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4th Quarter of 2007 (october - december) december 28, 2007 are plans being made??? for december 31st??? and january 1st and rose parades and football games and being inside in warm and quiet and stitching and creating and making lists and being inspired with all the things we have on our lists for 2008. cleaning out a couple more cupboards...making a couple of more black garbage bags to sit by the cans at home to fill in the empty spaces (we never manage to fill our cans so "extra" is just wonderful filler); maybe a movie or two...and another long weekend which will be good because i think i'm actually going to attack the sewing room - and that is a seriously scary thought. we've had a lot of new things come in these last 2 weeks...and lots of things in semi-planning stages and lots of other things happening around here too... annie is being a pitbull today and tormenting me until i get this update done...and then i have to figure out how i'm going to move things around on this web site and start the cleaning process all over again. this is actually worse than my sewing room at home if that is possible :) reminders: we are almost ready to close our brightneedle class with a few spots remaining. kits will be mailed out the end of january, 2008. also - we will be posting a new on-line class by jackie du plessis called whine & weave. we will post this new class sometime after the first of the year. also - our april retreat - trianon petite sold out. we have waiting list only. we are also in the process of kitting up an exclusive for elegant stitch - and i will tell you it's on specially dyed fabric by r&r reproductions, it is a beautiful "wisteria" color with beads and silks and ribbons and, and, and, and...and we are very excited...and it's lined with the most gorgeous oscar de la renta silk...and i'll have pictures of that when it's ready to go... so...because kelly is coming in very soon and she needs my computer to print off color pictures...opps - i think i just heard the door go...i'm off to get this finished...or they will both be on my head... :) lizzie kate: a new series called "double
flips" which gives you two charts and two charms in one package...the first
2 charts have arrived here this week... designing ladies 2007 - needle casket needleprint: a gorgeous
book from edwina ehrman - 91 pages - soft bound primitive needle: stacy nash primitives: plum street samplers: we
love these too...and were delighted to find them!!! little house needleworks: country cottage needleworks: milady's needle: so we can
start stitching for next year... and so...the year is over...we wish you a grand celebration (if you are so inclined) and if not a grand celebration then a quiet, peaceful and thoughtful celebration. there have been lots of ups and downs this year...changes - both good and bad...saying goodbye to people we love, things we love and yet knowing that life continues on - sometimes not as rich as it was...but rich in memories and good things remembered. new years is a time for plans and adventures and excitement about what is coming in the new year - a sense of renewal and also a sense of time spent in the next couple of months hiding from horrible winter weather and waiting for spring to knock on our doors... i enjoy winter...i love sweaters and cold and hot cups of coffee and knowing, as sure as i know my own name that spring just around the corner...and the trees stripped naked by the cold winds and rain will pop beautiful blossoms and be breathtaking...and that all the tired holiday trees waiting in the gutters will be picked up and turned into mulch and scattered throughout the flowerbeds and orchards to help with the renewal in the new year. thank you for visiting us in 2007 and we look forward to 2008. be careful, be safe and again, our thanks for your kindnesses and support this last year. from us all at elegant stitch.
december 14, 2007 9 days to the holidays - is everybody ready??? i'm not...and i won't be...the tree is up...actually the three trees are up...and i'm done now. i have to figure out what's for dinner on the 24th and 25th...we have to pack some more boxes around the shop and throw out a few more things over the next couple of weeks...get ready and set up yahoo groups for our brightneedle class before i head to market the first week of february and get the shop ready for moving the last week in february... i haven't done an update for 2 weeks - and if i tell you that the very BEST part of the last two weeks was when i fell in the parking lot yesterday - skinning my left knee and twisting my right ankle so it only looks like 3 redwood stumps - would that give you some idea as to how nasty it's been? we are done now...we are so done now...and moving along... so...forgive my lack of "news" but my heart and brain have been elsewhere and i'm trying to get both those things back in the saddle again... shepherd's bush: it's christmas soon...and although not
possible for this year...oh how cute to get the start on next year... special things: little house needleworks: country cottage needleworks stacy nash primitives designing ladies 2007 and thus...i am finished with the update and need to wiggle along to other things... a few things to take care of on my way home tonight...a day tomorrow and then a couple of days to try and recover and get our lives back on an even path again. it's the bustle of the holiday season...everybody is flying faster and quicker than normal so please be careful out there - breathe in and out and remember...in some form or fashion - it will all get done and if it doesn't - the only person to know that is you - and if you don't tell - nobody will be the wiser. be safe and thanks for visiting. november 29, 2007 i'm having to list everything down the side so i don't forget a single thing...i feel like the wabbit - but this time the wabbit has absolutely no head...the headless wabbit wonder. i'm actually writing this on wednesday - haven't lifted my behind off this chair since i got in this morning and i'm still behind...even though the desk is almost cleaned, the scanning bin is empty, the checks have been written and mailed and all the drawn thread orders have been taken care of best i can until we get more boxes in from cynthia. on the other hand...i have piles and piles of fabric to cut for class kits, i have paper boxes to paint, i have wool beads to felt, i have a couple of other things to complete and i have a ton of bins that have to be gone thru and reorganized as well as piles of garbage bags to take out to the dumpster...and heavens...it's really only wednesday...and i have to get this web site into some sort of order again and wait for pictures to come for our it's fineally finished whine and weave class so i can get that posted but the good news is that i'm done with the last of the local stockings that needed finishing and it's not even december 1st...so i consider that a real coupe. i have also managed to get the furniture re-arranged at home - making room for a 50 inch television in my family room (bear's b'day pressie - and mine too) was quite a challenge...but with a little help from cost plus in the form of some baskets and a little room in the garage...i think i've done it. the next thing is to waterproof the bottom of the ceramic fountain on the patio since it leaks water out the unsealed bottom and put the tree up - and i think that's a sunday kind of thing. most all the presents have been taken care of and shipped off to parts of the country and mr. bear and i are just going to pretend that the 50" is the christmas pressie part too...so that makes it easy on the home front. and i think roast beast will be the dinner of choice so that should be easy too and mr. shoo thinks that is a very grand idea!! actually all we really have to get is pressies for the kitty meows and mr. shoo shoo - i'm trying to talk his daddy into getting him a christmas sock...and it's not going over very well so i might have to take matters into my own hands - or just stitch him a sock for next year. can any of us believe that it's really christmas in just 25 plus days...personally i can't. it seems i just put the tree away from last year and i couldn't even tell you where this last year has gone...poof and it vanished into a cloud of pixie dust and good intentions as the months and seasons sped by and i don't believe i even got a chance to blink. 2008 is going to be an exciting time for us. we are moving into brand new, gorgeous digs about the end of february - they are doing the permitting and build outs for us as we speak and i am really looking forward to our new place. huge vaulted ceilings, sky lights, halogen lights, gorgeous epoxy floors and lots of open room to do what we want. and, believe it or not...we have been in this place for five years and with the disgusting rental increase that my current landlord thinks is reasonable and me not being in the mood to roll over...we're moving. it's going to be a lot of work but we are all very excited about our new "home" and i'll try and get some pictures of the before and after... however, cleaning all the cupboards and bins and drawers is a little daunting...i truly don't know how it is possible to accumulate all this stuff in 5 years...but all the junk is slowly but surely making it's way to the dumpster and leaving our lives permanently. what i have discovered is that there are a lot of wonderful things that i want to do and i'm not getting them done by spending hours on the computer when it's not necessary. it's almost like it's become the "new" television...and however addicting it can be...i don't need to read chat boards...i really don't and i'm going into summary mode on all the different groups i belong to. there is just not enough hours in the day and there are so many other things i want to do and create and stitch...and it's just not happening. so...that's my new year's resolution - about a month early - but who's counting - except that the days and months are slipping by me at such a rapid pace and i don't want the same list of "undone" things to be staring me in the face again next year...because by then, i'll have a whole new basket full of things that i really want to do too!!! mr. shoo shoo got a tremendous shock this monday - his baby
fur had managed to grow into his big boy fur and between a harness when we went
to tahoe, his surgery and no bathie for 2 weeks and then thanksgiving and the
groomer being booked for a week solid...he finally got to see sharon on monday
with quite a coat full of tangles and snarls...and he came away from that
experience with hair on his tail and on his head but very little hair anywhere
else. i guess these puppies do this sometimes when they go from puppy fur
to big dogger fur and we won't have to do this again...but he is now the proud
owner of two sweaters and a coat...as witnessed by the picture below as we wait
patiently for his fur to grow back in. the groomer and i figure about 30
days and we should have some peach fuzz on that little body but until then -
he's one "short haired shih tsu" and...so on with the rest of it...and i'm just going to "list and run" because i have boxes of stuff calling my name and everybody here is sick again - annie, jessika have "the cold" and i have a scratchy throat again...and i'm dodging the sick germs - 5 weeks of that stuff was more than enough for me. kill the bugs with coffee and vitamin C is my motto :) blackbird designs: blue ribbon designs: needleprint: with my needle: the primitive needle: just nan: little house needleworks: country cottage needleworks: elegant stitch on-line class: we are absolutely delighted to announce a new on-line class from brightneedle called dreamkeeper etui. please click on the on-line class link for details. and finally...i am very pleased to announce our retreat in april, 2008: trianon petite with jackie du plessis of it's fineally finished. click here for all the details and some wonderful pictures. and so...it's the end of a day (wednesday) and i've got a full one for tomorrow...lease signing, general running around and carrying on as we prepare for life in 2008 and some grand and glorious changes in our lives. we wish you good preparations for the upcoming holidays - be safe out there - people are running and trying to get everything done in record time...and sometimes we get a little bit disjointed and careless with all that we have on our plates and all that needs to be accomplished in a very short period of time. thanks for joining us this week...some of the dust bunnies are cleared out - not all that i had hoped for - but i'll take what i can get and to quote a favorite of mine..."carry on". from everybody at ES to all of you...thank you! november 21, 2007 first - from all of us to all of you - wishing you a happy and peaceful turkey day tomorrow and a wonderful weekend. i have many, many things to tell you all and classes to post for 2008 and news and all sorts of good things but it's going to take a very long time to get it all done and time is at a premium today with all the festivities going on. we will be open on friday, 11/23/07 regular hours and closing a tad bit early on saturday as we are going up to sacramento for some time with friends over the thanksgiving weekend. so...with that - i'm going to go back to updating and moving things around and cleaning dust bunnies and i'll be back with new pictures of mr. shoo after he gets another puppy cut on monday - his hair is so long now that it is impossible to comb and he is a tangled boy and we lost our annie whizzer wee kitty last wednesday night...she was one of our original rescues and she lived a long and good 8 years after we brought her home with us. she went on her terms and at her time, in my lap and it was the best for her...but very sad for us but she's in a better place now. she had been so abused the first 6 years of her life that it had left permanent damage that never could have been fixed and we gave her 8 years that she never would have had otherwise. bruce is heading out to orange county again on monday afternoon and life just gets more and more crazy around here...but crazy is good. we hope however you spend your weekend that it is good and peaceful and accomplished...and although none of us can believe it - the holidays are coming very quickly - at record pace and it seems to come quicker the older i get. enjoy your weekend and i'll be back with some good news and great classes and retreat information next week!!! gobble...gobble...gobble november 9, 2007 and so another week has come and gone...and the leaves are turning bright orange and golds and are filling up the gutters both on the roofs and the curbs...and we are actually supposed to get some rain this weekend which would be just wonderful. came home from spokane on monday morning very early and as i was driving down I-5 to modesto it was very strange to see all the fire trucks heading home and going north on I-5 - returning home from the fires in southern california. as the trucks proceeded up the freeway, everybody finally started to realize who they were and where they had been and people were honking and giving them "thumbs up" as the fire trucks passed them. an amazing bunch of men and women and they did a incredible job and i admire them greatly!! we are going to be closing early tomorrow (saturday) as a bunch of us are heading to phoenix to take a merry cox class which is being put on by jean lea at attic needleworks in mesa, arizona. we are very excited to see phoenix (and of course none of us have our prestitching done) but we are going to take incredibly good notes and stitch in class and just enjoy our teacher and our surroundings and the wonderful hospitality that jean provides and we are looking forward to it. so...this will be my last trip for awhile - at least until nashville market in february. i'm a little tired of the inside of a plane and i wish there was a magic wand that we could all use to transport ourselves to all the places far and wide that we wish to go...however...until they get that technology figured out - it's the inside of a plane...but i've had too many in the last couple of weeks - even though the destination is always just wonderful. now i have to get to the business at hand and get all our classes scheduled and put up for 2008 and continue on with our retreat arrangements and all things that need to be done for the shop - the biggest one is cleaning and rearranging and pitching out - and that will start when i get home on tuesday the 13th. mr. shoo shoo had his "little boy surgery" yesterday and bruce has a kitty shot appt. this morning at 10:30 and is picking up mr. shoo at the same time and bringing him here for a long nap this afternoon and some relaxation. he's just fine albeit a tiny bit sore from surgery and he'll be better off here where his mom and 2 aunties can keep an eye on him...and it will give the two kitties a chance to recoup from their shots in peace and quiet as well. lucy bear is fully recovered from her possum skirmish...her hair is growing back now and she still looks like a little lioness with a fairly short haired behind where they shaved her off to do surgery but she is back in fine form and i'll get some pictures next week when i get home. it was a long haul for the little girl...and the second surgery on the wound site took some time and set her back a little bit...but she's her old sweet self again and we are very grateful to our vet for taking such amazingly good care of her. so...on to the business at hand...new things...and promises of great new things for the nashville market in february...goodies and fun things and i'm looking forward to that but until then...here we go!!! carriage house samplings - four new samplers - all of them
wonderful... midsummer night designs - this has been sitting in my scan
box - it came in right after the last update...it's very sweet...we love this. bygone stitches - a new designer for us - this is just a
beautiful piece... country house needleworks - a beautiful pink house with
threads from crescent colours.. lizzie kate - a big and two little snippets...very cute... so...that's it from modesto this week...life is good...a little bit crazy but so what's new and who could believe that thanksgiving is two weeks from yesterday and that starbucks has already rolled out the christmas cups...there is something desperately wrong in going directly from halloween to christmas...the turkeys are depressed beyond all belief... for those of you with a holiday on monday - enjoy the weekend...we're off to phoenix for a quick trip and then we're home for the holidays - it's a good thing. have a great one...we're officially into "the season"...
october 30, 2007 back - just in time for spooky day tomorrow. it's been a long couple of weeks and there has been a lot going on...and i think i've totally lost it and am doing everything i possibly can to get back on track again...but holey moley - lots and lots going on... we started the week of the 15th getting ready and hurrying and rushing for our chocolat retreat...which started un-officially on thursday the 18th with guests arriving and me driving to the airport to fetch jackie and nancy. we were so good that we managed to arrange for both of them to arrive within 30 minutes of each other...and since you get 30 minutes free parking in both terminals - i whisked in and whisked out with two passengers...and hot-footed it back down to modesto. the retreat was wonderful and it was terrific to see old friends and new friends...we did have a couple of mishaps - like jackie's laptop and projector being stolen out of my car, parked in my garage sometime during saturday evening or sunday morning...not only did they steal jackie's things, they stole my car keys, sunglasses, starbucks card, $40.00 in change, my mother's gate opener - all the things that we keep in the car...and with the fires going on in southern california - it's taking longer for the insurance company to find their feet and process the claims - and my angst is nothing compared to everything that is going on in the lower part of our state...so i am not complaining and just being patient. we got the computer & projector ordered from dell and those will be delivered shortly to massachusetts...but it was just kind of a stinker. despite all of that - we then headed off to tahoe for a couple of days - haven't been up to our place in two years - weather was beautiful. did the drive around the lake, took the paddle wheeler out on the lake, went over to the carson valley to virginia city and jackie and i found a great little bead store in south lake tahoe. got back on friday afternoon, and spent the next two days trying to get everything shoveled out and the du plessis family back on a plane for massachusetts on sunday morning. mr. shoo shoo and aidan have become very good friends and mr. shoo enjoyed tahoe as much as we did, sniffing and sniffing and sniffing every rock and tree and sandy beach. so...while i've been dealing with everything under the sun (or so it seems) the things have been piling in my basket and there have been no spare scanning elfs to help me...and unless i get these taken care of pretty soon - the gremlins will get me tomorrow night and my life, as i know it now, will be over...offered up to some ghoastie who couldn't possibly appreciate the havoc i've created for myself :) historic stitches two new
things and new things coming for christmas as soon as they are ready... shepherd's bush - new charts
from shepherd's bush...very spooky and also a great new stocking to celebrate
the upcoming holidays. blue ribbon designs - some great
holiday and early winter charts from blue ribbon designs...i love the motifs in
winter wingding...way cute. workbasket - the scanning basket
was full of workbasket - i love them all - but i have a favorite - can you
guess??? prairie moon - but it's a tough
choice - i absolutely love little miss muffet...way tooooooo cute is this little
sweetie. cat's whiskers - a very handsome
owl that makes his big eyes from kelmscott scissors - very cute with finishing
instructions :) midsummer night designs a
beautiful new sampler with birds in the tree and owls on the branches... the marking sampler - these are
already complete - you don't have to do a thing except enjoy them...i thought
they were just too dear and would make perfect pressies for the upcoming
holidays. trilogy - some very spooky
things from trilogy - can't get them stitched in time - but they could be ready
for next year - don't ya think?? little house needleworks - do we
love coffee - you bet we do... and so...it's taken me all day - between phone calls and running and trying to do 14 things at the same time...i'm now finished and i'll get this uploaded so you all don't think that somehow we have died and are just waiting. california is slowly getting back to normal - or we hope so. we are hoping for no more off shore santa ana winds - the fires are still going on - but are mostly contained...but with off shore winds we could be looking at more of the same or worse. i'm proud of our state for the emergency actions we took and took quickly. our state got a huge wake-up call in october 17, 1989 with the earthquake that rocked a lot of northern california and then 2 years to the day later the entire oakland hills went up in flames. we didn't get it all right this time but i think we did a pretty good job of it and i know whatever went wrong this time will be corrected so it doesn't happen again. keep good good thoughts for those folks - a lot of them in san diego were burned out in 2003 and i can't even imagine having to do this all over again 4 years later. we've always had a history of september/october fires - i remember as a child the soot and ash floating around in our backyard as the san bernadino mountains burned...we've built houses in places that maybe should have been left as they were - and southern california fires and october just always seem to unfortunately go together. we are getting ready for the holidays here - i can't believe it's halloween tomorrow - two more trips planned in the next two weeks and then we settle in for the holidays and start taking care of the business of making our changes to start 2008 - new on-line classes and some other things and also the preview of our april retreat - trianon petite with pictures registration form. so...thank you for visiting...hang with us the next couple of weeks - and i'll be home and back aboard totally by november 13th when some of this crazy travel stops and i can get my feet back under me...and get rid of this horrible cold and cough that started on the flight home from virginia and that has been passed back and forth about 5 times - but bruce has it way worse than i do...so i'm not complaining. be careful of the little ones tomorrow night as the streets will be filled with tiny ghosts and goblins and all things spooky...i have my candy ready to go...and pumpkins ready to be lit... lgm and everybody here at elegant stitch october 11, 2007 october...the nights are getting cooler, we had rain while i was away, it rained again yesterday morning and is supposed to rain tomorrow - snowed twice in the sierras over the last week - i think we're in for a good wet and snowy winter and an early winter...and heaven knows we need it. another bad water/snow winter and california will go into drought conditions - much like the southeast is experiencing right now. our problem is that april 15th thru the end of october is rainless all together so we really depend on the snow pack and the winter rains to fill up our reservoirs to keep up humming along during the long dry spell of hot summers. spooky day is a mere 20 days away and the shops are full of scary costumes and fun stuff - sitting right next to the christmas things - and it really seems to me that i just took the tree down last week and organized all the christmas things - and it's time to take them out very soon and do it all over again - or maybe i'm just imagining that the older i get, the quicker everything seems to happen as the months go by?? we are in full swing to welcome our guests next weekend for our october retreat, chocolat. a whirlwind of cleaning and straightened and arranging and rearranging and ordering and unpacking boxes and counting and and and with incredible lists and more lists. we are so excited to be welcoming back old friends and making new ones and being able to see all the new creative things jackie du plessis will be offering for our retreats in april and october, 2008. i had a lovely visit to norfolk, virginia and attended the r&r/shepherd's bush/charland retreat last weekend. i had the honor and privilege of designing and kitting the welcoming project and it was such fun to watch the attendees finish their project...truly a fun time and so great to be able to put faces with names...and the women of r&r did a beautiful job - the projects were wonderful and it was a wonderful time. ms. lucy - we are getting a number of inquiries as to our ms. lucy bear. she was doing very, very well until the skin at the suture site started to tear and the wounds opened up again. lucy has a heart murmur and it's always very scary to put her under. she went in to see the vet again on monday and the entire site needed to be re-sutured on tuesday last week. bruce brought her home on wednesday while i was on the plane to norfolk and then deposited her back again at the vet on saturday morning very early before he left for germany and i picked her up on monday morning and brought her home. she was a good patient while i was gone and we've gone from banana flavored clavamox to bubblegum flavored amoxi and she is not too fond of either flavor, being a cat. we are hoping for a grand celebration on monday the 15th when they remove her stitches and also removed her lovely collar - she is so fond of that collar - you can only imagine. this morning i managed to squirt the medications down her throat - but it all bubbled back up and ended up down her chin and on her neck and so she got the wet facecloth treatment and a very sad "mew" as i tried to assure her that it will all be fixed and better for her come monday. i don't speak "cat" and she doesn't speak english...but she's purring and that's a good thing. and so...while i was away...some new things came in and there are more new things coming too... stand by dave la-d-da - another angel and she
has a spooky kitty and lots and crows and pumpkins - definitely a harvest kind
of girl notforgotten farm - two new ones
- we love these...they are beautiful...and how creative... by the bay needleart - some very
cute snowman to trim a tree or wreath with little house needleworks -
another very sweet piece from diane williams - love the little bunny and the
crescent moon...and the newest in the series - princess and the P which is just
terrific!!! and so...life is moving at an alarming pace - much faster than i can handle at the moment...but i'm just holding on for dear life and going along for the ride...things are progressing as far as 2008 are concerned...and the lists just keep on growing with all the things we want and need to do before the end of the year. i am heading to sacramento on sunday to present our newest breast cancer awareness piece compliments of blue ribbon designs and then i will see a lot of the ladies the following friday night when they come for chocolat...poor things - they will be terribly tired of me by the time sunday the 21st rolls around. here's wishing everybody a great weekend which is right around the corner and i'm going back to my incredible list of things to do. thanks for spending a few minutes with us this week... lgm and all of us at elegant stitch
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