Pelicans ix

Small Business Saturday was a wonderful success for Needle Nicely.  In addition to lots of fibers, I sold another rug.  Hooray!  On my way to work, I stopped by the Vero Beach Book Center to help another small business.  I understand the President of the US also took his family to a local DC bookstore. Great minds think alike and all that!

I didn't quite get finished with the bodies of the pelicans.  I'm stitching all of the bodies using the Byzantine #2 variation from Stitches to Go.

This is the last day of Nablopomo 2013.  I'm relieved.  It has been tough trying to think of  things to talk about that I think "the world" would be interested in.  Now I'm back to my usual schedule of blogging on Wednesday and Saturday evenings.  Thanks for reading and please check back with me then.

Ho, ho, ho pillow finished

This week I received the Ho, ho, ho pillow by Associated Talents back from the finisher.  I love the trim I sent, though I'm sure it was a pain for the finisher to hand-stitch it to the edge of the pillow.  I'm not as happy with the color match of the greens in the fabric I sent for backing.  Sometimes you just don't get it quite right!  

Here you can see the trim.  It"s really wiry and shiny. 







Just a reminder that tomorrow is Small Business Saturday.  Needle Nicely is having a one-day 20% off all in-stock fiber sale. 

Sleepy time

The Point of It All has a series of animal faces which can either be made into pillows or pajama bags.  I think the pajama bag idea is nifty and different as a present for children or grandchildren.  The 10mesh  canvas also means the project won't take a lifetime to complete like an 18mesh Christmas stocking.

I'm using a double strand of silk 'n ivory.  I could also have used  Trio, but I only stock a few colors.
The background is being stitched in the nobuko stitch.  The eyes are done in basketweave and continental.  I had originally selected fancy fur for the background but soon realized that the pattern stitch wasn't showing through all the fuzz. 

Have a seat...

Yesterday the UPS driver brought 4 huge boxes and 1 medium-sized box.  One of the huge and the smaller box contained pillows from the finisher--hooray!  Christmas pillows and pillows for gifts. 

The other 3 huge boxes contained three rocking chairs from Sudberry House.  This is the walnut finished one.  I also have one painted white and one with no finish.  It's getting harder to find children's chairs, so I was delighted to have these be available. 

The blocking board

Most finishers automatically block canvases before they begin the finishing process.  If the canvas isn't straight, the finished product will not be attractive.  The belt finisher Needle Nicely uses does not block the belt canvases. so I block them before shipping.  When we moved into this location, I had a handyman put pine boards on the outside of the bathroom door so I could do the blocking there.  I explained what I wanted the boards for, but he didn't understand and had to have picked the board with the most knots available.  Do you know how hard it is to put pushpins through a knot?  My arthritic fingers don't enjoy the process.

Here I'm blocking a canvas to be lined and attached as a pocket to one of the Dash & Albert tote bags.  I have a small steamer I use for the blocking process.  

A little tact helps when visiting out-of-town shops

Last month  I had two couples come into the shop.  They were from out-of-town.  One of the women was a needlepointer.  The others were just accompanying her.  They were from Phoenix.  Bit of background:  The LA Dodgers who had done spring training in Vero Beach from 1948 through 2008 are now spring training in Glendale, a suburb of Phoenix.  Vero Beach has survived three hurricanes in the last 10 years and we have also survived the departure of the Dodgers.  But I don't want the husband of a potential customer to remind me of our pain and their gain.  For over 15 minutes--it seemed interminable.  I'm not a tactful person at the best of times and it was all I could do to maintain the Southern mantle of pleasantness when I really wanted to rip his heart out. I'm a business owner in a tourist area.  We get all kinds. But I'd rather they didn't rub salt in my retail wounds.  And all this while his wife wanted me to find an inexpensive "beach" canvas.

Note of interest:  Despite its name, Vero Beach isn't a "beach" community.  Customers don't shop in bathing suits covered by "cover-ups".  The condominiums and houses here aren't decorated in beachy decor. We're not Key West or the Bahamas.  We have second homes, not beach houses.

Trubey and I were season ticket holders for y-e-a-r-s to Dodger spring training games.  Our seats were on the first base line just by home plate--not protected by the screen.  Perfect seats for working on our tans and watching the planes take off and land at the local airport.  Needle Nicely advertised in the program (we had local bartenders doing needlepoint in the stands).  We ate Dodger dogs and ice cream sandwiches and even cotton candy (during love bug season--a really risky enterprise!).  Trubey's son even asked if we did anything but eat at the games--like watch them!  And, yes, we joined our friends every year at a local bar at 4:45pm on the day the Dodger plane left Vero after spring training.  It's a small enough town and the jet was large enough that we could hear when it took off.  We all did a shooter--"Glad you're gone, see you next year! I love you honey, but the season's over!!"  Vero was lucky, because the Dodgers were a class act.  And the locals respected that.  Very few of them interrupted the players at dinner or in their "down" time.  It was and is a nice community. 

But don't come visit and gloat because you are now the recipients of their reflected glory.  Trust me, if they get a better offer, Glendale, AZ,  will be left in the dust just as Vero Beach was.  Without a thought or remorse.  I like to think Vero saw the glory days of the Dodgers. And it was nice while it lasted.

pelicans, viii

Well, they now all have their heads on with eyes looking at everything.  I'm still trying to decide what stitch/es I will use for the wings.