This is Pekoe

OK, so this isn't a very flattering picture of me, but I don't hesitate to show it to you, because this is what my life looks like around 11:30 p.m. in my crazy cat house. Pekoe is a new cat to our household -- he's about one pound and about four weeks old. We'll have him a month or so. He really, really likes "the nice lady." (My husband thought he was being very clever taking this picture.)

Pekoe was being fostered by another volunteer from the shelter who has half a dozen dogs. (He was found in this woman's neighborhood.) She was keeping Pekoe to one room of the house, so he didn't get eaten or stepped on. I volunteered to take him in. What's one more little mouth to feed?

Gilligan and Skipper will most likely go for surgery next week already. They're doing great, and I'll post pictures soon.

Next week, I go to Virginia Beach for the Dyeing to Stitch retreat right there on the beach! I am teaching with Jeanette Douglas, Shepherd's Bush and the gals from R&R Reproductions. What an honor! My piece is very cute -- beach themed, and I will post a picture of that after the retreat (don't want to spoil any of the surprises.)

I'm recuperating from a back injury. Between bowling, the computer, stitching, carrying groceries, taking out the trash, hauling boxes and boxes to the post office, driving, and everything else I do, my back (according to my physician) was "very angry with me." I was having back spasms, she said, and I have had to limit my lifting to ten pounds or less while my back settles down. Stupid back!

Take care, and happy stitching!

A few new releases

October is here, and ho boy, am I happy about that. I don't have much time, as I am SWAMPED, but I wanted to share "Pumpkin Joe," a new Raise the Roof piece I just finished stitching yesterday afternoon. It's stitched on 30 ct. Tiger's Eye (Weeks Dye Works) with DMC floss 310 and Bittersweet Sampler Threads. A few buttons from JABCo are tied on with black floss.

And here is Ann Dale in her frame...now that the frame is here (just today!) I can start printing the graphs. Give me a few more days, and I can start shipping this and the big sampler. The smaller booklet of motifs will be not far behind.

And here's a close-up of Ann. You can click on these pictures to make them larger. I can't even tell you how beautiful this is in person. Well, yes I can. Very, very beautiful. Hope you like it!

You may notice the ground (at the bottom) is striped. That's how the original looks -- Ann's was very stripe-y. And I chose whites that were a little whiter than the original...just so they'd show up on the fabric (otherwise, photography can be very difficult.) If you want it to look even more antique, choose some "dirty-looking" white silks or flosses.

Fun to see my designs pop up...

on Jill Rensel's Blog. You can find her at RenselStudio.blogspot.com. She has been doing framing and hand-painted custom mats for Shepherd's Bush for YEARS (in fact, I have to admit that there are a few Shepherd's Bush pieces I stitched JUST for the matting!!!) I have a whole wall of them here at my shop.

But you might not know that Jill does custom framing of LOTS of needlework, and, if you ask her, she'll do custom framing for pieces with hand-painted mats just like she does for Shepherd's Bush. Recently, she started blogging, posting pictures of framing she has done for other needleworkers. I check in from time-to-time, and was tickled to find two of my designs.

This is my Magic Garden design (via Shakespeare's Peddler.) I released it last year, and it's been very popular, but I REALLY REALLY UBER-LOVE this with the matting Jill did. When I called her to ask if I could post the picture on my blog, she said she had no idea I was designing and said she loves Jenny Bean and had a lot of fun doing these mats.

By the way, I have plans for a Winter Garden piece to mimic this one...but more of a "sleeping winter garden" theme to it.

This is a piece I designed back in Fargo for Raise the Roof Designs called "Peter's Cotton Knits." I love how the stitcher used a sky-type hand-dyed fabric, and aren't those little cut-out painted eggs on the matting so cute? Jill is such an artist, and she could not be one ounce nicer.

But you don't have to live in Utah to have Jill frame your needlework. You can call her at 801.627.3594 or e-mail her at jrensel@xmission.com to see if she can do some framing for you. You can send her your needlework, and she'll send it back to you framed amazingly!

You say good-bye, and I say hello

I haven't done a cat update in a while, and LOTS of people ask about it. We had some changes at our house this week. Last week, Simba and Mufasa had their surgery, and I feel like it was a gender reassignment surgery, because when I picked them up, the doctor said: "Oh, by the way, they're girls." WHAT?!?! I never checked! The shelter told me boys. Gave them boy names, and I said, "OK."

Of course, surgery meant that they wouldn't be with us much longer. And yesterday, I took them to PetSmart, set up their cage with food, water, and a bed, then clutched each one of them and cried like an idiot there in the back room. I am praying they go to very good, loving homes.

Before I left, I snapped a few last shots. Here is Moofie sitting by the window. She is a really sweet cat, loves to sit on laps, purrs while she's sleeping, and has a lot of patience.

And here is Simba taking one last little cat nap in our Ikea Poang chair. Who says redheads don't look great in red? She is confident, loves popcorn and wrestling, and is so, so happy. It was strange not to wake up to them this morning. I'll let y'all know when they've been adopted.

Dottie thought as long as I was snapping pictures, she'd pose for me. She's doing great, although she's trying to get used to two new (temporary) brothers...

Say hello to Skipper. When I took Moofie and Simba to get their final check-up on Friday at the shelter, I was asked if I could take home two nameless black cats. Nameless is never a good thing at the shelter; it usually means that unless something quickly changes, that animal will be on the next list for euthanasia. I said: of course! And I was able to name these two sweet little boys (I'm pretty sure they're boys this time.)

You'll notice Skipper has white and black hair ... a very unusual coat. It's called a "fever coat" and is the result of being ill when he was even smaller (he's about a pound and a half now.) He probably had a fever, and so for a short time, his hair came in white. This will eventually grow out, but for the time being, he's interesting-looking (and easier to tell apart from his brother.) He was timid at first, but when I showed him the amazing-ness of wet cat food, he came out of his shell.

This is Skipper's brother, Gilligan. (We call them Skip and Gill.) Gilligan is an awesome cat -- very brave, confident, comfortable in his own fur. He rubs on ankles. He asks nicely to be picked up. He has been over just about every square inch of our house already. And both boys are eating nicely, using the litter box every time, and even tucking themselves into their cat bed at night. We'll have them for around five weeks or so -- it will depend on how quickly they grow.

Here's a face from the past you may not recognize. This is little Elvis! My friend Jennifer and her family adopted Elvis and love him to pieces. He is getting big, and is such a nice boy. He is getting over his habit of tearing open the bread and eating the crust off. Jennifer even caught him putting away a skein of Sampler Threads that had fallen out of a basket (you can see that basket behind him.) I told her that he was raised well.

And here is Chi. Chi's new name is Stella, and her new owner contacted me via Facebook and shares pictures now and then. Stella and her owner like to watch English romance movies together, and that cat is getting supremely spoiled. Isn't she a beauty?

Zero is doing great -- no new pictures of him today, sorry. He's getting big and fluffy (I called him a "walking carpet" this week.) And by coincidence, Jennifer met Soba's new mother at Wal-Mart about a month or so ago (she works there in the check-out.) Soba has retained his name, and his mom says he has his own special blanket that he likes to nibble on, that he climbs into bed with her every night, and that he, too, is getting spoiled and is very loved.

Hope y'all are having a great week. Happy stitching, and to those of you who have pets...give 'em all a scratch behind the ears for me!

What a great show...and here's Ann!

Hey, well, I know you are all going to want to see this ... Ann Dale came in the mail this week. Thanks so much to Chris Canaday to doing a fabbo job stitching the model. I have already ordered a frame, and the piece is stretched. Isn't it gorgeous? The next few days I'll be working on getting the chart finished. When the frame is in, I can print covers, and away we go!

Just a reminder that this (above) sampler will be sold as a graph. You also will be able to order the ENTIRE sampler graph (this is just the bottom third). And there will be a third booklet available with just the urns from the sampler (to use for smalls and ornaments.) (You should be able to click on the picture to make it larger.)

My friend Jennifer and I had a great time in St. Charles at the Celebrations of Needlework show. Our booth looked just like a little shop, and I was fortunate to be able to meet stitchers from all over the place. I sold lots of fabric, lots of my sampler charts, and lots of silk, so I know there are some very happy and busy stitchers this week.

I always enjoy market, because it's one time that all of my models are in one place. I loan a lot of my pieces out to other shops during the year, so it's kind of like a little family reunion to have them all back together in one place.

I am busy now getting the store back together, answering e-mails and shipping orders. I am hoping that Celebrations will host the show again next year. If they do, I will be there...with bells on!

Quick post

Much to do...heading out to lunch for my son Graham's birthday -- he's 15 today. Then I'm heading to St. Charles, Missouri for the Celebrations show. Will be out of town for a few days. Hope you have a great rest of the week!

If you need to get a hold of me, please just e-mail me...I'll answer those when I get back.

Take care,

T

Remembering and Hoping

This is my song, Oh God of all the nations,

A song of peace for lands afar and mine.

This is my home, the country where my heart is;

Here are my hopes, my dreams, my sacred shrine.

But other hearts in other lands are beating,

With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.

My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean,

And sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine.

But other lands have sunlight too and clover,

And skies are everywhere as blue as mine.

Oh hear my song, oh God of all the nations,

A song of peace for their land and for mine.

May truth and freedom come to every nation;

may peace abound where strife has raged so long;

that each may seek to love and build together,

a world united, righting every wrong;

a world united in its love for freedom,

proclaiming peace together in one song.

***********************

Ten years ago, I posted some hymn lyrics on my web site in reaction to the horrible events of 9-11. Ten years on, it still seems we can use the sentiments of "This is My Song" (sometimes called "A Song of Peace.")

The lyrics were written in 1934 by Lloyd Stone, an American poet and the last stanza by Georgia Harkness, a Methodist theologian born in New York in 1891 (she also wrote additional verses that sometimes appear in hymnals). It is sung to "Finlandia" by Finnish composer Jean Sebelius in 1899 as a secret protest against censorship.

There is a perfectly lovely version on You Tube by the St. Paul's Concert Chorale in Maryland at www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cvz9PvczUMI. God bless us, everyone.