Merry Christmas

It's only a few days before Christmas now and usually this is when I start buying all the stuff no one wants just so there are presents under the tree.  I would like not to do this but I'm sure it's going to happen.  I will make "emergency" trips to Bath and Body Works for lotion and soap and to Victoria Secret for pajamas and on and on.  My husband will get all kinds of batteries and hardware stuff that he would just as soon buy for himself.  One year I even wrapped up a canvas, stitch guide and thread that I had purchased and put it under the tree to me from Santa.




On a lighter note I thought you would enjoy seeing 2 pillows that I stitched for Christmas about 30 years apart so you can see my progress - which has been considerable.  I may not finish much but I am getting to be a better stitcher!  The pillow on the left is done entirely in tent stitch with 3 pearls as accent pieces.  The one on the right is the Ruth Schmuff Merry Christmas pillow with more "bling" than you can imagine. That pillow went to Australia and back!!  Really,  the best way for me to finish something is to take it (and nothing else)  somewhere far far away where there are no needlepoint stores to distract me.

 I hope next year to show you Joseph, the Christmas Parade and Amy's creche!!

Have a Merry Christmas!

Linda

Keep your Seatbelts Fastened

Well, I enjoy being wrong when the Miami Dolphins pull out a win over the JETS!  A Big Defense goes a long way - imagine if we had an offense?!? Whoever picked Cameron Wake has a big smile on their face.  And it was sad seeing Jason Taylor in that awful uniform.  Plus, I have to admit that I was almost sorry for the Jets fans, because they had to sit through that game in 35 degrees and rain - but then I remembered WHO they were and all my pity vanished.

I  want to show you what you can walk away from if you have your seatbelt fastened, so keep that in mind this holiday season.  This was my instructor on Tuesday night, so I'm sure some part of this will be incorporated into my lessons this week as soon as he recovers his ego (and phone) from this experience.

Tomorrow, I will hopefully decorate my tree - (will last year's lights work?) and start wrapping presents, although wrapping cash isn't too difficult!

I am working on my Amy cat so will post pictures soon.   And,  I will preview the geisha class at Absolutely Needlepoint that starts in March.. they are stunning.

Linda

Birdbrain #5

Last night was our ANG Christmas Party...food, wine, needlepoint and good friends make tons of fun!  Such a lovely group of ladies.   Isn't that why we keep needlepointing anyway?  We get so much out of just BEING together and I have never been around such a supportive group of people who actually LIKE me!  Sally Fields was right!

For example, last night three of our members actually stood there while I rearranged the platters on the buffet table to explain a helicopter take off pattern at the airport.  Now where else would you get that? And then they went on to compliment me on the ornaments that I brought to show and tell.  Makes you want to keep working through that stash.

Here's a picture of Bird #5.  Don't you love the feathers?  Long and short is always a challenge, but they look so realistic when you're done.  One more to go!!!

Linda

Perfect Weather but no Perfect Season

Hi everyone,

Yesterday was probably the unofficial end of the Miami Dolphins season. If we can't beat the Cleveland Browns then what will happen when we play the Jets next Sunday? We all know what will happen and it will be painful to watch (even though I will be stitching). So we split the Cleveland games... basketball for us and football for them.

I know that almost the first blog out of me was about the Miami Heat, but deep down I am truly a Dolfan.  You see, I grew up in Miami and I lived and breathed the Perfect Season and I keep waiting for it to happen again and that was almost 40 years ago!  Time to move on? Never!!  I will die with memories of waving my white hankie and singing that silly Miami Dolphins song.

I still want my needlepoint to be perfect too, even though everyone likes it the way it is.  Striving for perfection - maybe the Dolphins need to work on that.

Just got back from my helicopter lesson - I am doing great on the flying, a little shaky on hovering and good with the landings as long as my instructor is sitting there next to me. I stitch better with the teacher next to me too.   People can feel better shopping at the Falls now - I am not going to crash into the 2nd floor of Bloomingdales!

Keep looking up,

Linda

Art Basel

Caro and Michelle

Hi,

Art Basel draws to a close today and so my oldest daughter Caroline and her friend Michelle (with the colorful hair) return to LA.  They took a break Saturday to see Art Basel from the air and to have turkey sandwiches in the Keys.  Deep down inside, even artists like to take a break from the madness no matter how cool it is!

As we get closer to Christmas it will be harder for most of us to find time to stitch or read (or exercise!) and many of us will want to end the madness of December.  Now we haven't even bought our tree yet (they die pretty fast in Miami) and we are still compiling wish lists, but I know from years past that once everyone gets their 2010 needlepoint ornaments,  they are happy to go shopping on their own after Christmas.  So much for my taste!

Remember to take time for family and make your stitching to do list for 2011 in PENCIL.  I am already signing up for  the Kimono class at our shop which thankfully doesn't start until March so I have time to finish the last two classes I started!  Wow, I better get going.

Have lesson #5 in that beautiful machine tomorrow afternoon.

Linda

Work in Progress

Now the blog posting are in the correct order.  Sorry about that

Life is Good - Especially if you're LeBron James

I live in Miami so the Miami Heat are a BIG topic of conversation.  Last night the Heat destroyed the Cleveland Cavaliers and while I was watching (and stitching) I thought...isn't is nice to meet and beat all the expectations that are put on you.  You may wonder what that has to do with needlepoint.

We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to finish classes, ornaments, stockings and "unfinished projects"!  Now the bar is pretty low for me, because most of my friends don't ever expect me to finish everything that I start, but I keep at it and sometimes I come through.  This year I took 3 classes at our shop Absolutely Needlepoint and I said at the beginning of each one - "I am going to finish this during class, because if I don't it will become one more unfinished project".

How am I doing?  Well right now pretty well - I finished the Melissa Shirley Pears, and we are getting ready to do #6 of 6 birds (still working on #5) , and of the 3 car train series I am almost done with 2 cars.
My newest goal (goals are constantly being reset) is to finish these before I start the kimono series at our shop and the Kelly Clark Nativity Creche at Amy's Golden Strand.

Lest you think I am so disciplined....as soon as I finished the Pears, I decided that I loved them so much I would start the Christmas Parade with a stitch guide by the same teacher Bev Churchfield from Aristeia in LA.  Oh well.

Linda

Cats and more Cats

I thought I would post my photo of my last Cook Up class project - which was the cat on the sofa featured on the Needlepoint Study Hall blog.  Yes, Robin is right that cat people will gravitate to any cat canvas, not just those that look like their cats.  But I have 4 cats (5 if you count my Mother's) and sooner or later I will own a cat like the one in the canvas.  The "sofa cat" is a companion piece to a pillow that I did for my daughter before she went to college and now that she is graduating next May I thought she deserved another cat.  (She likes cats too).  If you look closely at the canvas you will notice the cool plaid designed by Amy for the pillow and  the mini tassel.  That goes on top of the sofa after I stitch it.

My oldest daughter likes bunnies, but that is for another day.

And by the way - the weather is beautiful here in Miami.  Yesterday was the last day of hurricane season!  We should be getting cooler weather now - tonight in the 50s.

Linda

23 Unfinished Projects and Counting

Hi Everyone,

I have a huge stash of canvases, but most importantly 23 unfinished projects that I would like to see completed. It's all my fault of course because I can't say no to any class taught by my favorite teachers and some by teachers I haven't even met yet.  In November my friends and I went to Amy Bunger's cook up class (for the second time) and yes I added one more project and volunteered to blog about the upcoming Creche project.  I have completed Mary and Jesus and have 80% of Joseph done so now I am going to add their background home.  Hopefully with this blog I will be made to stay on track and finish Joseph and the creche in 2011.

Since that project won't start until April , I at least have a fighting chance to finish Joseph and maybe my cook up project!

Along the way I will post photos of my other unfinished projects.  All encouragement is appreciated.

Oh, and by the way I am also learning to fly our helicopter - it dawned on me one day that not only did I not know how to turn on the radio, I also did not know how to LAND it!  Split the Needles means something in helicopter  lingo which I do not understand yet, but when I figure it out I will let you know.

Linda