Culling the herd

As they say, familiarity breeds contempt.  I've had all winter to contemplate my canvas inventory, and it has given me time to realize I need "to cull the herd".  What actually precipitated this action on my part was a telephone request for photographs of 13-mesh 6x6 canvases.  While going through the 5x5, 6x6, and other small canvases, I began to realize that some of them were a tad long in the tooth (as I get older and bite myself on the inside of my cheek more often, I begin to understand the derivation of this saying).  That realization caused me to start examining the remainder of Needle Nicely's inventory.

For the most part our canvases are categorized by subject:  flowers, sports, people and places, field and barnyard animals, frogs.  But then we digress into purpose:  purses, bell pulls, doorstops, Christmas stockings, and the all-important category, belts.  Needle Nicely has over 400 belt canvases--we sell a lot, so we stock a lot. It's inevitable that there will be some dead wood lurking among the jewels. So, I had my minions (doesn't that sound lofty, like I have an empire?), Macy and Marcia, start sorting through the canvases.  It was interesting that no Christmas stockings qualified for "the cut", but then I had put some of them on sale in November.  So on to the sayings.  Whew!  Lots of candidates there.  And on it went, through the categories.  There's quite a pile now and not so surprisingly, there are now empty hangers and space on the canvas racks.  How wonderful!  You can actually slide the hangers along the racks with some viewing space.  It's a wonderful thing, this culling of the herd!  And I'll be doing more of it this coming week.

 And just so you know that I haven't totally reformed, here are some of the new canvases that arrived this week.
This blue & white design if from Designing Dogs.  It has such clear, crisp lines. And this comment refuses,  after multiple attempts to the contrary, to go beside the photograph rather than above it!

 Of course, a shop in Vero Beach has to have some sandpiper canvases.  This one is by Needle Crossings.

 This "beachy" doorstop was also designed by Pat of Needle Crossings.

 This dragonfly was designed by Amanda Lawford to go in one of the lacquered boxes she also sells.  I got the boxes in 5 colors, but Marcia had tucked them into the glass display case away from my camera's eye.

 And another of Amanda's designs for her boxes.  I love how she combines the multiple geometric  patterns.

I'm also partial to asymmetrical designs like this one from Amanda.  It looks pretty in pink, but would be easy to change the color to almost anything.