what next?
The hurricane hit us hard. Amazing wind & rain but we lost our power for 36 hours.
This is funny, Danielle next door and her whole family (5 of them plus Danny..no one really knows what Danny is, he sleeps on the couch) went to a hotel this morning. 2 hours later the power came back on.
We survived very well. K fought the mob scene at the local grocery Saturday morning and got us lots of sandwich stuff that did not need a fridge and lots of water.
My iPad is back lit so I was happy until the battery got low. We had power at the new house so we went there to charge phones & iPads.
The renovation has hit high gear. The granite went in today, kitchen & baths. If I don’t say so myself, it is gorgeous (and I do). Let’s hear it for upgrades.
The tile guy starts tomorrow, he is installing on the diagonal. He says it will be finished Saturday and can be walked on Sunday but we will stay off it (as much as possible) until Tuesday.
My excellent contractor can’t work there this week so he is doing stuff at his own house, always good. He is a real find. As they find problems they just fix them. I never know about it until afterwards and they do not add to the bill. His amount pre-supposed this kind of thing and it is included.
It is good. The cabinet guy got agitated over everything, lots and lots of calls. One day I spoke to him 6 times. I don’t even speak to K that often.
We move in September 23. So now I begin packing……again. Good thing I am The Tape Gun Queen.
I hope everyone who was in the storm’s path is OK. I wonder what’s next. First the earthquake, then the hurricane. K says locusts next. I hope it is that rather then a visit by his family. Much worse then locusts.
m is embarrassed
I know, it has been almost 2 weeks since my last blog post.
I can claim how busy I am with the renovation
And I am, all of a sudden it is happening fast and I have decisions & choices to make. Rreplacing a leaking patio door has been supplanted by replacing the entire front door and side lights unit which is too rotted out to be fixed, which kind of threshold do I want between the tile & the carpet: metal? marble? none?…let’s see…metal is cheesy, none always has little carpet scraps escaping, marble has to be ordered in the correct size and paid for separately. Coordinating the tile color/carpet color/wall & trim color to all work together is harder then you think (undertones) and the contractor keeps finding problems not included in the original contract:
rotted front door
leaking patio door
leaking french door from FR
leaking upstairs toilet
rotted wood on outside window trim and around the garage door
burnt out electric switches & outlets
and more more more.
Still, NewNeedlepoint is active and I have been, in my spare & sane moments which are getting fewer by the second, listing new stuff.
I added a few new canvases & kits. Both of these are hand painted by Danji Design
I have finally listed the replacement beginner’s kits, I was almost sold out of them. I think it is time to re-do and re-open the Beginner’s Category, so I can list the kits there as well as in the general “hand painted needlepoint” category.
One stop shopping, as it were.
I had a surprising email this past week. As you might know or I could show you the link if my links worked (which they don’t right now, you can find them in my NewNeedlepoint Books category) I sell 2 new books by Ruth Dilts. Needlepoint 101 and Needlepoint 202 (which I am currently sold out of). I was surprised to see an email from Ruth Dults in my NewNeedlepoint mailbox offering to sell me some or all of her own private needlework book collection.
Mrs Dilts is moving from a very large home to an apartment (been there, done that, going back to a home for more space).
She sent me a spread sheet with her books, the condition and the prices on it. Sadly, the cream of the crop of her books is already sold. In particular she had 2 Blackwork Books by Jane Zimmerman.
Jane Zimmerman books are very rare and hard to find, especially hard to find in decent condition. Oh well. Always a day late & a dollar short.
Still, there are some fine books on her spreadsheet. I bought about half of what she had. The others were books I already have in stock.
I had no idea where or how she found me, thinking someone had referred me to her, I asked. Mrs Dilts found me on some ANG list that said I dealt in NW books. Thanks ANG.
I am picking my books up at the Baltimore Show in mid-August. Since I did not make it to Columbus in June, this will be my first ever needlework trade show.
I hope I make a credible “showing” and do not disgrace myself (as they say in investment prospectives, past results are not an indicator of future returns).
My reading has turned fairly strange, as well. I am reading through the Lee Childs Jack Reacher books. I am on #4. They are absorbing but quite violent. I admit to enjoying them but they are too much one after the other so I am alternating them with Regency romances by Candace Hern (dry humor, good stories with gowns & fans and handsome dukes).
This is, I know, a bizarre combination that, there you go, me in a nutshell.
I am currently listing some new books that have been waiting for me to get to them for 4 months. Maybe, with a good tail wind, I will get them listed in the next 4 months (as I mentioned, I am embarrassed by my laggardly listing habits)
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.
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.
lap of a little luxury
I am sitting in a hotel in Dover, Delaware as I write this. I am looking out back at the horse racing track (think Seabiscuit) having just finished my room service breakfast (marianne loves this).
We have been here since Thursday night, it is now Saturday and we leave tomorrow. K has been playing in these poker tournaments so the hotel rooms have been free. They are thrilled to have us.
I play penny slots, so I get points that we use to (mostly) eat on. As long as he “places” in the tournament (the last table usually splits the winnings) we are doing great.
I love free.
NewNeedlepoint.com is not being neglected. I have my little bitty Mac laptop with me (and free internet in the hotel). Danielle is at home watching Jack (as she lives next door, she checks on him a zillion times a day, she & her sister come over to play with him).
She fills the orders I get and takes them to the P.O. That works unless it is a kit, then I have to do the color placement chart over the phone with her, while looking at the canvas on my web site.
Not easy but doable.
Jack The Cat had his first bath on Thursday. His first since he was a kitten anyway (he is 6 now).
As a kitten he was not real good as cleaning himself, so my son bathed him. As an adult he is good at it but he has been shedding so much K decided a bath was called for.
K carried the unsuspecting Jack into the bathroom and shut the door.
I could hear the water running and these really loud meows. K said every time Jack escaped the bath he went to the door and looked up at the doorknob. I suppose he was wishing for opposible thumbs.
If cats had them they would rule the earth.
Anyway, Jack is gorgeously clean & fluffy and after a handful of his much loved Treats, he forgave K.
NewNeedlepoint has been selling more canvas & kits lately. Somehow reducing and focusing my stock has spurred this. I have no idea why but there it is.
I have the brand new Patt & Lee Scrap Threads Needlepoint Canvas. I call it Poodle & Pup.
It reminds me of her famous Striped Cats Scrap Threads Canvas a little but it is different, quite different.
Poodle & Pup has a dark background, which is unusual in Patt’s work. The background does not have to be stitched in black but I do recommend a dark color. Covering the dark canvas with light color thread would not work very well.
This design is brand, brand new. I have 2 of them.
I just finished a wonderful book, Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson. It is not a military book, novel or otherwise. It is a grown up romance and a very good one, at that.
I found it slow for the first chapter or so but then I, like Mrs. Ali, fell in love with Major Pettigrew.
I am re-re-re (endlessly re) reading Pride & Prejudice by you know who. It is like visiting an old friend. It is funny, I find Miss Bingley to be worse, each time I read it.
I try hard not to be Miss Bingley. I too am capable of great flights of ridicule. I try to do it to things & situations rather then people, having seen it close-up in Miss Bingley (and myslf).
We will be home tomorrow and glad to sleep in our own bed. Jack The Cat is always a tad fatter when we come home than when we leave. Danielle spoils him, which is wonderful, she has taught him to stand on his hind legs for his treats. It is very cute. He won’t do that for me.
beginners & poltergeists
I have been surprised by the response to the TNNA’s series of Needlework books for beginners.
Although I refer to them as books, they are really pamphlets or booklets or something, each having about 30 some pages.
I have had the How to Needlepoint listed for a long time with little response. I think I sold 1. Then, all of a sudden, everybody wants one. I sold out the 4 I had and am now waiting for my re-order. They were back-ordered from the distributor for 2 weeks (or one more week remaining).
I wonder if everybody selling these suddenly had a run on them. These are great books. To quote my own (well written, of course) listing text. This one is for the Knitting edition
“The National NeedleArts Association (TNNA) has this very good series of book (or booklets, more like) for absolute beginners.
This clear and easy to understand book will take you from materials needed to the very first steps, step-by-step to knitting a basic Knit Stitch, Garter Stitch, Purl Stitch, Stockinette Stitch and Ribbing Stitch.
The commonly used symbols in knitting are translated.
On the inside back cover of the booklet, the TNNA says “This book is intended to get you started in enjoying knitting, learning basic techniques and just a few of the hundreds of stitched available.”
I think it is a great idea.”
And their Embroidery & Cross-Stitch edition.
I have only had the 2 new ones listed a few days and I have already sold one of the Knitting ones.
They really are the perfect beginner’s book, they are clear and easy to follow and no “talking down” to the reader.
Ok, the title of this blog. I have had a strange few days. As you might know, we are living in this dingy old rental now, since we moved from Florida last July and sold our house there.
It really is not that bad, we do live comfortably here, with a 2 car garage and central air and a nice laundry room etc but still…it is small. Much of my stuff is in storage and my office is a miracle of organization, it is only 9 X 9 feet and most of NewNeedlepoint.com is crammed in here plus my desk.
I have this amazing desk, I found these brothers in Vermont on the net (of course) who make handmade desks. I always wanted a nice one so I ordered a desk from them in Flame Birch. The top of the desk is one slab of wood that has been sliced and the 2 sides laid side by side for the top. The grain and pattern are gorgeous.
The desk is a regular size desk has 2 graduated size drawers on each side with a larger file size drawer below on each side.
I have had this desk for years. It has always been perfect. Now, keep in mind I have lived here since last July.
Last week the file drawer on the right side of the desk began opening on it’s own. It does not do it all the time or even most of the time, just sometimes. Often enough to be annoying.
It will sit there all quiet and perfect and then for no reason I can determine, it will slide open slowly.
Being me, I assume it is Poltergeists.
Then, early this morning, I heard this tap, tap, tap noise. It was irregular and went on for some time (enough to wake me which is no mean feat before 9am). I thought it might be Danielle, she always knocks softly, but we had no plans for today.
I got up (not a pleasant sight, I am not a morning person) and went to the front door, no one was there, all was quiet outside.
I stumbled back up the half fight of stairs (the rental is a duplex that is like a long ranch house with 2 front doors) and happened to see movement at the French doors leading to our postage stamp deck (we live in a suburb of a small rural town in Amish agricultural Lancaster County, PA) and there was a bird knocking himself against the glass door.
It was a Robin and he did this over and over. Then, when he saw me he stopped and flew a short distance away.
As soon as I left the room (OK, went back to bed) it began again and went on, off and on all day.
But whenever one of us went into the room, he flew off.
K says the bird was attracted to the light, it was a gray rainy day and I had the lights on.
I turned that light off and the bird still did it. Odd.
I wonder what he will do tomorrow?
I am still reading David Copperfield. I think maybe I will be reading David Copperfield for the rest of my life. Not that I am not enjoying it (double negative there). I am at the part where David’s Aunt loses her fortune and our Hero steps up and and works like a fiend to restore their fortunes and respectability.
Plus, he is in love and a greater fool in love there never was. Uriah Heep is moving up in life and he is repulsive on the page, I can’t even imagine him on a movie screen.
All in all, K & I, Jack the Cat, the Poltergeists and the stupid bird are doing fine. It is fully spring here.
contemporary colors
I am shocked, shocked I tell you. It has been 6 days since I blogged (pardon me while I go whap myself upside the head). I know I promised to be a better blogger but clearly I am unreliable.
We went away for 2 nights this weekend, to the Maryland shores, just to look around. If I am home I do not and can’t seem to take a day off from NewNeedlepoint.com. I say to myself I will not work today but I do. My postage stamp size office is right here, looming large in my “guilt place” and my thoughts of work still to do.
So, it was a nice weekend. My wonderful neighbor and teenage nn.com helper, Danielle, watches Jack The Cat for us when we go away even overnight (Jack is demanding & spoiled, this is also my fault).
This is Jack about to wolf down some (more) treats that he whined, begged and meowed out of one of us for the gazzillionth time that day (or any day). And he remains thin.
I have actually gotten quite a bit of the work done. All but 6 of the newest canvases & kits are listed and 2 of those are delayed. I want to re-do my color selections (and the photos) for 2 of them.
Taking the pictures of the kits is sort of my “last edit” of the choices I have made. Sometimes I am not happy with them and re-do them. I am a real pain-in-my-own-butt about color.
I have all but 11 new books, 2 new Amy Bunger DVD titles and 2 new color choice tool thingies to list, so I have gotten through a lot of it.
Then I have 35 (AWK) rare/used needlework books to list. Many of them are part of my web stores book categories expansion into Knitting, Embroidery, Cross-Stitch, Color Theory, Ribbon Embroidery, Bead Needlework, StumpWork, Hardanger, Montmellick Embroidery, Rug Making, WhiteWork, BlackWork and on.
Then there will be a few even newer books.
I am out-of-stock (almost immediately) of Sharon G’s new book “Simply Essential Needlepoint Stitch Explanations or Sharon G’s SENSE. I have a big order of them due this week. I am taking orders and will ship the moment they arrive (anyone who has bought from me already knows I am a fast shipping freak).
OK, the colors I mentioned in the blog title is an examination of the current color use in the Laurel Burch Designs.
The 2 canvases below are Laurel Burch 2010. You can clearly see her color use. I think she has a very brave and original take on color and I admire it very much.
Green Dogs
Black Cat with Flowers
Now it gets interesting (not that the designs above are not interesting)
This is her 2010 Bird Ornament
Now, as I show a few of her 2011 designs, I want you to keep in mind the Bird Ornament colors, they are the first sign of a clear trend.
Below is Laurel Burch’s Poodles. This canvas & kit are not listed yet. This week (I hope)
Dog Pyramid (also not listed yet)
This one, I call it Cat Angel, sold within days of my listing it. I have not re-ordered it yet but I will.
As you can see, they all use the same basic colors & hues which leads me to believe these are the “fashion” colors for this year, in Laurel Burch’s design portfolio. I wonder how prevalent these colors in other designer’s 2011 work? I will have a better idea about that after the June TNNA show.
Or maybe these are the colors that attract me, so I have ordered these particular designs. Hmmmmmm. I am going to go look at the whole inventory of LB designs. BRB
With one total exception (a Christmas themed canvas) and 2 background color only exceptions, these are her colors this year. I think this is interesting but I am always interested in color and color use (as clearly shown my my Color and Color Theory books Category)
New Color Theory books are hard to get. Often (very) the ones I order are discontinued. Same thing with the Hooked or Punch Needle Books I try to get.
What else, Sandra Arthur’s book, The Shapes of Needlepoint, continues to be a big seller. I sold 3 of them just this past weekend. My stock is down to 3 and I have placed an order for more, more, more.
I am reading David Copperfield. Considering I can be a total book snob (when I am not buried deeply in some luscious romance novel) I had never read any Charles Dickens. I just took other’s word for it that he was a great writer. I was very “taken” with Great Expectations so I chose this.
I am enjoying David C. but it does go on and on, GE moved somewhat faster.
I also recently read Alice Hoffman’s newest novel, Red Garden, I enjoyed it but I have always been a fan and reader of Alice Hoffman’s books. There is much more to them than the books they have made into movies.
I think I have this right. They are:
Practical Magic
Local Girls
The River King
and 2 movies from her books for teenagers
I still have not read any Mark Twain but his book (3 of them) are sitting on my iPad waiting.
Anyway, I hope this long blog makes up (a bit) for my blog neglect.
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.
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?
