S.E.N.S.E. and sensibility
I hope both Sharon G. and Jane Austen will forgive me for the the title to this blog. I could not help it.
As I predicted (marianne is 1 for 1) Sharon G.’s new book, Simply Essential Needlepoint Stitch Explanations (get, it SENSE? it took me a while to get it) is flying out of here. I have sold 4 copies just this past 3 days.
That is a lot of sales of 1 book for poor little NewNeedlepoint.com. I had 2 copies which sold fast, then 8 more.
Then Needlepoint Now did their review and just like what happened withSandra Arthur’s book The Shapes of Needlepoint, Series 1 it is in demand. (yes, unlike last nights blog, I remembered to do the links, that is the difference between me at 3am and me at 1:45pm).
I have 1 more copy left and 15 more on order. They will not be here until the middle of the week after next (which makes it due the week of June 6th). This is terrible timing, I leave for the Columbus, Ohio TNNA Trade show June 9th.
Still…I am nothing if not a sleek operation with a fast turnaround time (gag alert). I will take orders and ship them out the moment I get the books. Even if I get them, say the 8th, I will ship them before we leave for the show (send K to the post office while I get us packed).
If they come while I am gone, Danielle (my lovely neighbor, helper and Jack The Cat babysitter) will bring in the box and get them processed to ship on Monday, which is, besides the day we come home, also my birthday. Of course, after so many birthdays, this is hardly an event.
I am getting further into Robert Parker’s Valediction, his 11th book and a sad book, so far. He is dealing with a religious cult who maybe or maybe not snatched a young dancer from her home, while trying to deal with his feelings about Susan moving to San Francisco.
Of course, the word “cult” has become passe. I think that might be because there are now so many splinter groups, factions and such that the designation “cult” has lost it’s meaning.
So, that’s it. I am keeping my price for the Sharon G book below ($2.00 below plus free shipping) the MSRP suggested by the publisher so despite the shipping delay, this is still a good place to buy this newly popular book (marianne makes a brave foray into hard core selling technique, not well but not too clumsy, maybe)
a medium big change
I have, once again, slightly expanded NewNeedlepoint.com. I always seem to be expanding or contracting it, don’t I?
This change does not make it necessary for me to list a hundred (+/-) more books or anything, so it is a welcome change.
I have added DMC #3 Perle Cotton Floss to my stock of threads. I am finding that many of the current designers like to do their larger canvases on 12 or 13 (mostly 13 which surprises me) mesh canvas. So, now I am ready for that.
I found no one wanted to buy the kits I did with the Paternayan Needlepoint Wools I used to stock. I still have a few kits done with it but I liquidated my stock of wools a few months ago.
The wool was what I used on larger mesh canvases but getting rid of it left a hole in my ability to correctly assemble some kits.
My regular #5 Perle Cotton is just a tad to small for #13 mesh canvas. It can be stitched with it but the coverage is not optimal. I went through my huge stock of #5 size threads and picked out the colors in the shades I seem to use the most.
I ordered a shade sequence in each of these colors, 1 sequence for each color, for now.
When I went into the smaller #8 Perle Cotton Floss I tried to duplicate my complete and really extensive stock of the #5 size and it cost me a fortune. Not that is hasn’t been used quite a bit, more designers seem to be using #18 mesh size lately too.
What ever happened to good old size 14 mesh needlepoint canvas?
I am going to go back and re-pick the threads from any of the larger mesh kits I have already done. Yes, it is more work but picking colors is, by far, my favorite part of my business.
The thread colors used will have to change some since I have a much more limited stock of #3 than of #5 size floss. Still, my wonderful color sense and taste will make my choices good (please do not choke over that last sentence, I could not help it).
I did this in preperation for the Columbus TNNA show next month. I am very excited about my first trade show and have been getting great advice from seasoned attendees. Comfy shoes, meet everyone, decide which designers I want to buy before hand to control “I love this design” overload.
It has been suggested that I bring a rolling cart with me to carry immediate purchases but I am bring Keith (or he is bringing me there) so he is my “rolling cart”. (yes, I think that is very funny).
Needlepoint Now has a very favorable review of Sharon G’s new book SENSE: Simply Essential Needlepoint Stitch Explanations. I have sold a number of copies already but since NN came out (just a few days ago) I have had 3 more orders. I had 5 copies left, now I will have just 4. Time to re-order (again).
I wonder if the ANG magazine will review Sharon’s new book as well?
I finished The Paris Wife by Paula McLain. I enjoyed it although the ending was sad, expected and known in advance but still sad..
I am back to my Robert Parker re-reading. I started Valediction this evening.
I found Spenser to be sadder then his usual up-beat and witty persona, not to say he is cheerful but he is always entertaining. The last book, the Widening Gyre, with Washington, DC to Boston distance between he & Susan Silverman was not a happy book.
It gets worse immediately in Valediction. Susan graduates Harvard with her PhD in Clinical Psychology. Without telling Spenser about it beforehand, she has taken a job in San Francisco and leaves within hours of the graduation (harsh, that). She does not want to tell Spenser her address or phone number there (harsher).
I imagine there was some kind of trouble in Robert & Joan Parker’s marriage around this time. I would think his growing fame and success would take their toll on her, I am pretty sure they would have on me.
I will read Valediction but I am not anticipating any great fun in it. Poor Parker but he is lucky to have his book series and the writing ability to express these feelings, most of us stew more quietly with a smaller audience for our sorrows.
All else is well. We go to Boston next Thursday for a long Memorial Day weekend and to buy furniture for son and future fiancee for their new apartment.
They know what they like but they do not know good quality in furniture yet (they will someday) and since they are buying “always” furniture and not just crummy apartment stuff, I am there to consult (and pay, of course).
I am very happy over their romance and possible match, they are wonderful together. She is very smart and sensible, as is he. I did my best ever work raising my son, nothing else I have ever done has come close to that.
about needlepoint, this time
I have re-listed a few more of the Patt & Lee canvases I sent Patt to put in her (now all cancelled) Trunk Shows.
I have the adorable Pumpkin Cats, now marketed as a Beginner’s Kit. I don’t know why I did not see before how perfect this is for beginners.
Of course, an experienced stitcher could do some amazing things with the pumpkins, sky, grass etc.
I did the same thing with the Gentleman Cat design. Again, I overlooked how perfect a Beginner’s Kit this would be. I guess I was not thinking with any of my creative brain cells when I listed either of these.
Both the above designs are available as just kits, as all of my Beginner projects are.
The Gentleman Cat too could be embellished by an advanced stitcher.
Both of these kits make excellent Beginner’s Kits. Although they are not small, they are 14 mesh which is (I think) easy and quick to stitch. The whole point with beginners is not not get them all bogged down in detail and fussing, just let them stitch and finish a project.
I think that is all it takes to create another crazed needlepointer (such as myself).
So many new to needlepoint (or any kind of stitching) never finish the project they undertake at first. They get too ambitious and overwhelm themselves (sounds like I am speaking from experience here? I am).
I also re-listed Patt’s handsome Asian inspired Kanji Rose Sampler Needlepoint. This is available as both the canvas alone or the kit.
And this Scrap Thread Graphic canvas. Wonderful colors used here but the whole point of a Scrap Threads design is to use up your yarn & threads stash so, use what you have.
Of course, if you have these colors, that would be great.
I am making progress with my Spenser books (yes, I have been spelling it wrong, go figure).
I finished The Widening Gyre late last night. It is a rather sad book missing Spenser’s usual cheerful and humorous tone and banter, you can feel Robert Parker’s depression.
I am taking a (very) brief Spenser break and reading The Paris Wife by Paula McLain. So far, it is a good read. It is, basically, the fictionalized story of Ernest Hemingway’s first wife, Hadley Richardson.
They are still in the USA, having recently met, so far. I read somewhere that this was the marriage he regretted not working hard to keep. The one Hemingway was most sorry did not last.
When I am done I will move on to Robert Parker’s Valediction.
See, I kept my promise. I wrote an actual needlepoint blog about needlepoint.
big shot
Ok, so now I think I am hot ..you know what. K played in another poker tournament this weekend and I played blackjack, mostly. I won. For blackjack I won big. That was the first session. In the second session I gave back 25% of my winnings (50% of what I started with) so I walked away, to the approval of the experienced players at the table.
“if you can’t walk away when you’re winning, you can’t win”. The better players seem to be more then willing to help a newbie, even one who is winning. In blackjack, you do not play against the other players, you all play against the dealer (who is often very supportive and glad to lose).
The group is always so mixed and friendly (except once when I was driven from a table at another casino by a group of nasty women).
We had 2 giddy young women with a surprising amount of money and skill, an ersatz pro gambler who bonded with the young women (leaving me to speculate what the 3 of them did after they left the table together), a wise and nice chinese man, and a very wordy and erudite man and his classy wife (who kept getting blackjacks, to the point I would growl ” again?” each time)
So, we are off casinos now until after Memorial Day weekend, we are going to Boston to help son and his very soon to be finace’e (I checked, it is spelled right) buy furniture for their new big rental apt, in preparation for when she gets a Boston job and moves there.
It is their (her ) choice what we get but I want to be there to check quality (they do not have the experience to know good from bad in this) and pay (of course).
I am also buying them new linens as a housewarming gift but I want her to choose so a trip to Bloomingdales is called for (without any pesky men).
NewNeedlepoint, you might ask. I have a pending order, for the Erhman Roses Needlepoint Kit frm 1993 by Elian McCready, from the UK. They are more then willing to pay a reasonable shipping charge and are ok with my re-folding it. The big mailing tube would be way too expensive to ship.
I think it is cute, the kit is going back to the UK, where it originally came from.
With this one sold, I have just 3 left. It is funny, all the Kaffe Fassett kits sold first except this one. 1993′s California Grapes.
Remember, I bought these kits sight unseen. I had doubts about this kit but I was not sure. These colors are very “in” this season. You see orange and peach everywhere.
Except on me, they are not my best colors. Still, I think this design will look better when it is stitched than it does on canvas.
I have listed all the rare/used books in the current “load”. I am doing them in “loads” which is how many I can carry to the basement along with my camera at one time. My photographic studio (of sorts) is down there with the laundry room and the boxes of my stuff we do not have room for.
I have some canvases to list next, the backorder of beginner kits came in. Then more rare/used books, then a few new books. Also a backorder that finally arrived plus a few stragglers waiting for me to list them.
I hope to leave for memorial day weekend with this all done (I am taking bets against this happening, the odds are in your favor, against me).
What else, I am reading my way through Robert Parker’s Spencer books. Sort of my goodbye to a writer whose work I have loved for many years.
I have just finished Ceremony with it’s beyond usual ending. I have noticed something, in these early books Susan Silverman eats like a normal person. it is the later books where she can make a meal of an olive, etc. Interesting.
I guess this is it, since I really have nothing Needlepointy to say, or even Needlworkish. Next time I will try to be on point.
sprung
Spring is fully sprung here, the azaleas & rhododendrons & iris are up. I have been distracted by this. We have been going everywhere in the convertible. It can be a bit cold at dusk but we turn up the heat and have a great time.
My face is tan, my upper chest is terribly sun burned, on a trip to Delaware I forgot to put the sun tan SP30 stuff there as well as my face.
I have had the urge to garden, which is hard in a rental. I asked the landlord if I could take out some of the overgrown shrubs and replace them, but he has not responded, which is the same as a no. He always gets right back to me.
So, I filled the 2 last of all my many flower pots the ones I brought from Florida. I put a mound of impatiens in the one by the front door. I packed them very tightly. I had a few leftover in the flat so I put those in the front bed, in subtle places.
I put a gorgeous Foxglove on the table on the patio and a deep red geranium on the deck.
I have never seen a potted foxglove, many of them had their flowers already opened but I bought one with only buds just about to open.
I will have to dig out my gardening books and see how long it will last and what it needs.
NewNeedlepoint trots along, alternating very busy with much slower. Always a sale or 2 so it does not make me worry anymore.
I just got a few stubborn backordered books today.
Architectural Stitches for Needlepoint by June McKnight
The TNNA’s How To Needlepoint (6 copies, sold 4 already which is alot for NewNeedlepoint)
Color Choices by Stephan Quiller (it sold almost immediately after I listed it)
This book was written mostly for painters but the color usage, theory , tips and suggestions and combinations here are good for any stitcher.
Below is the cover, I think it is beautiful and excellent color use
I have some new Canvases & Kits. The first part of my order finally arrived. The backorder will be along soon.
They are mostly for beginners or not terribly experienced needlepointers. I have run almost out of kits for beginners.
The medium skilled designs can be done as they are or a more experienced stitcher might have fun with them.
They are not listed yet, Tomorrow & Thursday is my goal.
I had sold this American Heart Kit before, with wools back when I stocked them. Now it is kitted with DMC #5 Perle Cotton Floss and Kreinik Metallic Gold Braided Thread, same colors.
You can’t mess with the colors in the flag, IMO.
I love this Pink Heart Hand Painted from Danji Designs. This was fun to kit.
And the Beginners Kits. The above are sold as canvases alone or kits. These below are sold as kits only. All the Beginner’s Kits Except the Penguin Ornament are on 14 mesh canvas.
What else could I call this but “Bathing Suit”? It is a handpainted design from Sapna. I admit to slightly softening the yellow in the kit, it is a bit much as it is.
The Coral Hibiscus is a wonderful canvas for a beginner. You can practice shading on the petals. There are several very good shading books out there:
Beginner’s Guide to Silk Shading by Claire Hanham. Ignore the word “silk” and it is a perfect shading book
Shading and Thread Blending Techniques for Needlepoint by June McKnight in new books.
Almost any of the rare/used books that are generally about needlepoint cover shading, as well.
I got off track (again). Below is the Coral Hibiscus
These are Hand Painted Kanjis From Danji Designs. They are perfect for an absolute beginner or someone more advanced could practice decorative stitches for both the Kanji and the background. One idea I had was to section the background. Make a plain stitch (tent or basketweave) circle around the Kanji (best used around any sort of text) and the make pie wedge shaped sections radiating out from the plain stitch circle and do a different decorative stitch in each, all in the same background color.
That would be terrific, I think.
One Kanji is LOVE. This is the first (and only) Kanji I learned.
The Other Kanji is Friendship
The last Beginner’s Kit is the Penguin Ornament. It is 18 mesh which is harder to stitch but the design is simple and the size is small. Stitched with #8 size Perle Cotton Floss I think it will be good. I have added some Kreinik Metallic White Braid Thread in size #12 (which is smaller than usual) to be added to the snow, either in drifts of sprinkled around.
That last picture took forever to upload. Did you know it takes me, what with the links and pictures and creaky slow uploads & downloads (despite paying for the fastest internet available in this area) 2 to 2.5 hours to write each blog?
I am re-reading all the Robert Parker Spencer novels. I started with the first from 1973, The Godwulf Manuscript. I read about a half of it but finally admitted to myself that I was not enjoying it.
It was a different Spencer, even if the Spencer I had come to know was there, he was different. No Hawk, No Susan. I stopped reading it and skipped ahead to Looking for Rachel Wallace published in 1980. There he was, Spencer with Susan and everybody.
I used to dislike Susan but as she aged she got more vulnerable and not so sure she was IT. I wonder what it would be like to have a man feel that way about you? The way Spencer feels about Susan, is it even possible? (cynical, old and experienced marianne peeks out)
Looking for Rachel Wallace was a book I had remembered as liking, all these years, so I thought it would be a good point to re-join the series. I am enjoying it.
Next up is Early Autumn. The person who complied the list, in order of years the books were published, that I downloaded and printed says Early Autumn is the BEST. His use of caps, not mine.
familiar names
I have been hard at work (when not off staying at medium fancy hotels & gambling) listing the new rare/used books I have sitting and waiting for me to do something with all. All 54 + of them.
To save what scraps of my sanity remain, I am doing them in armloads. All at once would overwhelm me (and send me back to bed, a place I am trying to avoid). So, instead of taking them all downstairs and photographing them all, editing them all and listing them all, I am doing them in armloads.
Since they mostly seem to be hardcover, that means about 10 at a time.
I also have to include the books I sell all the time which, to replace in a listing, I have to photograph the new copy since no 2 are alike.
Needless to say, I sold another copy of Mary Kay Davis’ The Needlework Doctor (what else is new?). Someday, I suppose there will be no more copies of this book to be bought. This is already starting to happen with Margaret Boyles’ book, Bargello: An Explosion in Color.
Anyway (and back to my subject) many of these books are previously unknown (to me) books by authors whose names I know well.
I have Margaret Boyles’ Designs For Babies. Mrs Boyles is the author of some many wonderful Needlepoint and Bargello books, most of which I have:
Bargello: An Explosion in Color
Needlepoint Stitchery
The Margaret Boyles Book of NeedleArt
The NewNeedlepoint: Stitches & Designs
Margaret Boyles’ Book of Crewel Embroidery
The picture above is a close-up of one of the pictures from the book. It is a lovely crewel work typewriter cover (remember typewriters?)
Phyllis Kluger, the author of another book that has been a steady seller for me, A Needlepoint Gallery of Patterns from the Past, has another book: Victorian Designs For Needlepoint. Below is a picture of 2 of the pages from the book with some of her work.
From the famous Elsa Williams, author of one of the iconic books on Bargello Needlepoint, Elsa Williams Florentine Canvas Work and Creative Canvas Work I have a copy of a book I had never heard of before: Heritage Embroidery by Elsa S. Williams. Below is a picture from that book
and finally, from Rosemary Drysdale, the author of Pulled Work on Canvas and Linen I have this gorgeous book: The Art of Blackwork Embroidery.
I hope to have this load of books listed by tomorrow (don’t hold your breath)
Betty, a very fine stitcher in Arizona, sent me a picture of her finished version of Patt & Lee’s Scrap Threads Striped Cats Needlepoint Canvas.
I am currently out of stock on this canvas, I expect another this week.
What else? NewNeedlepoint’s Advanced Stitchers & Beginners categories are temporarily closed while I re-work them. There has been so much removed from there, they made no sense anymore so I am going to “clean” them up and re-open them. Again, please do not hold your breath.
Yes, I am reading but it is nothing worth speaking of, call it “filler reading” for someone with too much to do.
In case you were wondering why the pictures on my blog had suddenly gotten so small (as I was wondering) it turn out “someone” (not me) changed my setting to thumbnails from medium. I have changed it back.
Why on earth would I want to show needlepoint in thumbnails?
