Nashville 2013

The Open House is next weekend March 9 and 10. Hope to see you there! Until then...a few previews ...I had fun today.

Rotation February 2103

Autumn at Hawk Run Hollow. That house is has lots of stitches in it!

Christmas Ornament from Cross stitch Gold Magazine. Over 1 on 25.

I had to start another Mystic Stitch chart. This one is called Magpie. These are very addictive!

When I have time to stitch this rotation works quite well. These last couple of weeks have been slow stitching days but some progress has been made. I have not touched Inspiration by Rosewood Manor yet in this round but it is coming up.

Thank You everyone

Dan and I have been very touched by the overwhelming support we have received from all our stitching friends. As many of you know Dan's father had been very ill since May  so his passing on February 2 was not a big surprise. However he was Dan's Dad and we will miss him and be grateful that he is no longer suffering. We held a beautiful celebration of his 88 1/2 years on Feb 8 and gave him a good send off in the midst of the worst snowstorm in 5 years in the Mississauga area!

I do not have any stitching progress to show at this time but  perhaps now our lives will settle down a bit for a few weeks at least. On February 28, we are going to Nashville for the Needlework Market and I know I will have lots to show then.
On March 9 and 10 I will host the Nashville Open House  and  I hope  many of you will  be able to attend and enjoy the latest designs hot off the press.

On March 15 to 17, 18 happy stitchers will attend the March retreat at Timberhouse Inn and then on March 18, Dan and I are leaving for 6 weeks in Florida. Do we ever need a holiday this year!
Items will be available from the shop, if you email me. I will have people in the house and shop regularly to keep an eye on things and keep the insurance company happy.

I am hoping that my new website will be up and running very soon. There are problems with the old one so I am now putting a bit of pressure on my website designer to  speed up the process so I can post pictures on the new site when I get home from Nashville.

That's all the news I have for now. I will take some pictures of my rotation progress and post them soon!

Thanks again for your love and support.

Rotation January 2013

I have begun a new rotation since the other one worked so well.  Here are my new starts and my WIP which had not been touched in over a year ...until now.

This is Autumn at Hawk Run Hollow being stitched on 25 count daffodil  lugana

Inspiration from Rosewood Manor was the WIP which had not seen the light of day since 2011. In three days I was able to do the entire area to the right  starting around that bird furthest to the right.

It is being done on 40 count with one strand over two threads.

I will start something else also but I don't know what just yet.

These 4 little blue ornaments were in a British magazine and I fell in love with them. I decided to forget the back stitching the instructions called for and I think they look just fine without it.

In the same British magazine there were instructions  to make a small crazy quilt pillow. I was intrigued since it looked easy and I need some new cushions for the couch so this morning I  spent more hours than I care to think about attempting to make a crazy quilt pillow top. I would have finished it too had I not screwed up my sewing machine  by getting the bobbin thread caught in the innards of the bobbin holder thing and my machine...balked and said no more!
I quickly realized about 1/4 of the way into the  project, why I don't sew...all this measuring and sewing and cutting straight...not for me. Alas even once I get the machine fixed.... I may need it to zig-zag around a cross stitch  piece, it is unlikely  I will go back to my misshapen, somewhat puckered pillow top. It is too bad though because I was sort of looking forward to doing that embroidery over all the seams which give crazy quilts  such a neat look.

January Retreat 2013

Another successful  stitching retreat to Timberhouse Inn  in Brighton. Before we get to the stitching pictures here are some of the hard working  chefs who laboured behind the scenes on Saturday to bring us  an  excellent lunch.

Sous chef Bob  preparing the main course of Pork Wellington

Sous chef Bob, Chef Dan, Sous sous chef Simon

The tables were set

Mary, Cheryl, Fran and Kathy

Sharon and  Debbie 

Anne

Bonnie and Dani

Fran, Kathy and Brenda

Bonnie finished Dragon Dreams  Days of Christmas 1 and 2

Debbie finish "99"

Here are my completed "White Lilies"  The piece was finished before the retreat   but  it was a good place to show it off!

I managed to miss pictures of numerous  other of the participants  but more pictures are available on Fran's blog and Dani's blog.

Merry Christmas!

Hi everyone! I hope you are enjoying a wonderful Christmas Day.
I have finally turned the corner with the awful cold/cough/sneezing/sniffling/sore ribs/headache bug that has laid me low for the last 7 days. It didn't help that Dan had it before that so the lead up to Christmas was  sort of none existent for us. Fortunately I had mostly everything done before hand so Dan did not have to do too much running around on Christmas Eve Day.
Right now I am home with the dogs. He is gone to take Marion to see his Dad in the hospital, to meet David and hand off presents. I thought it best that I stay home  and not infect everyone who may have the misfortune to come in contact with me. I am sorry to be missing Christmas with David and Erin and the grandsons but really making them sick would not be a good gift! Dan, bless his heart, is also foregoing Christmas with his son and grandsons to come home and be with me so I won't be alone all day. Sweet eh?

In the odd hours in the last week when I was actually able to lift my head off the couch I was able to indulge in a bit of beading and I have this to show for it...be impressed....be very impressed!

I can only repeat...rotations do work! Here is the proof. Of the three pieces in the rotation only my White Lilies are left and they have only 2 and 1/2 pages remaining. That is what I will work on till the end of the year (!). Then I will start a new rotation with  whatever is left of White Lilies, something new and another UFO, probably Rosewood Manor's Inspiration.

Merry Christmas every one!

No Boxing Day sale

Just to let you know...I have been under the weather this past week and am just not up to a big sale next week. Don't despair though I have plans... In the new year Knowledge and Needles will be launching a new and improved website. At the grand unveiling of the website I'll plan a big sale to get everyone off on the right track for stitching in 2013!!!
Meanwhile...what's been going on??
Last Friday the Friday stitchers gave me this lovely 4 seasons teacup bellpull...stitched by Fran, Kathy, Sharon and Cheryl.

Merry Christmas everyone and all the best in 2013!!!