this series is exempt from my challenge), and made some decent progress. I'll post progress pics tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I'm having a hard time staying away from some LNS sales. The last thing I need is more stash, but I've had a cart open at Bits and Bobs for several days, since they have most of their stock at 20-25% off. There are five charts in my cart now. (Why do I do this!?!?!?) The sale is going on through the weekend. I'll wait at least until after Friday to check out, because one of my local shops is having a 20% off sale on Friday. If they have any of these charts, I'd rather spend the money locally. Stay tuned, and I'll share what I eventually purchase, if anything. (Who am I kidding?) :-P

Jean Hilton patterns

In today's post, I'd like to address a question just posted as a comment. Jody asked where she could find Jean Hilton patterns. The question is much more easily answered now than a few years ago.

(Disclaimer: I have no financial interest whatsoever in the shop described below - or any other shop, other than giving them my money for more stitching goodness!)

Jean is retired now, but still maintains a fairly active presence on one or two of the needlepoint email lists. She retired after teaching Scottlee only once at an EGA (or was it ANG?) seminar. She was encouraged to teach it again this past summer for a group in Arizona, but to my knowledge, that's all she's taught and/or published in recent years.

I (unfortunately) did not take either class of Scottlee with Jean. My chart came from a stitcher who took the class at seminar, finished the piece, and then posted a picture of her finished piece on a message board or something. I've forgotten where I saw it! Anyway, I emailed the stitcher and asked her if I could purchase her chart. This very generous stitcher gave me her chart. Thanks, Claudia, if you ever read this!

So, that chart is very hard to find. Fortunately, though, many of Jean's other charts aren't so elusive. A couple of years ago, Jean posted on a message board that she wanted to sell the copyrights to her self-published charts, because she didn't want to deal with the hassle of distribution anymore, and hadn't been selling any for a few years. I actually very seriously considered taking it on, and even spoke with Jean about it. In the end, I decided not to do so, because it was a considerable amount of money to tie up in inventory when I didn't yet have a means to sell it, and because I was in the middle of an intensive master's degree program!

The bottom line, though, is that these charts were purchased by an Indiana shop called Stitches from the Heart. They have a website, and you can see and purchase most of Jean's patterns there. Also, your LNS might be willing to order these patterns wholesale (from the same shop), and then you can buy them through the LNS.

For the period of time right after Jean retired, but before the charts were again available, I had pretty good success finding some on eBay. Jean's charts are still posted regularly there, but you have to be cautious, because often the starting price and the shipping add up to more than what you'd pay at the shop.

Good luck choosing your favorite pattern! The next ones on my wish list are the Michigan series: Flint, Dowagiac, Lansing, and Eagle Harbor, though I have many of Jean's patterns in my stash to keep me busy without these! :-)

[Edited to remove some incorrect statements after Jean graciously pointed them out! My apologies, Jean!]

The Shining Needle Society

With not much progress on anything last night, I don't have any new WIP photos to share today. Instead, I'm going to tell you about an online group that has many stitchers (including me) very excited!

First, a disclaimer: I have absolutely no financial interest in this group. My only intention is to share a great online class opportunity with other stitchers, because I'm thrilled about it! :-)

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you've seen my progress on the redwork mystery sampler from Gay Ann Rogers. This sampler's online support group was the first offering from the Shining Needle Society, or SNS. Now that the sampler is almost done (Gay Ann sent out the last window this week), the organizers of SNS have started to reveal how SNS will evolve.

The mission statement of SNS is "To provide nurturing and inspiring opportunities for growth in the study of needlework, with the hope of continuing the legacy of embroidery art for future generations." The group has been described as "an online seminar", where top designers/teachers will provide opportunities to take online classes. So far there's an offering from Janet Zickler Casey, but Gay Ann says she'll be back with a new mystery soon, and there are hints of classes with Judy Souliotis and Jane Zimmerman. Plus some retired teachers may take advantage of teaching classes without the travel.

SNS is morphing from a single Yahoo! Group for Gay Ann's sampler. There is now a group for "SNS Home Room", and Gay Ann's sampler group is turning into her "classroom". Each new class offering will have it's own Yahoo! Group, available only to those taking that class, but anybody can join the SNS Home Room list to get announcements of future class opportunities. (If you're not already a member of any of Yahoo's services, you will have to create a Yahoo account.)

Yes, so far this group looks like it's primarily needlepoint or counted thread work. Perhaps if SNS hears of a need for surface embroidery also, some of those teachers may be encouraged to join in the fun!

I can't wait to see what new classes SNS has in store for us over the next few months!

Enabling...

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know Gay Ann Rogers as the designer of the mystery sampler I'm stitching. But did you know that Gay Ann is currently holding a sale she calls "E-Merchandise Week"? To see what she has for sale, visit her blog, and look at the September and October (2007) entries.

My apologies for not posting about the sale earlier this week. You only have a few days left to decide and send an email to Gay Ann. She'll then send you the total amount, including shipping. Here's the catch: all checks must be postmarked by Monday 10/22. If you're interested in anything, don't delay!

What did I buy? Given the number of projects I have in my stash, I had no business buying anything! But why would that stop me? I have been coveting the 4 seasonal girls (Acorn, Strawberry, Flower, and Snowflake) ever since I saw them made into a lampshade(!) on ANG's website, so I picked them up. (Hint - Gay Ann gives you a price break if you buy all four!) I also purchased Diamond Roundabout and a kit called 'Ruskin Garden Square', of which she only had 1 kit, so the blog post disappeared quickly.

Now, for my disclaimer: I have absolutely no financial interest in the success of this sale. I do, however, want designers like Gay Ann to be successful, so they continue providing us with wonderful things to stitch! :-)

Another busy week

Sorry for not posting much this week. For maybe the fourth time in a year, both EGA and ANG meetings fell in the same week! So I had EGA on Monday, ANG tonight, and the LNS stitch night tomorrow.

I've been working on the canvas for my cousin's daughter, which I started on the plane to Vegas. In case you're wondering, the canvas is one of Kathy Schenkel's First Christmas canvases. You can see it on this page of Kathy's site. It's number CO301, and I should be done with the stitching by Saturday or Sunday.

If you haven't explored Kathy's site, you're in for a treat. Her canvases are so much fun! My LNS has had her trunk show in each of the last two years, and it's always difficult to choose only one or two! :-)

What happens in Vegas...

What's a stitcher to do when arriving in Las Vegas for the first time? Visit the LNS (Stitcher's Paradise) at the first opportunity, of course! My first (and only) opportunity was Wednesday afternoon when I arrived.

(If you want to hear the saga of how I found the LNS, read on. If you only want to hear about the LNS, go to the red stars ******** below.)

I rented a car, since I would have paid almost as much by taking a cab. Unfortunately, my directions were from the airport, not from the offsite car rental place! I asked for directions from a guy at the garage, but quickly lost track after the second turn. Good thing that my printout from Google maps was detailed enough that I didn't get too lost. I missed the highway completely, but found my way onto Dean Martin Drive. Unfortunately, it's not at all obvious how to turn left off of Dean Martin Drive onto one of the main streets. (They have all these side routes that act as exits off of DMD to the main streets, but they're not marked as such, so I kept driving under the streets I wanted to be on!) Anyway, I eventually turned left onto a street, any street!

From there, I kept going for a few miles until I hit Rainbow Blvd, on which (somewhere) was my destination. Hoping I wasn't too far north, I headed north, realizing that my headache was due to a lack of food, and a visit to a restroom was in order, too! I finally found one of the run-of-the-mill, found everywhere, fast-food joints, and pulled in. Not exactly what everyone goes to Vegas for, but I didn't care at that point! While I was there, I asked the manager which direction I needed to travel to get to Sahara (Rd? Blvd?). Sure enough, I was too far north! After a burger, etc., I headed back the way I came, and found the correct plaza.

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A name like Stitcher's Paradise sets some pretty big expectations! This shop did a pretty good job of living up to them: a huge wall of threads, with extra carousels and drawers of more threads, four large shelving units of fabrics, a good selection of painted canvases, and shelves and carousels of charts from the hottest designers. There was a small table up front where stitchers could gather, and another room in back that looked like it was for classes and storage of less-frequently requested items. (Unfortunately, this great shop does not have a website.)

The owner, Gina, was working with a customer when I came in, so I poked around a bit. I found some threads for the ornament canvas for my cousin's little girl, then visited the book racks. I looked through the higher-count linens; there were at least a dozen colors in 40 ct, and more of 34-36 ct! Gina helped me refine my thread selections, then she cut linen for me and helped me find a "Las Vegas" canvas.

Here's what came home with me:

• Las Vegas angel canvas from Painted Pony Designs
• Glory scissors from Gingher (I've been looking for these!)
• A fat half of R&R Flax Fields linen in 36 ct (tentatively for Mouline Rouge)
• A book full of pictures and histories of samplers titled Pioneer Memorial Museum Samplers. This was put together by the Daughters of Utah Pioneers and the Swan Samplers Stitchers Guild.
• A nail file with a scene of the LV strip on one side and Stitcher's Paradise information on the other (because I needed a nail file!)
• Two cards of Mandarin Floss from Rainbow Gallery. This floss is made from bamboo, and is wonderful to work with!
• 1 skein of Vineyard Silk Shimmer, which is twisted like a pearl cotton, but has two strands of blending filament worked through it.
• 1 pack of Mill Hill beads (not in picture)
• A "Project Pak" box, which is a really neat little box that has four separate compartments for beads, needles, or other small stuff.
  

The rest of the trip was filled with more typical Vegas stuff: dinner at a Mexican restaurant; convention on Thursday followed by sightseeing on the strip (including the water show at the Bellagio and the live lions in the MGM Grand), dinner at a Japanese restaurant, and losing a bit of money on the slots. Friday morning I stopped by a bakery in Paris (the Paris hotel, that is) and enjoyed a croissant before heading off to the airport. All in all, a fun trip, though I really wish I had time for a massage at the spa!

$40.28 and 373 skeins later...

You may have heard that Walmart will soon no longer be carrying DMC. The news has been going around on the needlework boards. So, I ventured out to my local store to see what (if any) DMC they had for 10¢ a skein.

Now, I rarely go into Walmart. (Actually I haven't been there at all since DH saw the Walmart Movie and told me about it, but we figured that in this case, they're not making any money on selling me floss at 10¢ a skein. We agreed that this could be an exception to the no Walmart policy!) As a result, I wasn't even sure where the craft section was, but I found it easily enough. And I found the DMC - on hard-to-turn, very noisy when they did turn, carousels. Each bin had a nice big 24¢ label on it. Hmm....

I picked up a skein and walked over to the cutting table. The lady there didn't know anything about the floss being on sale or being discontinued, but she scanned it and read off the price - 10¢! Good enough for me.

Heading back over to the carousels, I pulled one of each available color (actually 2 of black, white, and B5200), ignoring all those in the wrong bins. Many, many minutes later (did I mention those carousels are a pain?), I had a basket nearly full of floss, and headed up to the checkout area.

Luckily, the store manager was one aisle over from my line, and I drew his attention to my basket, asking him if he wanted to open up another register because I was going to take a while! He thanked me for asking, and pointed me over to the customer service desk. The clerk and I quickly worked out a system. I'd line up a handful of UPC labels, hand them to her, and she scanned the handful with the handheld scanner. It worked out well, though I was afraid the poor girl was going to develop a hand cramp by the end of the pile!

The end result? 373 skeins:These will be waiting for to be organized somehow when I get home from Las Vegas on Friday. I'm headed out there for a conference on Thursday, but will be sure to stop by the local needlework shop, Stitcher's Paradise, while I'm there! I'll share any new stash pics over the weekend! :-)

The Needlework Show

First, a disclaimer: I'm completely unaffiliated with this, but always like the opportunity to window-shop (or, in this case, screen-shop!). Now, on to the news...

The Needlework Show is going on! This is an online show, and while only wholesale buyers can actually purchase anything, we stitchers can browse and let our local (or not-so-local) shops know what we want! Most of the designs are counted cross stitch or counted thread designs, but even lovers of painted canvas, counted canvas, or punchneedle might find something tempting. Be aware that not all of the designs are new, but they may be new to you. I found one design I had stitched quite a while ago. This is still a great way to check out lots of designs in one place!

To look through the designers sites, click on the link above. Once you're on the site, click on "General Viewing", and you'll be taken to a list of designers. I recommend starting at the last vendor or the first, and then just using the "previous vendor" or "next vendor" link at the bottom of each page to see more. (Trust me, if you start in the middle at your favorite designer and then go to the end, it doesn't automatically loop back to the first on the list.)

Heaven knows I don't need any more projects, but I've found a few that I really like:

• Art-Stitch: The circular stylized florals at the top of the page are quite striking.
• Dames of the Needle: The Elizabethan Purse is gorgeous! A former class piece - I may have to pick this up!
• In the Company of Friends: This company sells items with images of samplers, rather than items to stitch. I particularly like the Quick Start Sets, especially the swans.
• Historic Stitches: Since I previously stitched a sampler with a pink house, the John Foster sampler is calling to me.
  
• Jeanette Ardern Designs: Villa I and Villa II remind me of my trip to Italy last year, and Reflection is intriguing.
• Kelmscott Designs: These magnets are beautiful!
• Threads of Gold: Repro samplers...need I say more? And the original samplers are beautiful, too!

I'm sure I could find others if I went through again! Enjoy!