Hey, stitchers!  I must admit it was great being in Long Beach for the Needlework market.  It’s always fun to see what’s new and get to talk with the vendors in person.

For those of you who have been concerned about the closing of Needle Necessities, I did have a chance to see the new line being offered by Threadworx.  From what I could see, the colors are identical to those of Needle Necessities, and Threadworx will provide a conversion chart.

Threadworx has added 13 or 14 new colors which I immediately ordered for the shop.  I still have a fairly good assortment of Needle Necessities floss, but will gradually be converting over.

I thought the new colors would give customers a chance to try out the product and see how they like it.  I haven’t had a chance to stitch with ThreadworX yet, but will as soon as the new colors arrive.

Will keep you posted as new arrivals come in.

Thinking of Stitching. . .

Caroline

Suzy’s Darn Stitches by Suzy Murphy ~~ I have long been fascinated by darning stitches, especially when trying to come up with a quick and airy type of background.  Suzy’s darning book is the perfect reference for this type of dilemma.

One of the features I like is that the darning patterns are grouped into categories including borders, backgrounds, and pictorials.  The border patterns are shown with mitered corners and the background patterns offer a wide variety of light to moderate and heavy background coverage. 

The pictorial patterns are really clever!   There are animals and insects and water related objects such as shells, fish, and waves.  There are also a variety of buildings including a log cabin, a bird house, and a church.  Suzy has also included holidays with hearts, Christmas trees and snowflakes.  There are even motifs for flowers, sports, and toys.

One of the features that makes this book particularly enjoyable is that on each page Suzy offers practical tips for  stitching, humorous antecdotes, and her own  “takes” on stitching dilemmas.  For example on one page she states, ”One way to tell it is time to go to bed is if you take out more than you put in.”  How many of us can relate to that?!

Great book if you’d like to explore creative uses of darning stitches!

Hey Stitchers,  Have had a couple of posts to *post*, but have been having computer problems so I’m a tad behind with updates.

I’m leaving tomorrow for Long Beach, CA to attend The National NeedleArts Association trade show.  As always, I’m excited!

Am looking forward to a class called Fiber Artist Trading Cards.  One of the presenters is Jenny Hart with Sublime Stitchery.  This ought to be really fun & I have no idea what it’s all about.

My other class is with Tink Boord-Dill.  She’s always a wealth of information.

I hope to find lots of new goodies and will let you know when I get back.

If you find yourself reading some posts that sound a little redundant, I apologize, but I can honestly say it’s my computers fault & not being able to get things fixed before leaving town.

 I’ll keep this short and fill you in next week.

Thinking of Stitching,

Caroline