Canvas of the Month: Little Pilgrim Girl (Bonnie)

November's Canvas of the Month is from Melissa Shirley. It is a 4x5 inch design on 18 count canvas of a little Pilgrim girl carrying a pumpkin in a pie tin. It is part of a set of six Thanksgiving-themed designs which you can see on her What's New page right under the new Halloween designs.
http://www.melissashirleydesigns.com/gallery/?bsn=1

This isn't the first time Melissa Shirley has designed a piece of a little girl carrying a pumpkin in a pie tin. One of her Victorian Halloween vintage postcard designs has many of the same elements.
http://www.theneedleworks.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=&products_id=1330

Below are Bonnie's stitch ideas for this Canvas of the Month. Jane's ideas are in the earlier blog posting.

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I think the main idea on the canvas, especially for the girl in the middle – is keep it simple – lots of cotton threads.  We are giving thanks for the simple things in life like sharing a meal with family and friends!

Starting at the bottom and working around the frame and the background:  Acorns – a skip tent for the top with French knots in between, or all French knots in a floss or slightly overdye floss, bottom in a simple vertical satin.  The dots in between a Smyrna cross or plain cross-stitch if that is too bulky.

Background of bottom – basketweave in an overdye cotton with the plies reversed so color ends up mottled not striped.  Row between bottom and ground, vertical satin stitch in floss or a strand of PC laid horizontally all the way across and couched horizontally with perle cotton.

Leaves –leaf stitch in an overdye silk or if can't find a good match pick a couple colors of silk and do some leaves in one color and some in another.   Leaf veins a single satin stitch in silk or stem stitch if can't get satin stitch where needed, branches a whipped stem stitch in a perle cotton or floss for texture.

Frame – double woven basket stitch with a fiber that looks like a rough basket – maybe a perle cotton or a linen or ….

Background – try to find a darning pattern with a leaf image or create one, done in a #12 PC or 2 strands of floss so very light.

Ground – basketweave in overdye floss, maybe a few very small French knots thrown in here and there to make clumps of dirt, or randomly cross a few of the tent stitches for the same idea.

Then to the main feature the girl and her pumpkin!

Pumpkin – horizontal satin stitch in silk, carefully laid.  Make sure follow ribs of pumpkin.  Stem tent in a perle cotton for texture.  Plate is all tent stitch since the main show is the pumpkin not the plate!

Face, hands – tent stitch in strandable silk

Hair – stem stitch or long and short following direction of hair in a cotton overdye with only a slight color change

Skirt and Top – upright cross in two to three shades of linen, or if not available, cotton floss, shading as needed

Apron – reverse basketweave or Hungarian stitch done in cotton floss or perle cotton (depends on what used for skirt and top, don't use same for both), ribbon done in an overdye with same stitch

Collar and cuffs – something with a diagonal feel like diagonal mosaic or scotch stitch same thread as apron

Hat – Nobuko or woven plait in direction to match angle of hat.  Again same thread as apron – adding a strand to the middle section as stitching to give that raised look or if using perle cotton try using a different size in middle section.

Shoes – tent stitch over two if room so different then the ground, but not too noticeable, in a suede.  Or if not enough space, just tent stitch.

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Thanks, Bonnie.  It is always a delight to do blog entries with you!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Making a Boring Border Better

I didn't mention several things when I posted about the Cape Cod Dogs window yesterday. If you looked closely at the photograph then, you saw I'd already finished the inside red border (tent stitches in the silk perle Elegance) and added a new element to the border--an outside red line, broader than the thin one on the inside edge of the border. The success I had padding Ch'ing the Chinese Red Dragon's face with Very Velvet meant I wanted to try padding again, especially when Carole emailed me about her current Melissa Shirley Santa stocking (photo above).




Carole used Petite Very Velvet as padding under her stocking top. She says, "I used the Petite Very Velvet to pad and then did Ribbon Floss over it. The holding power of the PVV is awesome. My Ribbon Floss has never looked better--you can't see the individual threads. It stands up just little above the PVV background in the blue."

Carole has a second similar Melissa Shirley mini stock with a pink and white peppermint top and plans to stitch it the same way. This looks great, doesn't it? Cape Cod Dogs isn't quite as gorgeous (I don't have any red ribbon floss and believe me, I looked!) so I laid down a long line of red Very Velvet around the edge of the original black border and have been stitching slanted stitches over it using all 6 plies of a card of red Mandarin Floss. It looks very nice in person and gives the border a very nice touch. Of course I still have tons of boring background to stitch, but at least with the Very Velvet padding it looks very nice. Here's a closeup from yesterday's photo.



Wish me luck finishing the last black border background, the red lettering and the padded red border all around the outside.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

What I saw at Market, by the Booth Bimbo

This morning I have a report straight from the TNNA show from Joanne C., who graciously agreed to tell us what she saw there as a guest blogger. Now, here's Joanne--

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In the interest of full disclosure, I had always, always, always (you get the picture) wanted to go to Market. Or for at least 20 years when the summer market used to be in Chicago, where I live, and the shop owners always said, we’ll take you, and I never got to go. So when my very good friend Elizabeth bought “Needlepoint Now” six months ago and asked if I’d help her staff her booth during her first-ever Market, I spent about 10 seconds thinking about it and then said, “are you KIDDING? I’d love to go!” The only bad part was that the Booth Queen called me the Booth Bimbo, even though I referred to myself as the Booth Minion J.

I can’t judge how much space this trade show takes up, but it’s a lot. Hundreds of thousands of square feet – the aisles started their numbering at 100 and ended at 1700. I’m not going to say much about the knitting people except they have better sweaters than we do. Knitting is very much an international industry and there were vendors there from Britain, Australia, Peru, Ecuador, Argentina, the US, Canada, Japan, etc, ranging from vendors with 15 booths to those who are more “cottage industry” with one. I really didn’t go over to the knitting side because I was afraid I’d be sucked in again and my hand surgeon would refuse me another cortisone injection to fix an acute tendonitis attack caused by knitting.

Besides, I was too busy looking at needlepoint, cause it was all over. I had more than enough time to walk around when I wasn’t in the booth, but I kept gravitating back to the same few booths. Melissa Shirley is my favorite painted canvas designer and I couldn’t stop going to look at the beautiful things she had displayed. I’m sorry that I didn’t get to meet her and act all “fan girlish” but she wasn’t there due to a family commitment. Her work was unbelievable and it was a privilege to see it all in one place to see her range. A lot of her new things are on her website, including some great new flower purses (the 1306 series) that could also be pillows, and a big gorgeous black crane (number 1288) that was partially stitched, and a HUGE Santa that must have been 4 feet tall, he had a really cute face. The ladies in the Melissa Shirley booth were wonderful to talk with and I’m sure I drove them nuts with my “visits.”
http://www.melissashirleydesigns.com//gallery/?bsn=1

Jane had asked me to look at three particular designers – Leigh, Mindy, and SharonG. I am not a huge fan of Asian pieces so I didn’t really know what to look for, but there were some gorgeous, gorgeous geishas, showgirls, great pumpkins, and my favorites, the Guadalajara flowers. These were big, abstract, boldly colored flowers on contrasting brightly colored canvases.
http://www.leighdesigns.com/ImgIdx01.html

The beautiful things on Sharon G’s website looked even more beautiful in person – the “horses behinds” she’s got in Christmas, abstract, and floral themes are adorable, I’m looking forward to seeing these stitched. She’s also got some new florals with abstract flowers and striped backgrounds that taper down from being three threads wide, then two, then one, then scattered, just dying to have a big fancy embellished flower.
http://sharongneedlepointdesigner.blogspot.com/2009/06/ct35-is-newer-canvas-that-now-has.html

I loved Mindy’s canvases. My friend Elizabeth lives in Eugene, Oregon, so I’ve been in Mindy’s shop several times and seen a lot of her work, but she had a lot that I hadn’t seen since my last trip there in April, including her signature beautifully painted canvases designed to go in Stirling bags. She showed a lot of canvases with mixed media trims – resin buttons with contrasting faces, wooden buttons, lace trims, ribbon trims, funky spherical balls on funkier stockings, buttons as tree toppers on great Halloween and Christmas trees, and a great collection of Halloween canvases that I don’t remember seeing before – she’s painted a lot of plaid and it was fabulous. Oh, and the purses! Mindy’s done great purses for years but she had some new shapes. I think I have to have the round one….
http://www.mindysneedlepoint.com/new_default.htm

[Jane adds, "Here is the Stirling leather goods website. If you click on Designer Links you'll see two Mindy abstracts that fit the purses."]
http://www.stirlingcases.com/products.php

The trend I picked up on was PINK – everyone had something pink. Lani had some gorgeous, gorgeous pink canvases – abstract patterns with sea shells in the center dying for light stitches, Ruth Schmuff had great pink ornaments, there was a beautiful pink stitched and beaded Melissa Shirley purse in her booth, Mindy had pink, Julia had pink, you get the picture. I love pink, so maybe I was just attuned to it. Purses were also really popular, everyone is showing purses.

[Here is Lani's pink rose pillow and a new Melissa Shirley animal canvas--a chameleon. The second link below is the pink purse Joanne loved.]
http://www.tistheseason.org/blog/2009/06/columbus-market-day-1.html

http://www.melissashirleydesigns.com/galcol/index.cgi?index=1245457247_13532&col=4

[Ruth Schmuff's pink ornaments are here, about the middle of the page.]
http://www.bedeckedandbeadazzled.com/whatsNew.php

[Lani's model page shows off glorious stitched examples of her work.]
http://www.lanienterprises.com/finished_models_imgs.html

This experience made me realize how hard our shop owners work for us – they spend money on travel, lodging, food, and registration to walk around for three days, looking at everything, talking to designers, taking notes, deciding how to best spend their allocated funds on things they think will please us. They have to buy for a whole range of customers whose tastes range from the funkiest new painted canvas to little Christmas ornaments to canvases with pre-stitched centers and canvases that zip into eye glass cases. In talking to them, I realized they can’t just buy what they like, cause if you don’t have what your customers want, they’ll go elsewhere.

I met or was reintroduced to a bunch of fascinating people, all of whom loved to talk about needlepoint as much as I do. Including Amy Bunger and Robin and Jill from her shop, and Kelly Clark (who is just as nice as you’d think she is – she remembered my name when I went back to talk to her the day after I met her, and this was after she must have met 15 million people, and her work was spectacular – the new barnyard animals were adorable!! ), and Anne who is the genius behind Gloriana (who invited us for a road trip!), and Liz from DMC who came over to show us the new “Memory Thread”, very cool, and Ada, who is the designer behind Eye Candy (distributed by Ruth Schmuff), Ada uses color soooo well, and Cathe Ray who owns Needle in a Haystack, and Wendy Harwood who owns Aristeia in California, and Cynthia Thomas from Houston who does extraordinary stitch guides and had the best job at Market cause she got to go from booth to booth, talking to designers about doing stitch guides for them.

[Here are the Kelly Clark barnyard animal canvases along with her other new pieces.]
http://www.kellyclarkneedlepoint.com/new

[Here is the DMC Memory Thread.]
http://www.dmc.com/majic/pageServer/0t010001kd/en_GB/Desire.html

I also got to take off my “Needlepoint Now” hat and put on my “Seminar Faculty Committee for ANG” hat – I talked to a lot of people about plans for Columbus in 2010 and San Antonio in 2011. All in all, I had a great weekend, and if you ever get the chance to go to Market, all I can say is, GO! Thanks for inviting me, Elizabeth – I’m ready to be the Booth Minion again anytime!

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Thanks, Joanne. You are the ideal booth babe reporter and we do appreciate hearing all about the newest needlepoint items that will tempt us in the months to come.

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Introducing Sharon Quick

Today's posting has as guest blogger Sharon Quick, or Sharon QuickStitcher as you may know her from the ANG email list. I recently saw photos of some of Sharon's stitching on our guild website and asked her if she had time to tell us a bit about her work. Sharon graciously replied in the Q&A session below we did via email. My questions are in black and Sharon's answers italicized in blue.

Sharon, I know you only started needlepointing in 1998 and that you picked Susan Portra's classic Spirit of the Southwest as your first piece. This isn't exactly a beginner's design. Had you done other forms or needle work that helped you conquer this lovely design with no experience? Or was ignorance your friend as you didn't know it was supposed to be an advanced design?

My mother taught me embroidery when I was about 10 years old (many moons ago). I put it aside for several years. One day in about 1992 I stitched a cross stitch piece on Aida cloth, but I was disappointed in the results, so I set it aside. In 1996 I went to Iowa to visit my parents, and I saw a cross stitch on the wall that Mom had stitched - an Indian with a dream catcher in the background. I looked at it and said, "Mom, that is beautiful. Since I know you won't give it to me, I guess I'll have to stitch it myself." The next day off we went to Amana, Iowa, to the needlework shop, of course. As we went up the steps into the shop, there was Susan Portra's Spirit of the Southwest hanging above the cash register. I said, "That's what I'm going to stitch!" Mom said, "You're not going to spend $25 for a pattern!" And I replied, "Yes, I am." I purchased the pattern, along with the pattern for the Indian I had admired so much, and away we went.

When I returned to California, I began looking for the threads I would need, and wished I had purchased the kit that had been offered to me for a mere $50. I wouldn't have dared spend that much money in front of my mother. It was a blessing and a curse that I had to find out where the needlework shops were in the Los Angeles area. Silly me, I went directly to the Rainbow Gallery warehouse. A kind person there gave me one card of thread and directed me to a couple of shops in the area. I'm sure I spent more than $50. Since that fateful day, I have found nearly every needlework shop in the Los Angeles area, as well as many others.

Immediately I began stitching, following Susan's instructions to the letter. I could hardly put it down. Each new stitch and/or thread was like turning the pages of a great book. I didn't want to do anything else. I had no idea that this was supposed to be an advanced piece. I just read the directions and followed them (ignorance can be bliss!) Before I had even completed the piece (it took me three months), I was looking for my next pattern. And, yes, I did stitch that Indian with the dream catcher. I stitched lots of counted pieces before discovering hand painted canvases. I believe that counted experience gave me the knowledge of how to stitch with different threads and what the stitches would look like in different fibers.

Your Corn Kachina design won third place at the Indian Wells ANG Seminar of 2008 in the painted canvases with stitch guide class (the kachina stitch guide was by David McCaskill). I was even more taken with your Walking to the Moon piece from Sundance Designs, which shows a woman wrapped in a clock walking toward the full moon. It won Honorable Mention in the Painted Canvas without a Stitch Guide area. I stitched a similar design and found it fascinating but I had instructions because it was a free class through the Caron website. How did you choose the fabulous stitches for each section of this piece?

I studied the canvas Walking to the Moon thoroughly before beginning to stitch. I wanted to have movement in the sky and her cloak. I saw the background sky as clouds; the prominent moon is even overshadowed by clouds. The focal point was the woman wrapped in a cloak, with lots of movement of the cloak and skirt. I chose stitches that would move the eye left and right. I thumbed through stitch books for hours before settling on the stitches. The moon is stitched with a combination of Soie d'alger and Accentuate. The change in colors comes from the paint showing through the lighter stitches. I decided that for the skirt I wanted cotton, as this was not a person of great means. I selected floss, and picked stitches that would emphasize the folds of the skirt. For the cloak I chose Impressions for its blanket-like finish. The cloak has several "stripes" of color, I chose one stitch for the stripe and changed only the colors, mixing colors within a section of the stripe if I could not find the right color in that thread. I have had requests for my stitch guide, and it is available for purchase.

Have you taken lots of classes? Or do you just stitch constantly to reach this level of achievement?

Yes, I have taken a LOT of classes. I am President of the San Bernardino Chapter of ANG, and our chapter has been blessed with Pat Correz, who knows all the teachers and schedules classes almost monthly with a nationally known teacher. I try to take classes in a variety of techniques from different teachers so I can learn different ways of doing things. I've been to three ANG Seminars, and also take classes from David McCaskill every other month, Susan Portra four times a year, and Brenda Hart once a year. In addition, I am the CyberWorkshop Committee Chairman for ANG, so I have a part in selecting the CyberWorkshops, and learn from the classes by reading the lessons as they are given. I also stitch some of their projects as part of the class. I stitch every day, at least 4 hours/day.

Are you from a family talented with needle arts?

My mother did all kinds of needlework, cross stitch, crochet, knitting, sewing, crafts, etc. I've tried most of them, but needlepoint is my favorite. My sister is a full time quilter. Actually, the three of us even have collaborated on a project. In 1998 my mother came to California to visit, and I taught her some basic Brazilian embroidery stitches. She loved this so much that she started taking lessons when she returned to Iowa. Over the next five years she stitched each lesson on a muslin quilt block. When I visited her in 2003, she showed me a box stuffed with 72 blocks - each more beautiful than the last. She wanted to make a quilt, but did not feel she was up to doing it herself (she now 84). I had just finished taking some beginning quilt classes, so I volunteered to sew the pieces into six window pane style quilts - one for Mom and one for each of us five children. I then sent the quilt tops off to my sister in Iowa. She is completing the quilting. I have received mine back from Mom all quilted, and I just love it.

Why did you start finishing needlepoint? Obviously your sewing machine is your friend. I've seen two of your finished pillows. They are beautifully done with subtle finishing details, not flashy trims. Do you have a finishing philosophy? {Readers, note that Sharon sent me several examples of finishing for you to enjoy. In most cases the stitching was done by other people.]

My dear mother also taught me to sew on a treadle sewing machine. At first I just drew lines on a piece of paper and followed the lines with no thread in the needle. When I mastered that, we moved on to sewing clothes for school. By the time I entered 7^th grade I had already made a lined wool suit and all my clothes for school that year. That's how I spent the lazy days of that summer. I've sewn many things since then, including new covers for the pull out bed/couch that was in the studio apartment where my husband and I lived when he was in the Navy.

I began finishing needlepoint because I was stitching so many pieces that I could not afford to have them finished professionally, and I knew I could do it myself. I started out slowly, and after I had done a few of my own, I offered to do some for a friend. I now am finishing for my local LNS. I am not trying to compete with the big finishers, as I keep my finishing simple, yet elegant, and try to work to achieve the look that the individual wants in their piece. I do not have the room, nor access to all the fabrics and finishing accessories that big shops devoted to finishing are able to obtain. I spend mornings on the computer creating stitch guides for myself and designers. I do finishing in the afternoons, and stitch in the evenings.

Which guides do you have for sale and where does one buy them?

I have stitch guides for several pieces that I stitched for myself. I am particularly proud of Walking to the Moon (or also called Going to the Magic Place). Other guides are the 12 Vases by JP (C-566); Sprinkler Flowers by Shelly Tribbey (FL20); Kaylene by Ewe and Eye (EW-1007); Louise by Ewe and Eye (EWE-98); Stitching Club by Melissa Shirley; Dreidel Girl by Ruth Schmuff(1284); Night Ride by Shelly Tribbey; Desire by Lani; and Chef on a Bike by Alice Peterson. These stitch guides can be obtained directly from me.

You will soon be seeing my name on stitch guides from Needle Deeva, Trubey, and Dede Ogden.

What is your favorite designer? And what is your favorite book about needlepoint? What's your very favorite finished piece of needlepoint?

My favorite designer - boy that's a tough one! David McCaskill always marvels that my canvases come from such a wide range of designers and styles. I own canvases for many levels of difficulty. The ones that I take to teachers are always demanding - something unusual that has some motif in it that I really don't know how to approach. That's how I learn - by asking questions. Sometimes I pick out a very simple canvas just to enjoy without having to think too much while I work on it.

I have several shelves of needlework books. The ones that I keep handy when writing my stitch guides are Stitches To Go, Suzy's Portable Stitches, and the Amazing Stitches series, as well as all Brenda Hart's books. When I want to dig deeper I go to the book shelf and pull one of those dealing with a specific technique. If I'm ever too tired to stitch, I pull a book I haven't looked at for a while and read through it again. I find all kinds of new things in there, or things that I've forgotten.

My favorite piece of needlepoint is Susan Portra's Spirit of the Southwest. I loved stitching it, and it is a wonderful reminder of where my journey into needlepoint began.

What are you stitching right now?

Today, I am stitching on a Mindy design. Actually, several of us at our LNS, Queen Anne Stitches in Santa Clarita, CA, are stitching it. We picked this piece as a "Hoo Haa" group project. We select a canvas, and we collaborate on what we might do with it. Then we each choose threads and stitches. We just started this piece 2 weeks ago, and we are going off in all different directions. It is great fun to see how this will turn out. This is our third group project.

I'm also stitching on a Christmas Tree by Trubey that would make a great class for beginners. I plan to present it as a class at my second LNS, Enchanted Unicorn, in Redlands, CA.

I have several pieces that I work on a little at a time to include: Gay Ann Rogers' Hollyhock House, Scotch 'Ya, the Menagerie online class, the Mystery Stitchalong with CyberPointers chapter, Rebecca's Nativity which is another Hoo Haa class, and several others.

I have a huge number of UFO's. I'll get back to them some day. I just can't resist that next wonderful project/design coming out.

Blog readers will remember the Stitching Whimsies ladies and their Hoo Haa projects that customers of Queen Anne Stitches do as a group, ordering multiple copies of a painted canvas and each stitching it in their own way. You guys have done the Stitching Ladies and the Funky Forest if I remember correctly. It must be a great deal of fun to stitch together.

Thanks so much for agreeing to an interview and sharing lovely photos of all your beautiful work.

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Introducing the Stitching Whimsies

I have a group of guest bloggers to introduce to you today--the Stitching Whimsies. See the Melissa Shirley canvas above? It's called The Stitching Club and the Whimsies are all stitching this canvas. But here's Gini to explain how they got started and what they are doing.

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"Several stitchers who live in the Antelope Valley portion of Southern California decided to go to Queen Anne Stitches in Santa Clarita, CA, our "local" shop some 35 miles away, to spend the day stitching there. That was several months ago. Over time, the group grew sort of like Topsey, as additional people who stopped in the shop while we were there began coming back to stitch with us. We arrive every Thursday when the shop opens at 11. Then we stitch and chat for a while, break for lunch at one of the several nearby places, then stitch again until around 4. We don't always get a lot of stitching done, but we do have fun.

An aside about Heidi Bontempo (aka the Queen) and her shop… She's been the sole owner for two years, having bought out her partner (aka the Queen Mum). Heidi listens to what her customers want, continues to add new thread lines, carries a variety of canvas sizes, artists, and styles, has trunk shows every other month, and will soon have an online presence. She and Sherry Bray are both fun to be around, and the shop has a wonderfully warm, friendly vibe.

One day, we passed around the Needlepoint Now magazine with the article about Melissa Shirley. [Note: This is the March 2008 issue.] Someone suggested we do "The Stitching Club" together, in what Heidi and Sherry call a "who ha" group, essentially a self-directed class. It means we discuss the canvas, share ideas about stitches and threads for particular areas, and then decide what to do on our own canvas. We spend time passing our canvases around for comments,critiques, and encouragement. The canvas we are stitching is shown above. You can see others in this series here:

http://www.melissashirleydesigns.com//gallery/?cat=74

Heidi dubbed us the Whimsies to distinguish us in her own mind from her other groups, even though some of us have multiple memberships! Six of us are working on The Stitching Club -- Sharon, Gini, Kathy, Jackie, Lori and Nancy. And like our group, it's now known as The Stitching Whimsies. Some of us are far more interested in the process of stitching than in finishing any particular project. Some stitch daily, others less often. Most of us have a myriad of other projects at some stage of completion. And we all like to learn as much as we can from teachers and other stitchers. A core group of 6 or 7 attends regularly and others attend frequently. Heidi happened to show us a new canvas, Associated Talents' Funky Forest. Nancy was talking about ordering it for herself, when Lori piped up and suggested we do it as our next group project. Over a dozen people have ordered that one.

http://www.atneedlepoint.com/CanvasDetails.asp?CanvasNumber=M-164&Example=

signed, Gini

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I hope to have a Whimsy or two drop by about every other Sunday to update you on the progress on their canvases. It's easy to think that there is only one "right" way to stitch a painted canvas. When you see what each Whimsy does with the same canvas and how they all look good, the real charm of painted canvases and how they customize themselves to their stitcher's personality and tastes will be revealed!

Many thanks to the Whimsies for allowing themselves to be showcased here. And by the way, Queen Anne Stitches doesn't have a website or I'd be able to show you the natural habitat of Stitching Whimsies.

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow