TSV's Gotten Social

The Stitchers' Village has added a social scene for the Villagers. http://stitchersvillage.ning.com is the new social area for members to get acquainted. As of this post, there are 397 members signed up there! This will allow us to more easily share photos and projects and get to the Forum for discussions. There will be fun events like the chat with Cheryl Granda of Glendon Place that was held on Sat., Oct 30.

The Ornament Issue is posted and may be accessed either through sign in at the newspaper office on TSV or through the Event link in the social area. Several people had trouble signing in, so I decided to make it more simple for members to access.

Halloween Stitch Along

The Halloween stitch along for The Stitchers' Village got under way on Friday with the kick-off chat. The chart is "Witch Parking Only". Saturday afternoon, Cheryl from Glendon Place, who so generously designed and donated the chart, hosted a chat and it was fun.

The social side of The Stitchers' Village has now become very interactive! The old forum has not officially ended, but is expected to very soon. The new module for socializing with fellow Villagers is http://stitchersvillage.ning.com/. it is very similar to other social network platforms and will allow posting of WIP's, finishes, etc. You will also want to make certain that you have signed in for membership on The Stitchers Village main site so that you receive the newsletter, etc. http://stitchersvillage.com/member.html You must be a member of TSV to join the social side.

Graphics Design

I am slowly learning my graphics design program. My arm is currently in pain, but I have changed the Stitchers' Village to Autumn!! http://stitchersvillage.com All it takes is calm, patient attention and I am learning. The main problem is that I am trying to learn several new programs at once. I know that the results can be amazing, but the learning process is torture. I have tried to work with the pen tablet, but I should have gotten the largest size to make it easier for my hand-eye coordination to convert. I'll work on that when I recover from changing the season in the Village.

I am stitching the Moonflower Designs ornament for the Stitchers Village ornament issue. The fabric is actually one of 2011 new colors from Picture This "Diva". Look for the ornament issue in November available to Stitchers' Village members only!! There are ornments from several designers.

Scavenger Hunt

I finally finished the newsletter for TSV (http://stitchersvillage.org/Voice/Current_Issue.pdf) It was no easy task!!! I had to choose some of the questions myself (rather than the shops providing the questions for their sites). I think I will try something a little different next year. That was a big challenge! The good news is the entries that were in the inbox this morning. I hope that doesn't mean it was too easy, but at least it lets me know it was doable.

The other upcoming event is the Halloween Stitch Along with the Glendon Place design. I hope we have a good turn out. I already had a number of replies on that, also. Cheryl, the designer, has very kindly offered to host a chat on Saturday of Halloween weekend. This will be the official launch for the chat room. Hopefully all will go well.

I have been working on this year's Caritas design. I have had to re-start the stitching three times. I did not like the way it looked on the fabric color I chose (twice) and have now gone to legacy. My studio now looks like a total disaster area. I will be straightening on stitch breaks for the next few days. I still do not have everything back in place from the TNNA show last weekend. Too busy re-stitching the top couple of rows on this design and finalizing the October "Voice"! Then returning to the fabric drawer, and instead of a floss toss, it looks like I did a fabric toss in here. Tossing it all over the room. I felt like one of those cartoon characters furiously flinging the fabric over my head and behind me.

St Charles Show

My husband accompanied me to St Charles this past wekend to attend the wholesale needlework show. I had a booth for Moonflower Designs. I also intended to get a list of all the new designs released at the show to include in Stitchers Village news. How naive of me. I needed every minute to get around to all of the designers rooms and did not have it due to my obligation to be in my room. Note to self - just attend the show next time, don't exhibit!

Here's my idea for my art project (when I get around to that!). I want to do portraits of how I picture people to look. You know, people I have never actually seen, but have either dealt with on the phone or by email or whatever. There is a woman here in Topeka who I have heard of through the Mulvane Art Museum and met at a gathering recently. Her name and activities had developed a persona in my mind and when I met her, she was nothing like I imagined. This is the same for one of the designers at the TNNA show. Tracy from Ink Circles. I had a very nice visit with her one evening, but kept thinking that she doesn't look as I had imagined her. Then she told me that she is an Engineer and it completely threw off my mental picture of her. Oh, well, file that idea for later!!

I am trying to finish the October newsletter for The Stitchers Village. My problem is that I need to finalize the plan for the village stitch-along. Cheryl from Glendon Place is providing a free Halloween design and has agreed to host a Village chat Halloween weekend. I can't decide how to coordinate it. So, I had better get back to work!!

Watch Out!

I learned recently that it is best to watch where you are walking. I was walking back from getting the mail across the street and happened to look down at the sidewalk in front of the house. There was a snake and I almost stepped on it or it almost ran across my foot. Either way, I have been looking around when outside now. One near miss is enough to keep me more alert!

It is now under two weeks to go until the TNNA wholesale show in St Charles, MO. I will make a final list tonight of everything needed. I've been stitching and printing and planning and just trying to keep on track. I'm a little nervous, but that is to be expected since this will be my first TNNA show as an exhibitor.

Great Customer Service Day

The award for best customer service goes to ATT!!! My daughter wanted an Iphone. She went to the apple store rather than ATT and was given misinformation regarding the portability of her phone number. I called ATT this morning anticipating that I would spend the morning trying to straighten it all out and - SURPRISE - it is the first time I have ever spoken with 3 customer service representatives, each one anticipated the upcoming activity, had the information transferred to the next step's department representative, and fixed it with as little hassle as possible!! Great job! I am so happy that I have all my services bundled together with this excellent company!!! Yeah for me!!

I also received a random email from someone and it looks like it, also, is a good thing I followed up. www.positiveyarn.com/wp/ You just never know how a day will go!! Wake up and expect good things.

Fall Decor

If I see Christmas decorations being sold do I need to hurry and put my fall things out? I could not believe it when I saw the Christmas decorations aisles. I know I have "moments" when I get distracted and then have to pause and think about what I was doing, but that made me stop and check - what is the date? Oh, yeah, August 31st!! I haven't lost time and suddenly regained conciousness - it's only September!! Time flies quickly enough without feeling like I completely missed a season!

I do need to work on the procrastination. I mean, I have it perfected, I need to stop! My time perspective is out of whack! Wonder if there is a pill for that. . . Or a life coach!

I managed to get the September newsletter posted on the 1st! I was tickled to see that I did not have any contest entries before the email was completely sent. That has fascinated me the past two months. As soon as I hit send on the email, I start getting entries from the contest. So, I decided it was too easy and tried something a little more difficult. Not too difficult. I could have made it harder, but didn't want anyone to pass it up because they didn't have the time.

What was it? Code XS. I made a 5x5 grid symbol substitution for each letter of the alphabet. I made a band sampler style design using the letters from two words (very obvious words) by making each symbol repeat 7 times connected across a line and then spelling the words down in rows. I added a spacer line that is obviously the word break to make it really easy. I think it has potential! I hope the Stitchers' Village members enjoy it. Pictures above are b/w and stitched on swamp colored fabric from Picture This Plus using bush baby colored silk thread from Dinky Dyes.

Early Bird

Don't you love it when you wake up at 4 a.m. and then are wide awake unable to go back to sleep. It is definitely "me" time. No one else is up!! I got some quality online research time this morning. I also played a little Spider Solitaire.

The water in Topeka, KS is "safe" but has a foul odor and taste. Lovely!! So I hauled home some gallon jugs of "spring" water from the grocery store in hopes of having a decent cup of coffee. I had also cut back on drinking soda and had been drinking water during the day. Not tap water anymore. Yuk! I noticed some of the water in the store said "from a municipal source". I've not been having a good experience with that lately, thank you.

It really makes you think about our natural resources, right? I heard a presentation given by Jean Michel Cousteau in which he talked about the impact each one of us has on the ocean, even in Topeka, KS. Obviously, Topeka is having issues with the local water, so the ocean is in big trouble.

In addition to stitching my little fingers away, I spent about 7 hours entering data yesterday. The St. Francis Hospital Foundation is hosting the Childrens Miracle Network Radiothon at the Westridge Mall here in Topeka. I am entering each of the pledges and donations into the database. I almost finished Tuesday's information yesterday. My right arm is feeling the strain from the marathon typing and stitching. I will be doing data entry again today, but don't think I'll make 7 hours again. I may have to spread it out a little and plan on some time there next week, also.

STITCHED

A very productive weekend. I started and finished a piece that I need for the September Stitchers' Voice. 2164 stitches (an exact stitch count is a perk of having it in the design program). You know how you get an idea and it really sounds great? Well, kinda like that and it stitched wonderfully. I hope everyone finds it interesting. Here's a color swatch - swamp linen from PTP and bush baby silk from Dinky Dyes. I don't want to give away any more yet. . .

I am working on a list of member blogs, also. The problems with that is, I go wandering off into cyber land reading them. It is fun, but slows down progress. Hopefully, I will figure out the best place to have them on The Stitchers Village and get that on the site soon.

Unfortunately, Moonflower Designs needs to get some new designs finished. I may be stitching around the clock for the next month!!! Better get back to it!

Chatty Patty

The Stitchers' Village August update just went out. There is now a chat module so that Village members can "get together" in a more real-time way. A test run is scheduled for Friday, August 20 at 8p.m. CDT. Hopefully members will register and this will run smoothly. There will be future scheduled chats with designers, etc.

I don't believe I posted about the Kansas Stitchers group get together this past Saturday. We all met in Abilene at Picture This Plus. There were 19 and it was so great to see everyone and their projects, both finished and WIP. I was very pleasantly surprised when I was asked if I had lived in JC. It was a classmate of mine from high school. How great! She knits and has done a little cross stitch. She found a new project to work on at the shop.

Working From Home

I do love having my work from home job. Thanks to wonderful people such as Cheryl from Glendon Place and the telephone, I'm not a complete hermit. She and I had a great conversation this morning. Today has not gone as scheduled, however, and that is the good thing about the situation - flexibility. The bad thing is that putting laundry away was interrupted by the UPS delivery of some paper. Now I find I have lost my cup of tea. I have not launched a serious all points search, but the walk through when I started the last load of laundry did not produce my tea. It was very good - Assam Gold from Teavana. Don't you love that - Teavana? I ordered some fruit mix, also, because I wanted some delicious fruity iced tea. Perhaps it is time to find my cup and work on the email list for the mid-month Stitchers Village update. Have a good one!

Angry Birds

My daughter Jessie introduced me to the Ipad app Angry Birds last night. I left her a message when she didn't answer her cell of the birds making their noises. Hopefully, she got the message that I wish she had not shown me this game!! I had Bloons which my 2yo granddaughter plays. It's sort of like that only more addictive. Jessie didn't tell me until this morning that if you tap after shooting the birds, some of them do other things like turn into three birds. Good thing I needed to recharge or I would still be playing!! OOPS! Better get to work!

Actually, I did work first. I think I figured out how to put a chat room on The Stitchers' Village. As soon as the technical support gets the building mapped and the link up, I will launch it. Which reminds me - need to locate a designer that will host a chat time.

Back to work.

FINISH IDEA FOR STITCHING

small w/loom two medium example showing stitched piece

I discovered the Butterfly Loom in June just before leaving for vacation. When I returned home, I placed my order. In the meantime I made a stop at Michael's for some wired ribbon. In my mind, this was the idea that would work the best to have a more sturdy form on which to mount a stitched piece of needlework.

I got the looms yesterday (like any good hoarder I got two full sets. You know, in case one of my very good friends wants to try them, also.) When my husband got home he wanted to go out to eat which interrupted my "weaving". After we got home and before I went to bed I had made three. Two on the medium loom and one on the small loom. The small and one medium are made with 2.5" wired brown crinkled ribbon. The other medium is made with 1.5" wired Fall decorative ribbon. The overall size of the small is about 7" with the inside square about 3 3/4". The medium two are overall about 9" with the inside 5 1/2". The third picture is showing a small stitched piece (it was the first one I found the right size) which has just been folded for demonstration. I plan to stitch the edges solid and cut the pieces to size then tack them to the woven background. They could be sewn with backing or whatever you want. Needlepoint or hardanger would work. Expect more ideas soon.

Jet Lag

It could be the time flying causing this, I should be over the actual jet lag from July 19. We started at 4 a.m. in Copenhagen, flew to London with a couple hours layover, flew to TX, layover, flew to KC, drove home. We travelled for at least 24 hours. After 3 weeks gone, it has taken some time to get back to real life.

We saw some beautiful places. London was fun and I wish we could have spent more time there. We managed the running tour and made it to several of the "must see" places. I could have stayed in Scotland. Norway was breathtaking!

So, back to work! I should not be blogging now, but in my online research I found so many fun and interesting blogs, that I realize I should update. I ran across a number of blogs that were very dated. A couple of those I wish were current as they were very well done. Why was I researching blogs? I am trying to get some new content on The Stitchers' Village web site and am thinking of creating a blog list.

Have you ever gone online for one thing and ended up "losing" much more time than intended by being led astray (clicking blog links, for example)? That is what happened to me this morning when I should have been sending out the TSV newsletter. Back to work!!

The Fun Work

I made a trip to Abilene yesterday to Picture This Plus to find a piece of fabric for my 2nd "Caritas" design. I had a piece of relic lugana that was a very nice gold color, but wasn't sure this was what I really wanted to use. So, I picked a few crystal colors - chime, sterling, stellar, and ancient - to study along with the earthen and aerial I had. Last evening, I had them together with my palette of Dinky Dyes threads to decide what colors to use. I also picked up some Rainbow Gallery threads - Arctic Rays and Fuzzy Stuff in a couple of colors for another project I need to get finalized. I decided I do not think the ancient will work and may need to get a little farther along with the design because any of the other three are potential candidates.

I have also been working on my desktop publishing. I need to get an ad together and find that they want it to be in Quark or InDesign. I have several of the individual Adobe products, but do you think that works to upgrade to what I need? Nope, have to purchase the full program. That irritates me. I guess I will submit as a pdf and see what happens.

I was also looking at a camera upgrade but think I have decided to stick to what I have. The model that I want is heavy. I did not consider the weight difference in a "better" camera and have decided that maybe I can get along just fine with what I have rather than lug around an extra (seems like) ten pounds. I did have a very insightful visit with the helpful person at Wolfe's Camera, however, and will return to purchase there if I work out and bulk up so that I can carry a better model. I actually came out of there with no purchases. Two points for self restraint!

The Stitchers' Village may seem quiet, but I have been busy, busy organizing information and the July newsletter. We had an oops with one of the time-specific classes, but think we have it all straightened out.

Back to designing and ad layout. Patty

The Past Week

Is it Thursday, again? I have spent the past two days in bed. It started with a sore throat on Sunday night and went downhill from there. Of course, it could be the result of a crazy weekend. We stayed in KC Wednesday night and got up at 4 on Thursday morning for an early flight to Syracuse. Julie and Matt picked us up and took us to the Mirbeau Lodge where their wedding was to be. A bridal shower was held that evening which lasted until about 8 and then I went with the girls for the bachelorette party. We were out until 3 a.m. Friday morning. I don't remember the last time I was up nearly 24 hours straight, but obviously, I'm not up for it any more. Friday night was the rehearsal dinner and a much earlier retirement time. Saturday was the wedding and it was beautiful. The Monet garden was the perfect setting for a perfect wedding. Everything was wonderful. After the reception we pretty much went to bed, but I wanted to get up in time to see Becky and Jessie off to the airport. I heard a door (we were in a suite of rooms with a common area) so I got up, ran smack into the door of the armoire that wouldn't stay closed, only to find it was only 2 a.m. and Julie was trying to get a fan for their room. The airconditioning was out and it was fairly warm. I wanted to let Michael sleep, so I got up and read until I heard the girls wake up call at 4:30. I made it back to bed and slept until 7:30 when my cell phone rang. It was the airline telling me the flight had been cancelled and in the middle of that call, Becky was beeping in so I was very confused and did not register what the airline said other than the reservation had been changed to the 1:15 flight. Note to self - when making reservations for others, don't give your number to the airline, give them the the number of the person flying. It was her flight that was cancelled. Oh, well, I tried to get everyone home in good time on Sunday as they insisted.

I've got to feel better today and back to full strength by Saturday. Marilyn and I are making a mad dash to the Columbus TNNA wholesale show. I have got to be up for walking most of the day Sunday. It is a huge show and I understand that there is no longer a counted thread section, but it is scattered through. That is good and bad for various reasons. Stamina wise, it might be bad. As of June 1 I am now the proud owner of the web site "The Stitchers' Village" (http://stitchersvillage.com). I have been trying to get up to speed on everything to do with it and make plans to keep it interesting. Losing three days to sickness has not been helpful. I have been stressing out about the whole thing and that may have been a contributing factor to my physical ailment, also. So, hopefully, I will get some order restored to my house today and get on track with plans for The Stitchers' Village fun page which is not coming together as quickly as I had hoped.

All conversations can't be intelligent

Started the morning with my dear husband finishing my sentences for me - incorrectly!! I tried to explain that it should not be made into a guessing game when I am trying to talk. I know I amuse him, but sometimes I'm not amused.

While on vacation last year, I was having a manicure and pedicure the very nice manicurist and I were talking. She was telling me where she was from in Africa. Somehow, when discussing dangers, etc., she told me that women with small children were cautioned, in her home area, to keep them nearby because sometimes the monkeys will snatch babies and small children. She then told a story about a child who was found several years after having been taken by the monkeys and the difficulty in trying to rehabilitate after living as a monkey. She then made the statement that, if her baby was taken by a monkey, she wouldn't want it back. I explained to her that she would want her baby back no matter what. Ok, when relating this conversation to Michael, I realized it was a mistake. I do know how silly it sounds to admit that, first of all, you are having the conversation at all, and secondly, that you are trying to convince someone they WILL want their baby back from the monkeys. Yes, dear, I understand that it was not an intellectual discussion!

There was a salamander in the garage last evening. When I walked out, something scurried, so of course I called Michael out to "get it". I told him it was huge, but he did not seem concerned. His solution was to open the garage door and I found myself herding it across the driveway into the bushes. At least it was out of the garage.

As to relevant news, I will be taking over The Stitchers' Village http://stitchersvillage.com/ on June 1. This will be quite a project and I am excited, yet nervous. I am working on plans to make things interesting and fun! Several popular designers have submitted ornaments for an ornament insert to The Stitchers' Voice, the site's newsletter. I am working on a plan for those! Plan, organize, etc. Better get back to work!!

Monday, May 17, 2010

Some days I need to stop and prioritize my to do list. I tend to try and do them all at the same time. Then, I tend to get sidetracked. I took my daughter's camera to Wolfe's Friday and they were having a sale. I tried not to look, but they had scanners on sale (which I really did need to get) and I was amazed to see that you can scan photo 35mm film negatives on a relatively inexpensive scanner. So, this morning while working on the "organize storage room" item on my to do list, I could not resist opening up the old boxes of photos and finding a few of the packets that contain negatives. I grabbed the nearest negative when I set up the scanner on Saturday and was amazed. My daughters will probably come and take it away from me when I begin scanning and uploading their childhood memories! From a designing aspect, however, I am excited to see if I have any photos that I can use.

I finished "Friendship" (pictured) - a design based on Chinese indigo designs. I am posting a preliminary picture - this is pre-framing shot straight out of the q-snap. I had a frame that I intended to use for it, but find that I am not quite happy with the way it looks, so will take it to the frame shop tomorrow to pick out something better. If you noticed 'blank slate' on a previous post, this may be the way to go with designing because I sometimes end up with a piece for which it is difficult to find a satisfactory frame. Which reminds me. Perhaps I should consider doing something different with the finishing of this! Add that to my to do list!

Would you find it a little creepy if someone randomly sent a text message to your phone saying "U out there? U ok?" followed by "Wondering when!"? I replied to inquire the identity of the sender only to have the reply "Guess this not jill?". Then they explained how they typed the wrong number without their glasses. That was last November, then in April "U alone nw?" To which I replied "no". And now, this morning, "Gm bg" which I have no idea what that means and I suggested they add Jill to their contacts so that they don't keep sending me random texts. Sounds shady, right? Particularly when they claimed not to know anyone named Jill.



My husband and I attended church services in Wakefield yesterday to see my grandson's pre-school program. Unbelievably cute, particularly, when being given their materials, each were asked what they want to be when they grow up. The first boy said "a superhero" and then most of the boys after said the same thing. One little girl said "a mermaid". Too cute. I really have to give the teacher credit because they went through the abc's with a little bible verse after each letter and the class knew a lot of it from memory! Good job!

After leaving Wakefield, we headed for the May Day cemetery to take some pictures of some markers. That's to go along with my ancestry project. I multi-tasked since that was as close as I was going to be to May Day with a free afternoon for a while. If it hadn't been misting rain, I would have been more thorough, but I only got the shots I wanted most before taking my wet feet out of there. I haven't had a chance to view them yet. I did have a chance to look at the pictures from Saturday night. We got a private tour of the Matrot Castle here in Topeka. I took some pictures of the design on the door and other things that I had no idea if they would turn out or not - but they did!! It was very interesting to see the size of the building and to go up the tiny winding stairways to the upper floors. I thought about it afterward - how would I like to have a full length dress on going up and down those things! Wouldn't be easy. Especially if you were carrying an infant (or anything else for that matter).

It's back to the list for me now! At least I can cross - blog - off!!! Have a great day!!!!

Blank Canvas

I got the flower backstitching done on the second new design "Stitch Sisters" for the online wholesale show. I had to post the picture of the framed piece to my website http://www.moonflowerxs.com/ rather than on the booth page. Now I need to decide which design I have "on the drawing board" that I want to finalize and start stitching! I have 7 lovely pieces of fabric lined across the back of the sofa here in my work room. It inspires me while I am working on several things at once. The last time I was in the fabric dealer's den she told me that I should have some of every color by now. Not if she keeps making new colors!! I also (like the packrat I tend to be) brought home a couple of frames from Frame Warehouse because I found that this particular one seemed so right with crystal earthen color fabric. Christmas design here you go!! So, yes, I also have a frame on the earthen on the sofa. Fortunately, both my husband and the fabric dealer find me endearing. Endearing, we decided, encompasses all the adjectives you might use to describe someone you are stuck with! Politically correct and socially acceptable.

So, now that I am nearly human after my first cup of coffee, I should get back to the design programs and finish a design because I have the urge to get some fabric in my q-snaps and get to work. Not that I don't have several q-snapped things to work on, just none of them are my designs. That isn't true - I am re-stitching one or two for models, but what fun is that?

I dreamed I was in a hotel and someone was helping me with my suitcase. They turned the corner and I knew they had gotten on the elevator, but I got on the wrong elevator - the one that only went to the 15th and 17th floor. While I was waiting to get on the correct elevator, a girl and her father were whispering, he got on the 15-17 elevator, and she came over and tried to take my purse from me. I called security, talked with them, they had the girl, and then I couldn't find the elevator. I wandered around, went into a room with a bunch of telephone operators (who all knew my name) and they told me what floor to go to, but not where the elevator was. Then some lady tried to tell me to get on this elevator that had a chair in it, no buttons for floors to push, and when I looked, it did not have floors above it, so it could only be going down, and I did not get on it. Then, another lady helped me find the information desk and the guy would not tell me where the elevators were! I woke up then. Strangely, I have dreamed of this same hotel before, but don't think it is any place I have actually been.

BTW - the picture is the crystal earthen fabric and the pretty little frame I found. A nice little blank canvas. Now I need the color palette - I received the full line of floss from Sullivans - which I used on "Stitch Sisters", and will begin using in addition to DMC when I am not using overdyed threads. I am intrigued with the Valdani spools. I have not actually stitched anything with them, but may give them a try also if I have the right color at the right time. Too many ideas and options!

Today, Tomorrow . . . whatever!

Ok, so I admit to sometimes not knowing the actual date. Yes, I am referring to confusing the 14th for the 15th. But, I had shopping on my mind. I need a dress for a wedding and can not seem to find anything that is even remotely something that I want to wear. I went to KC with Karen yesterday. We meandered through Lawrence and stopped at a little gallery, bookstore, coffee shop. An artist from Topeka I spoke to recently said she had some pieces there. I mentioned to Karen on the highway that I could not remember the name of the place - the right stuff, something like that, so we detoured to Mass street to figure it out. Signs of Life. The very nice lady who was installing a new exhibit stopped and took the time to show us the things that had already been taken down. Disappeared into her magic elevator and returned with the three paintings. So, then we noticed the Pink Box Bakery on our way back to the car. No cinnamon rolls left. I got a cupcake, but it had a muffin top. No to the mt on cupcakes they are strictly for muffins. They just taste scorched on cupcakes and they ruin the frosting layout. Frosting must touch the edges of the cupcake paper. Moved on to KC and wandered through a few stores. Note to sales ladies - if there is a line and you have a special (10% off with purchase of $100 or more or whatever) please don't start ringing up the customer until you know for certain they are not going to go back and look for more merchandise to increase their purchase to the minimum!! It was ridiculous! We managed to find a few things and wandered through several stores. Had lunch at The Bristol. Still a great place. I hadn't been there in a long time. Karen had not been there before. I was talked in to trying on one dress. I knew I wouldn't want it, but that's what I was there for. It was a one-shoulder number with sort of a pleated thing going on. It fit, but felt cock-eyed on and I didn't want to spend the whole time trying to twist it back into place. Perhaps I should evaluate my requirements. I may not find a comfortable formal dress. That is an oxymoron, right?

FRANTIC!

I am working to get my online booth ready for the online wholesale needlework show that begins the 15th (needleshow.com). I have not finalized all the designs as intended and will get those posted to my site ASAP (http://www.moonflowerxs.com/). My deadline for the booth is Monday at midnight. Having had a major computer issue last fall and pulling my pictures, etc. from a backup, I find that I need to go back to the backup and search for one of my folders that I seem to be missing. I have reached the state in which I was just looking at a file folder in front of me on my desk and it now seems to have vanished. Must be gremlins or something impeding my progress!! No more coffee for me!



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