You know you have made it big when some body is selling your designs on E-bay.

Yes indeedie do, while brousing e-bay this afternoon I discovered that 2 of my charts are posted there. Amazing, actually it’s a good buy because they are cheeper than wholesale. So go snap them up, if you like Santa’s that is.

We have new toys in the shop!

The new things in the shop are pretty fun. We have several new books as always. I also know that there will be a whole bunch of new ones coming in over the next week or so. We will be starting to add the Laura J. Perin designs to our store line here in the new few weeks. We are also adding the entire line of Needlepoint Inc. Silk threads. We have several designs that call for it so we decided to move the Silk Mori to the drawers and put the needlepoint silk in that area. We will be the only shop in Colorado Springs that carries that silk.

I know that we offer the other silks in the shop by the strand, such as Thread Gatherer Silk N Colors, Caron Waterlilies, A Ver Au Soie and the Silk Mori. Right now I’m not sure if we will off the Needlepoint silk that way as well. Stay tuned.

I have decided not to do my mystery as a mystery. We will be releasing it some time next year. I’m working on it now and Linda is doing the graphing. Since we are talking about it, I figure she will start work on it shortly. I know she was cleaning up the charts last night while I was working of the later ones. I do believe we will be doing them in 13 separate charts in one package as well as the entire design on one sheet. The size of this is about 26 inches by 26 inches so the single chart of the entire design will be very small. It will only be included to help in placement and to show the entire design overall.

My ladies of the night (Tuesday stitch group) decided that we will be meeting on the 4^th of July to have a lunch Pot Luck. That should be interesting. I’m looking forward to that, but not sure what I will be bringing to this.

The stitcher’s retreat is now official. It has been posted on the Stitcher’s Hideaway website as well as going out in her newsletter. So I better get on the ball. I have a design to hand out to the group that comes for that as a free gift. It will be the entire kit.

Oh and one last thing. The really cool thing we got in the shop this past week is a thing call Tacky BOB (box of beads). It looks like a CD case, with a pretty paper on the top and a foam cushion on the outside bottom to prevent sliding. Inside it has both sides of a sticky tape like stuff that holds the beads and a magnet strip to hold your needle. I got one myself (yes paid retail for it) to try and I love the thing!!! I have been working on those Martina Weber’s and they use so many beads that it has become an issue as to how to easily put them on; well that problem is solved now. I can place some of each color in this Tacky BOB, they stay put and I can place the beads real close to where I am working since I am using a stitching frame.

Okay, when the books come in I’ll try to give a run down on what they are. I also know we are expecting an up-light in the shop this week to try out and some really pretty canvas colors to use on various projects.

I also know we will be offering a whole bunch of new classes and I will post that here as well. Not that any one really reads this, but I am at least I’m making an attempt to get the shop news out there till we get a real web site.

Now I get to go wash a dog. Good thing she gets to air dry for a couple of hours cuz I really do not want to spend the entire day drying her. You just have to love Sheepdogs!

Wow! I’m so weird at times.

I have to tell you that the reason that I have not written is sort of 2-fold. First off, since Angie quit, I have been working more hours and quite frankly I am so tired when I get home I seem to just get the dogs fed then I go to bed. The second part is that fro some reason I forgot my password to get into this area to write my BLOG. No I’m not a blond, but I sure had a blond couple of months there.

We have several new books in the shop and today I’m going to order the news ones for the June offering. I have even gotten us some canvas work charts as well. You just have to love working on canvas. I find it a very nice change from cross stitch. We also have several new fibers in the shop in the Dinky Dyes line and the Gloriana Silk threads line.

There is some good news as well; we will be adding Needlepoint Silk threads here in the next couple of months. I know right where I am going to put them which was half the problem. I think this will be a good thing for us since currently I have to order my NPI from a shop on the east coast. She has wonderful service as well, but it would be better in the long run if I just carried it myself. Besides we seem to be doing a lot of the Martina Weber’s and she uses that in almost all of her patterns so it’s worth it in the long run.

Now for some really exciting news, well it’s exciting to us anyhow. I was contacted a few weeks ago by a lady in Connecticut (Sue) that runs Stitcher’s Hideaway. It is a business that organizes stitching retreats in various areas of the United States. She wants to have one here in Colorado Springs. We had a meeting on Friday and decided on the time frame and the designer to be featured. It will be next June here in Colorado Springs. I will wait to tell you more as the time gets closer and who the featured designer will be. But I am so very excited about this. It will be a great opportunity to have stichers from not only this area but from other parts of the US as well to come here and see our beautiful area AND get to stitch as well. Once the web site is up and going we will have a link to her site to check out what she does and where the other retreats are located. In the meantime you can check it out at www.stitchershideaway.com. Just remember that the space will be limited, but it will be a very fun time. We are also talking about the designer for the following year and I’m totally excited about that one as well.

So with luck I can get on here more often and write about what is going on in the shop.

I still have to figure out haw to use that camera and get my designs on here as well as what it is I’m currently stitching on.

Till next time.

I can not believe it has been a whole week again!

Well an entire week has once again passed by and I am just now getting around to writing. I really am going to have to make time during the day at the shop so that I can keep myself up to date.

First off we got several things in the shop this week.

Books came in from Hoffman Distributors which is always a nice thing. We got the automatic shipment from Bent Creek; they have a new Snapper Ville set of charts. It’s the spring version of the winter charts. This is really cute as it has a path that will lead from one chart to the next one. We also got in a bunch of new Dinky Dyes in and they are just as wonderful as the previous colors have been.

I will be expecting more books the first of next week in from Norden Crafts.

We have decided to do a stitch along in the shop of the alphabet from Carriage House Samplings. The 1^st 2 charts will be free as will the border to surround the alphabet.

I have got to get my husband to help me with the camera thing so that I can get some photos posted here of works in progress. I have been busy working on Mystery 9 and have finally completed part 1. I feel like I coughed up an elephant with that one. I should get completely caught up before part 5 comes out. I have caught up with Christmas Mystery 3 as well. The next part of that chart comes out on Tuesday next week. On the 1^st of May I will begin the new online class Persian Iris Garden (PIG) so I will have some more time sensitive stitching to be doing. The next part of MTM (part will also come out on the 1st as well part 5 of Mystery 9. I hope to get caught up with the mysteries so that I can get going on MTM and possibly get it completed on time. I also want to get started on some of the new designers that are now coming into the shop and get models done of them. It’s hard to get my stitching done and the stuff for the shop as well. I really should take some time out and just do shop stuff for a break from the really long stuff. Then there is that chart I’m doing as well. I have decided to change parts of it, so I will have to get back on here soon and begin the re-vamping of that chart.

Now there is also the matter of brushing the dogs. I have begun to brush Aspen and I am trying to get her ready for a possible show in mid May. I’m trying to see where the competition will be to see if it would be worth it for me. I also need to wash and blow dry the baby girl so that I can see how her fur is coming along and if she might also be entered in upcoming shows as well. Rocky’s fur is really doing well; I hope he stays on course like that; he will have the best coat in the house! I believe that if he stays in good shape he will be the next special we have here.

I need to get photos posted of the kids as well on here.

Well I hope to get back on here tomorrow and give yet another update, possibly with photos. Till then, keep stitching!

I have been so tired from the bagel place that I have not done a blasted thing all week long.

Remember back when I was doing the dance that Angie had quit? Well I’m still glad she did, but I had not realized that it was going to be such a long stretch between days off. I worked my regular shift, then without a break her shift. (My new shift). Then I needed to work on Saturday as well to help get the new weekend baker all settled in and sort of help her get a rhythm going. Then I had all day Sunday off, except I had to get up early so that I would be able to go to bed at 6PM that night. So I really only got laundry done. Then back to work again, doing the baking and the shop full time. The down side of that was that the new baker had planned to be off for several days including the weekend so I ended up working my shift, her shift and my shift again. My boss, bless him had me take Wednesday off this past week, but I was so tired I got nothing done. I did veg out and do laundry and I might almost be caught up. There was no stitching being done here during the week. I did get a bit done on Wednesday but at the shop I was just to tired and you really do need to concentrate when you stitch.

I guess I did get some stitching done, I got part 4 of the Christmas Mystery done, I had to change a couple of things to suit me, but that’s my right. I got a bit further with Mystery 9; I’m almost done with part 1. I got my beads yesterday and now I can really get the parts completed now. I also got the beads for another project, but I’m not starting that one right away. I did sign up for Persian Iris Garden (PIG) and I have the fabric and beads on order for that. It starts the first of May and I hope to have all my supplies ready for that one when it starts.

Now as to the shops business. We did get in a huge order of American Dream Products stretcher bars. That really filled in a couple of areas. We also got in some fabric.

I ordered from several places as well, Gloriana Threads, Thread Gatherer, Dinky Dyes and Rainbow Gallery to name a few. I found a bunch of books I want to order from Norden Crafts and Hoffman. I also placed an order from X’s and Ohs out of Canada.

They have some really cute dragon patterns and some fantasy as well. I think that I will place those orders on Monday since it is the start of the week and what better way to begin that to place orders. With any luck we will have the stuff by Friday.

I have also made myself some ‘pillow cases?.?. Actually they are to hold my projects on stretcher bars so that they can travel around from home to work without getting dirty. I usually do use pillow cases, but why mess up a set of sheets with pillow cases missing when I can use a sewing machine and make mine. Besides I have some really cute fabric and you would never find sheet sets in that stuff, so have fun. I can see it now, Jo will want to make them for the shop and we can sell them to customers. Great idea, but it is really something I can do when I’m too tired to cross stitch.

Well it’s time to get ready for work; I hope to have great and exciting things happen there today.

Have a great day!