Gone Shopping, Part Two

Once I bought all the threads I could carry at Needlewoman East, I jumped in my car and drove another few miles to visit Waste Knot in Arlington.  It was pretty quiet when I first arrived so I was able to take lots of photos (with permission) of things for you to see.

I'll show you the last thing I bought first.  See the glass magnets on the upright display easel?  They are from Lee Cox. The pink-rose-gold oval on the right in the middle row lives in Chilly Hollow now.  I had a lot of fun browsing the books at Waste Knot and was seriously tempted by SuZy's Small Stitches from SuZy Murphy but I wanted that magnet more as it is so beautiful and in my favorite colors.   Priorities, priorities....

I saw some very interesting gadgets here.  I arranged a few on the counter for a photo so you could see them.  The tiny pink package is a miniature scissors set that has a loop to attach them to your key chain, your cell phone, etc.  They are small and sharp and easy to carry when you travel.  Lori (the owner of Waste Knot) has been on airplanes with hers without any problem.  Here's a better closeup than mine.  These come in assorted colors and have a nose guard to protect the tip of the blades.
http://www.newarkdress.com/ss208.html

The stack of trays are magnetic tool trays.  Inspired by similar trays in the hardware store, you can keep track of your needles, scissors and laying tools with these.  The last item is called a Knit Light.  It is a tiny penlight with a flexible neck that clips on your collar so you can see to stitch or read.   While I was there a visitor bought one to help read her Kindle in low light situations.
http://www.patternworks.com/productdetail/300460/---KNIT-LIGHT.htm

Speaking of Kindles, Waste Know carries the new Lee leather Kindle covers and also canvases that fit the opening.  The shop had both black and brown leather ones.  The black one rests on the box; the brown is open so you can see the inside.

Lori showed me her current project--a set of Christmas Nativity stars from Kathy Schenkel.  They are supposed to be strung on a garland with little angels separating the needlepoint stars.  These canvases come with stitch guides and there is a Halloween garland, too.  The Halloween sets are separated with bats. I'm sorry I can't find a photo of a stitched garland or even the angels or bats that separate the stitched pieces but I did find the Nativity stars set on Kathy's website.  The set continues on the next page but if you don't have enough room to stitch them all, you can just do part of the set.  I saw some of the stars stitched and they really look great.  I didn't think to take photos of them but I did take a photo of another great Kathy Schenkel idea--little Halloween cubes with matching beaded fobs.  Cute, huh?
http://www.kathyschenkel.com/new/45.html

I took lots of photos of the huge variety of painted canvases that Waste Knot carries.  Here are a few of them--

Maggie Jester Cats

Mindy Designs

Patt & Lee cats, etc.

Kathy Schenkel?  mini socks

Hope you enjoyed the show.  I have more to talk about tomorrow.

Tonight it's more Cha background for me.  I'm not going to attempt stitching with silk ribbons when the heat index is supposed to be 108 today!

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

Gone Shopping

Yesterday I left the chores behind and made the long trek towards civilization in order to visit Needlewoman East's Xmas in July sale.  (It continues through today, by the way, so if you are in the D.C. suburbs, you can participate in the sale.)  Of course I bought things!  You'll notice that my Total Stash Credits dropped by 21 since yesterday.  I didn't count the new tubes of Sundance beads or the lovely dichromatic glass magnet either.  But enough about me.  I took photos of the wonderful things I saw (with the shop owners' permission).

Isn't this lovely?  I was lucky enough to arrive just as the stitcher did to pick it up.

Here she is.  Her grandmother told me she raised two generations of stitchers but I didn't get a photo of all three of them as the middle generation was in the back, picking threads.  You probably can't tell from the photos, even if you click to see large versions, but the tent stitches are perfect on this.  Great job!

Here you see the owner of Needlewoman East hard at work on the phone.  The shop was crowded so I didn't take many photos here.  Most folks were really too busy to be interrupted to pose, tell me their stories and show off their bargains.  I did want you to see the wonderful cat bronze who holds Needlewoman East's cards, though.

My final photo from Needlewoman East is of a finished piece on the wall just behind Liz' head.  This is Two Cabanas, from Nancy's Needle.  It caught my eye and I was told that there is a whole series of Two pieces from Nancy's Needle.  Since I don't highlight many counted canvaswork designs, this is for Blog readers who love charts.  I was told there are a whole series of these and I found many of them on Nordic Needle's website.  There are two lighthouses, two gingerbread houses, two cabins, two barns, and even two haunted houses!  They are all about the same size-- 8 inches long and four high.  It's a charming series called "Small Monthly Quilt Series" and I hope you have fun looking at them here.

http://www.nordicneedle.com/CTGY/A04-21-00.html

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

Opportunities

Kaffe Fassett, Color Master & My Hero

Who is this man and why is he so happy?  This is the great Kaffee Fassett, textile designer (including needlepoint) extraordinare!  He knows more about color than anyone alive in my opinion.  Your NP library isn't complete until you own his Glorious Needlepoint.

I started out with Kaffe because his monthly newsletter plopped into my email box yesterday.  One of his videos has been turned into a download at the Amazon.com store.  Here's a bit about it. Click on Play Free Preview and you'll be taken to the Amazon store where you can play a snippet.
http://www.kaffefassett.com/Newsletters.html

If you've ever wondered what on earth plastic canvas is good for, go here now.
http://www.craftypod.com/2010/07/20/quite-possibly-the-finest-3d-needlepoint-book-ever-published/

You know most days I have to post about a sale.  This is a good one for devotees of counted canvaswork--Orna Willis is putting some of her charts on sale.
http://ornadesign.blogspot.com/2010/07/mish-mash-sale.html

Finally, here are the results of the poll About.com did.  I know that there is another side to customer service that just what we think of shops (I shudder to think what shop owners must think of us some days!) but it is still shocking to me how things turned out.  Somewhere around 27% of folks say that shop staff have been rude in a recent visit, 27% say that the staff couldn't answer questions about the items they carry, 10% say staff refused to assist them, and 27% say their local shop is terrific.  In other words, about 70% of shop visits are bad experiences.
http://needlepoint.about.com/b/2010/07/22/poll-results.htm

I'm going to the big Xmas in July sale at Needlewoman East today. You can be sure I'm going to hug each and every shop owner I run into!

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

Another Wing for Cha

I've finally finished enough tent stitch around the second wing to get started on it.  As you can see, I used the same wide diamond stitch that is on the bird's back but changed the color from pink to red and am doing the stitch in vertical columns instead of horizontal rows.  The loose red thread is on top of the canvas because I may continue the stitches up further.  Until I start the silk ribbon feathers I won't know exactly where the wide diamond rays should end.

The heat is intensifying again and I am also painting doors here so don't expect much progress on Cha in the next few days.  I'll probably return to background stitching as I am sure to be exhausted after going up and down the step ladder to reach the top of the door.  Sadly, I am height challenged, both in terms of inches and in terms of dizzy spells so painting takes a long, exhausting time.  But the doors will look like a million bucks once I am finished with them!

Not to worry, you will have lots to do until I get back to the feathers on Cha's wings.  All you have to do is visit Canvases Be Gone and see the old dede Odgen pieces Dale is selling off at incredible prices.  Plus she has quite a few Kelly Clark canvases at 40% off and there is a Christmas canvas sale going on to.  You really do have to do a little browsing and see what treasures you can unearth!
http://www.canvasesbegone.com/

I've also posted a new article on the CH Stitch Guides blog. It covers the Kindergarten Nativity set from Labors of Love and David McCaskill's stitch guides.
http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com/2010/07/davids-kindergarten-nativity-and-custom.html

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

Stirling Bags

If you've ever considering buying one of the Stirling leather purses, you'll want to read what Linda has to say.
http://nystitchingsisters.blogspot.com/2010/07/sterling-bags-great-experience.html

Here is their website.  Note all those lovely purses!
http://www.stirlingcases.com/products.php

Not interested in a pocketbook?  My spies tell me that next January Stirling is going to release leather cases for eBook readers like the Kindle and the Nook and a case for iPads, all of which will have about a 6 inch opening for your stitching.

By the way, the photo above is from the Alex Paras website where they sell the leather tool tote and the darling Shelly Tribbey canvas.  A little bird whispered there is a Brenda Hart stitch guide for that canvas, too!  However, you don't have to buy a canvas for the tool tote because AP Needlearts includes a free Janet Perry Bargello pattern with each purchase of that item.
http://store.apneedlearts.com/roletoto.html

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