|
Elegant Stitch
|
|
3rd quarter 2009 september 2, 2009 we are burning from every direction it seems - yosemite, southern california and east of sacramento over the weekend. the hurricane hitting cabo san lucas has created a muggy, cloudy, smoky disgusting sky and we are hoping that the breeze will blow all of this yuck out of here by the end of the weekend - it is truly disgusting. the geese have finally headed south - all of them are gone and have been gone for most of the week - i miss them. the starlings didn't stay around long either - unless that was the scouting party and the rest are coming in soon. have to go blog too...but had to get this up - market is about 3 weeks from tomorrow and we are very, very excited about it - there are some really fun things happening...i love fall markets - i love small markets - i love these kind of markets - it's such a social event - i am really looking forward to seeing everybody - it's been a long time since nashville and there has been lots of water under lots of bridges and our world is quite a bit different than it was in february and not so much for the good i'm afraid. a good friend talked me into a twitter account - so i'm doing that too and will put that on my blog spot when i'm finished this. i was here at 6 this morning - dark enough for me to turn the lights on until annie got in - the seasons are changing to be sure. everybody is getting ready for harvest - the almond trees are getting the last field floodings so they can slurp up the last of the water before the trees are shaken and the piles of nuts are harvested and the dirt goes just everywhere... we have new pictures for the retreat - the piece is all finished and it is spectacular - three boxes (rock, scissor, paper) and that dear little crown with the pea on the pillows...we just love it...and not only are we so looking forward to this one (because it's one of my favorite fairy tales) but also to halloween in april - we are assembling things and bits and wonders and it is going to be amazing too!!! so...here we go..... the workbasket - and are those little seasons just
spectacular!!! what perfect gifts! the cricket collection - love these too!!! lizzie kate - fun and quick stitch shakespeare's peddler: (preorders on these please - we are
bringing them home with us from market) and we will have the thread packs too -
i just don't have a price on them yet and won't for a little bit. there is
also a conversion to regular gast threads and also to dmc cotton. we truly
love this one - told her so just this morning - and jenny bean is going to be a
busy girl with other samplers too!!! doggers are finished with the last of the flu - gatsby finally came down with it this past monday - 36 hours later he was as right as rain - but it just knocks them flat. lots of it going around california and texas...and our kay has two new doggers at her house - basset hounds - sofee and repo - 15 weeks old and their ears literally drag on the ground - they are most wonderful!!! so - since i watched the sun come up here this morning - i have about 75 other things i need to get done before i watch the sun set here - i'm off - going to try and do a quick blog - maybe not today but first thing in the morning - and we are flying hard and fast into the sunset and it's still horrible and muggy and it's just plain yucky weather and we don't need another fire thank you very much!!! have a great labor day weekend - everybody is back in school, kelly is coming home for the weekend and can fall be very far away? august 26, 2009 well, well...what happened while we were away...too much to have caught up with so this will be quick, down & dirty...because it's getting to be halloween and i get a new broom...the model i'm riding is getting very slow and i need a new model - am turning in my "clunker" for a more efficient model. didn't get the charm potluck figured out yet - that will be for next update...but you sillies...did you think that we wouldn't be getting the first colony tombstone cupboard? you sillies!!! it was absolutely the FIRST thing i did when i got back to the e-mails on monday morning. liberty hill: blackbird designs: plum street sampler: and so - jogging towards the finish line - and another full day - because it's not even 8 in the morning here as i do this. off to do a little bit on the blog (i know - i promised last week - but...life getting in the way) and try and accomplish at least 1/3 of the list i've got down on paper and maybe attack the 5,000 things that are rattling around in my brain that are not on the official list as of yet. the geese are gone and i'm very sad. i miss seeing them every morning but i think they "summered" in modesto and are now heading south again. the leaves are dropping on some of the trees way early, the starlings are back in town on their way south and you can always tell it's almost the end of summer in modesto - drive thru the orchards and the smell of fermenting peaches would knock a buzzard off.... and you finish the phrase. we've had two bouts of dogger flu in a week - nicky last week and daisy yesterday - the only one who hasn't come down with it is mr. gatsby...and hopefully it misses him. kind of weird...but gone in about 48 hours...daisy is feeling her old sweet self this morning - at least enough for a duck snack before she started her day. heading out towards the "piles" - we thank you for visiting... lgm and everybody at the stitch. august 20, 2009 and a cheery good morning to all of you!!! starting monday or maybe even this morning - if i get all accomplished that i want to get accomplished...we will start blogging again - today is going to be a busy one - have to leave at 11:30 to head to sacramento to fetch teacher from the airport and bring her back down here for the evening and then tomorrow - car loaded to the gills - we head back to sacramento - stopping at the airport again - slinging in our dear friend from spokane onto the roof rack which i don't have and hoping she hangs on for dear life - because she's a dear friend...and off we go to roseville for class. it's going to be very interesting getting everything in the car - we're always up for a challenge here - always!!! sharon in alabama - now the canadian geese are coming in and honking as they fly over our house to the "goosestock" party going on in the fields over on oakdale. there are now hundreds of them...your mom would just love that!!! blackbird designs: brightneedle class - mountain flowers - last call!! last call for class signups - we are closing this class on monday, august 31st so that ann can get us some kits and we can get those kits out to you all. if you are interested - click on the link - we still have some room but not much. country cottage needleworks with thy needle & thread so...that's it at the stitch this week - airport run in 2 hours - i can get at least 20 more boxes stained before i go - maybe!!! but i've got a ton of kitting to do and a million more boxes and, and, and, and...the white rabbit just passed me going two thousand miles per hour and left me standing in the dust - cursed rabbit - he always does that... i'm flying - and i'm going to beat that silly rabbit at his own game... i have this idea for a "charm" potluck that we'll discuss with you all next week...but, i think it's going to be fun and truly an adventure!!! aren't potlucks always an adventure. in the meantime - boxes are sprouting like mushrooms around here - boxes for st. charles market, boxes for october's retreat, boxes for a thing on the east coast the first of december, boxes and boxes and more boxes. kids here are starting back on monday the 24th...annie's tad is the only incoming 8th grader in the highschool marching band - we're hemming uniform on monday - it is quite an honor - he plays a mean trumpet...and is attending "band camp" every day this week from 9 to 9 - he has lots of "routines" he has to learn...we are very proud...and if annie had buttons - she'd be bursting them - and she has every right to be bursting them... anyway off we go...the speeding bullet whizzing by would be me - just ignore me!!! have a great weekend...a very great weekend!!!
august 12, 2009 the blackbird halloween stocking books should be to our distributor mid-next week and we will be shipped immediately - we are so very, very excited. our crescent colours for the little spooky socks arrived today - a very, very good thing and we are awaiting the rest of the colors from the other thread companies. it is going to be a very very spooky sock event around here - of that i have no doubt. impie, hattie & bea midsummer night designs - this didn't come in for last update
- and i just love it. blackbird designs prairie schooler - love them...and 2009 santa is pretty swell and so...the gaggle is still bigger - pretty soon it will be labor day - it's hot as the dickens here and a little more muggy than we like and the air is filthy dirty - and the harvest dust has started...but the peaches are amazing and are the size of softballs hanging in the trees. melons are pretty amazing too as is the corn - it's just the dirt that really sucks! have figured out how to get my blog back - with the help of a good friend in maryland who can untangle the mess with me on the telephone this morning...so i will be starting that back up hopefully sometime this week. in the meantime i have boxes to seal and kits to make and piles of stuff to put away and a wait for the ups man who hopefully will have some things for me today - hope, hope, hope. we have a short week starting on the 17th and the shop will be closed friday and saturday so please don't forget. other than that - chaos reigns supreme - tis the only way to fly - if my life was orderly i truly don't know what i would do - probably be bored to death. be safe, be good, get those kidlets ready to head back in a week or two and maybe after the initial insanity - life will settle back into some reasonable patterns of peace - however, i doubt it... thanks for visiting...i'm out of here - piles are overtaking my desk...like a rising flood... enjoy!!! august 5, 2009 the geese have invited more guests - the gaggle is getting bigger by the day - it's getting to be rather funny...a canadian goose quite stately at 7 in the morning as i drive by and soaking wet in the lake as i drive back by at 7 in the evening. they are quite the group!!! it's been delightfully not hot here for last 4-5 days - cools off in the evening with a delta breeze - certainly not regular weather for end of july and beginning of august but we will take it. somehow i think bruce told me this morning that it is supposed to heat up again over 100 by the end of this weekend...i keep telling myself dry heat, dry heat... doggers had a spa day on monday - they smell so very good - it's wearing off now but they sniffed pretty good for a couple of days...we have to make a trip for ice creamies for them...and that should make a total mess out of them in a very quick minute - it always does. everything else is crazy here - with market coming and the retreat coming - boxes are being filled everywhere and we are rearranging work space and back rooms to make more room for incoming distributor merchandise...it always amazes me what we can get into this back room before the seams start to split...but we always manage. so...i had better get right to it - i'll get buried again if i don't and then i'll be even further behind than i already was :) just nan: sam sarah designs: little house needleworks: country cottage needleworks: prairie schooler 2009 limited edition kit shakespeare's peddler the sunflower seed queenstown sampler designs scottish wool for needlepages - the cream/off white has come in - $6.00 per package - it's beautiful and soft. shepherd's bush snowman charm for the 2009 ornament has arrived. he's quite handsome and is sterling silver and retails for $16.00. so...that's the news - there is a fab piece coming in from midsummer night designs - hopefully it will be here by friday and i'll scan and put it up - just way, way tooooooooooooooooo cute... am staining and sealing boxes tomorrow - annie is directing the front of the house and kay is making ribbon flowers for me...it's just a mad house. didnot has sort of settled into being queen cat of the shop...and has a very definite schedule as to how and where she spends her days...the word "spoiled" comes blazing to mind...but aren't they all. just another quick reminder that we will be closed on friday and saturday, august 21 and 22. we are heading to sacramento to take a class and there will be nobody to tend the shop...it's our last hurrah as the summer ends and we bury ourselves in fall scampering and scurrying. thanks again for visiting - have a great week and hopefully we'll see ya friday with a few other tiny tidbits :) july 24, 2009 the gaggle of geese are/is still here - this morning everybody had their head down in search of breakfast...at least twenty-five of them - quite beautiful - a little noisy - but quite beautiful and very regal...i don't believe they will be going anywhere at this late date except down to mexico when the weather turns cold - modesto is their new "staycation" destination where they can roast their brains right out of their heads before taking a dip in the lake :) blackbird designs: OF COURSE we have ordered the halloween book with the 13 designs. OF COURSE we have ordered the linen (we have most all of it here already) and OF COURSE we have ordered all the appropriate threads, etc. nobody has a price quite yet - the little socks are still being stitched and need to have their pictures taken...but, it's going to be quite the book - i can't even imagine... so...we are taking pre-orders on it and as soon as i get a picture and/or a price - we'll get it posted for you. i can't even begin to imagine it is anything but spectacular - what of blackbird designs isn't spectacular and you combine everyday regular kind of spectacular with spooky spectacular - it's a match made over a cauldron brewing toil and trouble. we are taking names and putting them on our lists...let us know if we can help. prairie schooler - i'm calling this "pink
house"because there isn't another name on the chart - it was done in 2004
as a charity piece for the national needlearts association program "stitch
to win against breast cancer" and it is now publically released.
rather nice and although the pink is hard to get a handle on - it's really dmc
224 as a reference point.
anyway - believe it or not - that's it - everybody is busy chugging away getting ready for st. charles the end of september - as are we! we have lots of fingers in many pots and fires...and there is stuff just everywhere - but, many of the piles have been completed and packaged and put away and i can actually find a small corner of one of the work tables - vast improvement. got a little bit behind this week - had some family things that needed tending to...and not only did it just wear me out but it also put me into the "oh my lord, where did the time go" mode. am once again back on track and chugging along - great succcess is anticipated. i can also get back to banging around on the web site and getting that more cleaned up. we've had 2 days under 100 degrees in the last week and it's on a crank up again in the 3 number temps...i think at least thru the weekend and probably into early next week. it's been so hot that the brain just didn't function after about 3 in the afternoon and we have all become just a little bit stupid trying to find some place to be that didn't cause us to sweat...always a challenge :) enjoy your week - the stores are full of school stuff - they are heading back around here late next month - it seems like it was just easter..... july 15, 2009 it's going to be 106 for the next four days - they won't say a word beyond that - i am going to melt - we are all getting a tiny bit cranky...that is just too flipping hot - no matter how long we run the AC - the shop never gets below 78 and it just sucks...so...before i bite somebody - i'm doing an update and then i'm going to run away from home :) we have a very strange group of canadian geese that just don't seem to want to leave modesto. for those who have been around these environs - they are holding court at naragi lakes off of oakdale avenue out by my house...they are having the best time - swimming in the lake, searching for munchies in the plowed up field and making absolutely no attempt to leave and fly north for what is left of the summer - actually if they left now, they would have to turn right around and fly back - i'm telling you - it's very, very weird to see about 50-75 huge geese parading around the fields here in the middle of july - silly birds :) and so - shepherd's bush came in yesterday - absolutely wonderful and thus prompting an update...so here we go...
doggers are clean and bathed; gatsby and nicky have gone "short" for the heat and daisy needs curlers - she is suffering for beauty - but they are inside at home and dada has the AC cranked for them...and the kitties too. didnot is here making the rounds - nap in the basket on the counter until after lunch then to the mat by the back door in the sun until about 4:30 and then behind the thread cabinets on the west windows for the rest of the day...then we start all over again the next day - it's rough being a cat or a dogger for that matter. it's just hot and my brain is fried and so i will just stop and wish you all a good rest of the week... lgm july 10, 2009 we survived the heat and the doggers survived the 4th and that was good, but we were home by 9:15 before it got too bad around here. actually i think that fireworks were down - or it seemed as though they were which made the doggers very, very happy and also made their mama and dada happy too. poor nicky - he comes right out of his skin with the big booms..but he is the middle child and he has assigned himself the watch dog duties...and it's all a very large responsibility and he takes it very seriously. am working on something called some of my favorite things - the link is right below the link on the front page - am going to start filling that up with some of my favorites...just because i can...and i think it might be fun...kind of a quick "blog" that i can get to easily. we'll see how it all works... we lost our little kitty girl early in the morning on the 4th. she was ready and it was time for her and it was peaceful and quiet and she's back with mr. bo now and it's all okay. she had a wonderful life here in the shop - far better than anything the breeder would have done for her - and she was loved and well fed and as happy a cat as she could be given her numerous health issues. she made us laugh with her incredibly rude manners, her undershirts, loud and demanding meows and general anti-social behavior and that chapter in our lives has now come to an end. lots to do - there always seems to be lots to do...am staining boxes and stinking poor annie and kay out of the place...trying to do them before anybody gets here in the morning...when i can open the doors and let some of the stinky out...and then the heat starts and the AC has to go on and then stain can gets closed...piles of everything everywhere...piles of peas, piles of things for an event we are doing the beginning of december, just piles and piles and more piles and i'm keeping target in business with all the clear plastic tubs i'm buying. i actually think i'm going to have to rent some of the space next door - either that or put in one of those systems they use at the dry cleaners - where you hook things on to this giant belt and off them go up to the ceiling...we have tall ceilings and that just might work!!! so.................... here we go with no further mucking around... kelmscott designs has some really great releases this week
and we are very excited and it's great fun to see the new designers she is
distributing...
blackbird designs has issued two new months of stockings - we
love all of them...and our autos have already started to be shipped. midsummer night designs primitive needle - lisa roswell - we love these too!!!! carriage house samplings - how could you not love pumpkins
and ravens... homespun elegance so with that - yet another update is done and i'm going back to my piles of stuff everywhere and put in another couple of orders and bag some charts and bag some other stuff and go check the shopping list kay is making me and try to make a couple of more lists and see if i can sneak in some more staining too... it never stops around here and i just wish i could get some sort of machine that extends the days into 48 or 72 hours depending on the need... how sweet that would be. enjoy the weekend - stay cool if that is appropriate - find a watermelon and have some of that - the local cling peaches are ripe and are being picked and they have already put in the huge 2x4 poles that hold up the peach tree limbs so they don't break from the weight of the fruit...quite amazing... lgm july 2, 2009 ever had 111 degrees and 9% humidity? that was sunday and 107 and 9% humidity was monday. a little bit hot? maybe just a little bit. it's kinda sad when we are hotter than las vegas and phoenix!! that was a record breaker - to say the very least. we did all errands and chores including doggie walks and the store and were back in by 9:00 a.m. crept out for 5 movies and dashed back in - toooooooooo warm... and, here it's thursday already and i'm really going to scare myself. am going to keep moving the breast cancer piece for 2009 and the brightneedle class up to the top of what's new until i figure out how i'm going to find them a permanent home...so...disregard the next couple of paragraphs because they are a remake of last thursday. paragraph #1: we have posted our newest on-line class from brightneedle - it's really beautiful and we are very excited about it. please read the description carefully and if you have any questions re the deposit or anything else, please don't hesitate to ask. paragraph #2: now...on to what else is new...so here we go.
blackbird designs rosewood manor la-d-da r&r reproductions - great quaker pocket. little house needleworks
so...that's it for the week - we will be open tomorrow but closed on saturday the 4th. we have all the medications ready to give mr. nicky at the slightest hint of a firecracker...gatsby and daisy are not bothered - poor mr. nicky comes right out of his skin because he is the middle child and all watchdog and guard dog duties have fallen squarely on his shoulders and he takes that responsibility very seriously. they went on sale monday the 28th and so far it's been pretty reasonable...but i think it's really going to pick up speed come friday night. and...i do believe in the karma god too. for the past three weeks there have been eight windows or doors on our side of the building hit with pellet guns. at $1,400 per window or door - it was getting to be quite pricy and you never knew when you came in if you had been the object of someone's affections during the night. the door next to us got hit 10 days ago and we have lived constant torment for three weeks. we all knew who was doing it but law enforcement wouldn't come onto the property and do anything because it was private property on both sides. low and behold...last night the offending party's garage burnt down. hmmmmmmmm - karma? possibly? sweet justice - you bet! worried about round two? yep!! everybody have a safe and great 4th...it's nice that it falls on a saturday...and we are looking forward to spending the day with friends and family. thanks for visiting...more is coming in next week and in the interim - the green peas just keep growing around here and the piles just keep getting gloriously higher :)
|
Shop Hours Telephone:
800.790.0810 (orders only please)
Elegant Stitch 1997-2010©
|
