Sharon G’s book
I am still sick but I wanted to do a quickie (no sexual innuendo involved) about Sharon G’s Simply Essential Needlepoint Stitch Explanations new book. Or as she calls it Sharon G’s SENSE and so it is.
I just got it and listed it as fast as possible (no, I did not sneeze on it).
It is a terrific book with some (simply) sensible advice and great stitch diagrams.
I have added a few new Amy Bunger needlepoint DVDs.
The In & Outs of Needleweaving with Amy Bunger & Kelly Clark
Mops Tops & Buzz Cuts
Just FUR fun
Sadly, Amy’s Fancy Flowers DVD has been discontinued.
I am reading Alice Adams by Booth Tarkington, the well know author of Seventeen, published in 1916. I read Seventeen way back when and only remember that I enjoyed it. I think I will re-read it sometime.
I’ll tell you this, going directly from Robert Parker’s last Spencer novel (which I liked despite it’s tepid reviews) to Booth Tarkington takes some elasticity of mind (of which I have the tiniest bit)
I am going back to bed.
sniffle
We went away for the weekend and I came home sick, again. Just a cold but still….
One of the downsides to working on my own (or with wonderful Danielle next door) is that I do not often have contact with the “public”.
When I do, I seem to get sick.
The thing is, if I do not get away from home, it is hard to take any time off. Any time not spent keeping house (ick) or sleeping is spent working.
Time off from that might be a pay-per-view movie with K once or twice a week and my reading. Otherwise, work.
Since he has a 3 day weekend almost every weekend, we go away a lot for the weekend.
Danielle keeps an eye on Jack The Cat for us. Feeds him, scoops his box and plays/cuddles/pets him. She is the only person (myself included) for whom Jack will fall blissfully asleep in their arms.
So, I came home to several smaller orders and 1 big order (real big) and another order today.
I can’t have Danielle come over to package them, I do not want to make her sick and I am pretty sure I am contagious right now (K is avoiding me, speaks to me from a distance).
He does not want to get sick.
But…back to NewNeedlepoint.com reality, after all this is supposed to be a Needlepoint blog, not a “marianne whines blog”
I replaced all of the many June McKNight books that a customer cleaned me out of (not that I mind).
I finally replaced the Deb Mentz book, Colorworks, A Crafters Guide. Ignore the word “crafters” (I know, I dislike that word too and hate it when people refer to Needlepoint as a craft). This is a good color book and spiral bound inside a hard cover, always good.
I sold Melinda Mc Ara’s hand painted Fenway Park canvas as a kit today. It is less than a week since I listed it.
The customer is, like me, a Boston Lady and she wants to stitch it for her husband. As you might know, I am stitching it for K (the Red Sox fanatic, did you know regular Baseball season starts This Week?)
I am doing 2 sides of the border first, when I get to the main body of the canvas I will start posting pictures of it here. This is the perfect canvas for a plain stitcher like me. All the detail in the center of the canvas will benefit from plain stitching.
Jane, the excellent, knowledgable and generous Chilly Hollow Needlepoint Adventure Blog Mistress sent me some beads to do the peoples heads with.
I have never mixed beads in with needlepoint before but I think I am up to it.
Did you know that in terms of popular decorative stitch needlepoint I am basically a moron? Good thing I have friends who know this stuff. On the other hand, when it comes to design and color, I can hold my own with almost anyone….so I am not a total waste of space in the Needlepoint Universe.
I am reading Robert Parker’s last published book. I thought I had read the last one but it turns out I had it wrong. This is called Painted Ladies and he is glib, charming and tricky, as always.
There is a lot of Susan Silverman in this book but a slightly different Susan, she is looking for reassurance that she is The Most Beautiful and since he loves her, he gives it out generously.
I will miss Spencer books. Never did get into the Jesse Stone or Sunny Randall books but I might have to, to fill the Robert Parker hole.
I have read that there is a posthumous Spencer novel coming. I can only hope he completed it and it is not cobbled together.
That usually does not work well. The only really successful “composite novel” I ever read was Sanditon by Jane Austen and “Another Lady”.
I think I will go back to bed for a while to gather strength to package all these orders……sniffle.
me again, mixed bag
Yes, it’s me again. I am still on a roll. I have most of the new Canvases & Kits listed.
I now have just 5 more, the 4 Laurel Burch designs that were on order for forever and an Eileen Best I forgot I had (DOH).
I am launching into books tonight, I need to start whittling down my piles of unlisted books.
Good News: I now have 12 copies of Sandy Arthur’s book, The Shapes of Needlepoint Part 1 (12!)
I have 7 new and one I am not sure if it is brand new like they claimed copies of the now discontinued and soon to be impossible to find in new condition The Complete Illustrated Stitch Encyclopedia.
It has been a big seller here on NewNeedlepoint.com and I am glad to have these copies (if I had 25 that would be even better)
More good news, it turns out my supplier and I had a miscommunication about the status of another book I sell a lot of here, Susan Sturgeon Roberts Tips and Techniques for Needlepoint.
It is not this book, which is very popular, that is being discontinued but her other much less popular book , The Thread, Canvas & Needle Handbook for Needlepoint. I have 2 of those left.
Ok, new canvases & kits (since last time I babbled here).
Jane Wheeler’s Crazy Hearts. I love these colors. This is available as a kit or the canvas alone.
Gail Lang’s 4 Caribbean Fish, again, wonderful colors. This too is being sold as a kit or the canvas alone.
2 new Laurel Burch designs. Cat Angel Ornament Kit
Dog Tribe, as both a kit or the canvas alone. Laurel Burch uses these jewel tones colors so well.
I know I have shown you the Fenway Park canvas or kit and Boston Red Sox Ornament or Medallion kit designs, hand painted by Melinda Mc Ara before but they are finally listed (took me long enough).
My stock of Beginner Needlepoint Kit is very low. I have ordered more and they should be here either soon or in 4-6 weeks (welcome to the business of needlepoint) . I did find one that I never listed. It is a small Fuschia Flower. It is perfect for a beginner or novice stitcher. It comes as a kit.
The new books I am working on listing right now are mostly Knitting Books, with a few other kinds mixed in. I know nothing about knitting. My mother always knitted and tried to teach me many times but it never took. I think I should keep the Idiots Knitting Book for myself, maybe.
another one?
Wednesday March 23rd 2011, 1:09 pm
Filed under:
Mostly Books You can tell that I am humming along with my NewNeedlepoint.com work, I have lots to say about it.
I am busy listing canvases & kits.
I have recently (including today) had a series of very large book orders. All of them want Sandra Arthur’s book, The Shapes of Needlepoint, Part 1. I still have 1 copy of this book and 8 more on the way.
They all want Father B’s 21st Century Book of Stitches. I have 3 more copies of this book and 5 more on the way.
Many of the orders want Lucinda Ganderton’s Stitch Sampler. I have 1 copy left and more on the way.
Some want The TNNA’s How to Needlepoint which is more of a booklet than a book. I have 1 left and need to order more
Almost everybody wants a copy of Mary Kay Davis’s 1982 book, The Needlework Doctor.
I have lost track of how many copies of this book I have bought. I can tell you that I have bought 3 in 2011, so far. I could have sold more if I had them in stock.
They are getting hard to find in decent condition and more expensive every time I find them.
Today I found a tiny cache of The Needlework Doctor in New Condition. I bought the 2 least priced copies. There were more for more money. I will not buy them until I have to.
These copies are going to be expensive. Not Margaret Boyles Bargello: An Explosion in Color expensive but still….more.
In return you will get a mint condition copy (I hope or I will protest/return them).
I have recently been selling lots of Amy Bunger’s DVDs. I have an order for more in and added a few new titles like Needlepoint Weaving and Buzz Cuts, Mop Tops and Eyebrows as well as the usual A Closet Full Of Stitches and the floral one etc.
I only have 1 of Amy’s Closet Full of Stitches left (I was smart enough to buy more then 1 of these last time I ordered)
TA-DA I have 2 copies of Sharon G’s new book *Sharon G’s Simply Essential Needlepoint Stitch Explanations* on the way and I can get more of them.
I love the book’s name, it says it all and says it well. It is a brand new book, just released this year and I do not have a picture of it yet (and could not find one on-line to “borrow”).
Jane, the mistress of The Chilly Hollow Needlepoint Adventure Blog just sent me her picture of Sharon G’s new book. What ever I need, needlepoint wise, always seems to be down at Chilly Hollow…Thanks Jane
Sharon G’s book is divided into 3 sections (this is lifted verbatim from Sharon G’s web site, Thanks Sharon)
1) stitches with very low texture and minimal patterns pages 8-16
2) stitches with medium texture and no diagonal flow pages 17-41
3) stitches with well defined diagonal flow pages 42-80.
A lady scooped up almost all my June McKNight books, in one order. It would be easier to tell you what I still have than to list what she bought.
I still have the 3 holiday titles
I had multiple copies of Plants & Animals for Needlepoint, Shading and Thread Blending Techniques and Colorful Stitches for Over-Dye Threads
Also the 2 June McKNight Bargello Books
I have placed a huge June McKnight re-order. Huge.
Now the bad news. Susan Sturgeon Roberts, in addition to her very popular classic book, 2000′s The Complete Needlepoint Guide (still in print) has/had 2 other wonderful small plastic spiral bound books.
Tips and Techniques for Needlepoint
Thread, Canvas & Needle Handbook for Needlepoint.
They are now out of print and not available anywhere. I have searched in all those “dark places” where I find orphan books but nada, nothing to be found.
I sold my last copy of Tips & Techniques today. It has always been a good selling book for me.
I have 2 copies of The Thread, Canvas & Needle Handbook for Needlepoint left, then there are no more
Such is Life (I do love a good cliche’).
a typical week, so far
It is/was a new week. I have all the Erhman Kits listed and all the replacement used/rare books re-listed. I was choosing colors for the few new, new canvases I had and editing the pictures so I could begin listing canvases & kits when several things happened.
1) my washing machine (bought new last July) spewed water all over the laundry room in the basement. I called LG for service and they first asked me 20 minutes of questions including what detergent did I use. Clearly they were trying their hardest to make this “my fault”. They failed and I am scheduled for warranty service on Wednesday.
2) The laundry room downstairs is where we keep Jack’s cat box but the floor was very wet and after I wiped it up, damp. Jack was not pleased. He kept running upstairs to yell at me, then back downstairs, then up again, meow meow very loud until I moved the box into the hall.
3) Jack The Cat got sick (as in kitty puke) all over my desk including on the canvas I was listing. It was a very nice hand painted Mary Engelbreit Tea Pot canvas which is now in the trash. He also puked on the floor (as usual).
Did I mention K is away all week at a Thermography class in N.C.? I don’t drive much anymore, I get dizzy often, A side effect from my former brain tumor which I have not written about here since it is , by now, a tedious oft told story but anyway I do not drive.
I had some orders Sunday & Monday that needed to go to the Post Office so I asked my next door teenage (18) neighbor and sometimes helper, Danielle, to drive my car to the PO.
Off she goes. Meanwhile I realized I had forgotten to give her the money for the PO. It was sitting right there on the table and I forgot.
Needless to say, 18 YOs do not have any money.
She came back and I gave her the money and then she went again.
And it is only Tuesday.
A very popular book on NewNeedlepoint.com is The Complete Illustrated Stitch Encyclopedia. It is (or was) a new book and I sell a lot of them at $17.95.
Well, I went to re-order and found that they are no longer carried by any of my book wholesalers. Maybe out-of-print? So, I goggled it and scooped up all the new copies I could find (in the dark secret places I go for such things).
I have 10 copies on order from 7 different sources, all in new condition but after that I might not be able to find any more new copies.
I have an interesting new canvas from Patt & Lee Designs, it is called The Bride
It is a Victorian Era bride in full regalia. At first I thought it was too much background in too dismal a color and did not order it.
Then I thought again. The background color can be changed (as long as it is another color of similar hue, so It covers the gray) and all that background gives me a place to add the wedding date, custom drawn, and even the names if you like. There is plenty of room. I will be listing this canvas or kit this week (I hope or early next week).
I have some other wonderful canvases (and kits) to add.
This is a large 14 mesh design by Laurel Burch called Dog Tribe
A Susan Treglown design I call Cosmic Sphere.
A Melinda McAra Hand Painted Celtics medallion or ornament
I have similar designs for The Boston Red Sox and the New England Patriots ( she is a Boston girl, as am I).
I have a gift quality copy of A Gardener’s Book of Needlepoint.
This is the first copy of this book which has it’s dust jacket.
It is in terrific condition and just the gift for the stitching gardener you know (we all know one).
So, other than my string of piddly disasters I am doing Ok this week. I am reading, for the first time, Dickens Great Expectations. It is wonderful. The language and descriptions are perfect and quite entertaining.
I had seen this movie in it’s older version (directed by David Lean with John Mills and a young Jean Simmons as young Estella, great movie) and a newer re-make (Ethan Hawke & Gwyneth Paltrow UGH) but they do not come close to the book. I wish I had found Dickens work years ago but it is not too late, is it?
marianne pops her head up
I think it has been a week since I last wrote a blog entry. That is disgraceful. I have all kinds of excuses but still….
I left you hanging as we went off to meet my son’s new girlfriend and treat them to a weekend at Foxwoods.
It went well, she is amazing and I liked her enormously. She is smart, classy, pretty, fun to talk to and clearly loves my son.
He is besotted. Not stupid besotted but more “this is the one” besotted, they are lovely to be around and we all had a good time.
We left them to themselves some, this would be the first real vacation they ever had together but met up for meals etc. There was much laughter.
She has already begun transforming my son, who pretty much dressed like a typical sloppy “single guy”. I bought him all his “good clothes”
Well, she told him “no more” and took him out to Nordstrom where she had his casual clothes actually fitted to him. He looked terrific and it was the first time he had on jeans that fit just right.
I gave her full responsibility & control over dressing him, I abdicated happily.
With the taxes done (except for occasional hysterical calls from Paul, the accountant, saying “what the hell is this?”) I was able to put all my energy into listing the huge piles of new items I have for NewNeedlepoint.com.
I spent Monday picking colors for kits. This is my favorite thing to do, for this business, but it must be done in daylight. Colors look different and react differently with other colors in artificial light.
Tuesday I finished the colors, did the photographs of the kits and a huge pile of books. Wednesday I edited the pictures and began listing the Erhman Needlepoint Kits.
They range in age from 1990 to 1997. They are all in new condition. They were bought by a lady who clearly loves Florals and the color Green. She never stitched these. She opened the bags and in most cases took out the color picture of what the finished canvas would look like.
Other than that, the kits are untouched. Erhman canvases come folded, and I need them flat for my pictures, so I steam ironed them all flat ( very carefully between layers of towels). I am not going to put them back into the Erhman Kit bags, the bags are all grimy from their years of storage.
I will not re-fold the canvases either. I will ship them rolled or flat, according to size.
They are mostly large canvases. There is 1 (maybe 2, I forget) Penelope Canvas and 2 others that are double strand canvas but not really Penelope.
The meshes are 10 or 12, with the double strand being more like a 14 mesh.
Below are a few pictures, there are 10 kits, all together. I have 8 listed, the other 2 will be done when I finish this.
Striped Lilly designed by Lillian Delevoryas
Artichoke by Kaffe Fassett
20 X 20 inch Roses Cushion by Elian Mc Cready
Next (later today) I will replace the rare/used books that have recently sold. Each times one sells I have to photograph the replacement copy and describe it’s condition. Obviously I do not have to do this for the new books, as long as I have them in stock.
Ok, I have some news from Sandy Arthur, the author of the current “hot” needlepoint book, The Shapes of Needlepoint Part 1.
Her new book, The Shapes of Needlepoint Part 2 will be released next August. I already have 3 orders for it.
I have stock on Part 1.
I also have a few copies of June McKnight’s brand new book Spooky Stitches.. The book is full of stitches and stitch variations with some very halloweeny names. As always with the McKnight books, it is an informative and easy to use book.
Anyway, I am ok, almost good in fact. Once I actually get going I enjoy listing new items. I love writing the book reviews/overviews. Sometimes (not often) I even get to be sarcastic. Below is the link to the worst needlework book review I ever wrote, so far anyway.
It is for The Handbook of Needlepoint Stitches by Mary Meister Walzer
I just finished reading the last Spenser book written by Robert B. Parker before he died. *The Professional* is Parker near the “top of his game” and I enjoyed it. I think I have read all the Spencer novels. I even have a few autographed copies by him.
No, I can’t stand Susan Silverman (can anyone?)
I never did meet him but I (very) briefly worked at Kate’s Mystery Books in Cambridge, MA. The store is something of an “institution” in the mystery book world. Robert Parker built all the shelves and did a very good job of it, too.
My stay at Kate’s was not long. She lived right upstairs and I was hired to cover the shop in the afternoons so she could go “home”.
I made it very clear I could work the hours she needed but I HAD to be relieved by 3:30 pm firm.
I had to pick up my son at his school in Lincoln, MA at a certain time and the staff at the school were not at all happy about late pickups. The kids got pretty stressed too when a parent did not show in time.
Kate just could not manage to come downstairs by 3:30 P, even when I called to remind her so I could not work there anymore. Too bad too, I liked it there.
So much for another story of mine, I have zillions.
Back to work.
done: 2:57 am
I love this expression and I get to use it tonight.
“stick a fork in me, I’m done”
I have finished everyone’s taxes. Ours were last and they were hard but I did it.
All 4 trust accounts I manage & our stuff is on it’s way to my accountant.
I feel like someone has lifted a heavy yoke from my shoulders. I plan to have a nice breakdown tomorrow. It will include sobbing, ice cream and “girl movies”. I will not get dressed. I might shower but if I do, I will put on a clean nightgown.
I have some neglected financial stuff to do (bank statements etc) and I might get to them tomorrow (and I might not).
This weekend we are driving to Foxwoods, in Connecticut, the original Indian Casino and I am told, the biggest casino in the world, My son is bring his wonderful new GF and we are meeting her for the first time.
We all thought this would be more relaxed and fun then just sitting around someone’s living room trying to make conversation. It was both my idea and his GF’s idea, we thought it up at pretty much the same time (GMTA).
I already adore this girl, everything she does is more or less what I would do, having to do with my son. He is so screwed (LOL).
I will be back Sunday night. Monday morning, bright and early (which means 10:30 am in marianneland), I will be starting the long neglected NewNeedlepoint work.
I have many canvases & kits to list and piles of books that total 56 inches tall, if they were all in one pile, which they are not.
I am happy. Night.
Sandy & me
This time of year I talk to my account often, he tells me accountant jokes, in general accountant humor is not as funny as they think it is.
Still, he & I sit on the phone and laugh. I have been with him for years now, he lives in MA but does taxes all over the place. A good accountant is worth keeping.
OK, on to the title of this blog. I was out of the very popular new book by Sandra Arthur *The Shapes of Needlepoint Part 1*
I was taking backorders, which is unusual for me and sweating out waiting until my distributor had more copies.
I had been emailing back & forth with the author, Sandy Arthur. She wrote to thank me after my first mention of her book here on my blog.
I had been discussing the run I am having on her books when she suggested I could buy some from her.
Well, she is my current hero. She sold me 6 copies and Priority Mailed them so I had them in 2 days.
I was able to fill any backorders I had and I now have 6 copies in stock (4 from Sandy & 2 from my distributor) with 8 more expected in the middle of March.
Disaster (on a small scale) averted.
Sandy told me that her new book, The Shapes of Needlepoint Part 2, is at the printers right now and should be released soon. I hope to have copies as soon as it is available.
What else. NewNeedlepoint.com is “short” of needlepoint canvases & kits right now. I have a bunch waiting to be listed. When I take sanity breaks (sanity? me?) from the tax stuff I work on kitting them, working with the colors is soothing after numbers.
I have few Laurel Burch designs listed but I have a few to list and more on order (which are taking more then the usual 6 weeks)
And very few Patt & Lee regular designs right now. I sent a number of them to Patt to include in her trunk shows
What I do have is almost all the Patt & Lee Scrap Thread Canvases in stock
With more on the way.
Reading? I just finished an amazing book called A Discovery of Witches. It is very different from the current crop of witch/vampire/daemon books out there. It was written by a historian, Deborah Harkness, her first non-history book and it is an engrossing read.
A book for adults by an adult. Rare these days.
I like to alternate these “smart people” books with light & fluffy romance reading. My current author of choice in that category is Victoria Alexander. I am new to her books but they are a welcome and witty change from Jude Deveraux and Amanda Quick/Jayne Ann Krantz.
They both get fairly turgid after awhile. I read Ms. Alexander’s The Perfect Mistress and recommend it (within the confines of it’s genre). I enjoyed it. Now I am reading The Marriage Lesson. I like it too and the Heroine is named “marianne”
There you go!
no title
I do not have any idea what to call this blog. It is going be some of my usual rants and then needlepoint kits and a few books.
I am having a run of stupidness, an extended run.
I received an order on 2/26 for Margaret Boyles extraordinary book: Bargello, an Explosion of Color. As I have said before (and before that) this is the book I taught myself Bargello with, I am a huge fan of Mrs Boyles. This book has become harder to get and very expensive since I started selling it in 2009.
Somehow the order slipped through the “cracks” in my brain (getting bigger by the minute) and I never shipped it. In response to an email from the customer, I checked and realized I had forgotten to ship it.
I wrote to her immediately and said how sorry I was, that by way of apology I would ship it Priority Mail instead of slower Media Mail.
Then, guess what? I shipped it Priority Mail ($7.50 as opposed to $2.77 media mail) to THE WRONG PERSON.
I was so confused by the number of orders I am receiving for Sandra Arthur’s new book that I got mixed up and shipped it to someone on the Shapes of Needlepoint waiting list.
I emailed the lady I mistakenly shipped it to and told her what had happened. I did not want to admit what a banana brain I was so I told her the customer had paid for faster shipping. I asked her to ship it back to me.
Again, stupid of me.
I got a nasty email back saying she would not return the books to me until she received her backordered book, then she would mail the mistaken order to the person it was meant for.
YIKES
So, I had to tell her the truth (which I hate doing) and tell her I had already sent the customer I had forgotten another copy of the Margaret Boyles book (which is true).
I told her I had shipped it priority mail not because the customer paid more for it but because I had forgotten to ship her order when I got it.
What am I supposed to say to the customer who is expecting the book I forgot to ship. “oh, I know I forgot your order but now you have to wait until another pissed off customer sends your book to you after she gets her back ordered book from me”.
Damn.
I am done with everyone’s taxes but ours, that is, of course, the hardest since it includes my business. As I have complained before, my accountant & friend, Paul, says that unless I cost every sale I made in 2010 I am issuing the IRS an engraved invitation to audit me (shudder).
So, I have been digging deeper into the rare/used books lists and am finding some books I was not aware of. Amazing books. I have some unusual Margaret Boyles and a Hope Hanley I have never seen or heard of before.
I now have 4 feet of rare/used books to list and 1.5 feet (tall stacks) of new books to list.
I received the 10 Erhman Needlepoint kits I bought, sight unseen. They are all, indeed, new and untouched.
They range in age from 1987 to 1997. These are mostly discontinued designs from some very famous designers.
I have:
A huge Oriental Fan from 1987 by Raymond Honeyman
Artichoke from 1990 by Kaffe Fasset
Big Frog from 1993 by Kaffe Fasset on Penelope Canvas
A gorgeous Tiger Lilly from 1993 by Elian McCready
English Oak from David Merry 1991
Large Roses Cushion by Elian McCready 1993
Large PEAS by Kaffe Fasset 1990
Grapes by Kaffee Fasset 1993
Large Striped Lilly (in white & pink) by Lillian Delevorvas 1997
Posy of Flowers by Elian McReady 1993
These are not from a shop, they were all bought from a private collector (who loved florals and the color green).
I will post pictures as soon as I take them.
I also bought some amazing condition books from her collection. She had, as well, 2 kits from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts collections, both never opened. One is autumn leaves on a trellis and the other is a wonderful cat (he reminds me of Jack The Cat).
What else? Nothing else, there is no room in my life for a life. I pet the cat, work sleep, eat and that about it. I have been out of the house only once in the last 8 days.
I think I am going out today however, K dropped his new iPad and now it will not charge so we are off to the Apple Store and then Home Depot for furnace filters (my life is so glamourous, think I should wear my rhinestone tiara?)
