Standing nutcracker, 7

That mustache is just gorgeous!  And French-knotted to a fair-thee-well.  It is pleasing looking.  I have finished the top part of his sash and started on the encroaching gobelin on the reds of his uniform.  After I get the left side of his uniform stitched I'll be able to start on his beard.  I prefer to do the long/short split stitch after its surrounds are stitched so the fiber can overflow onto the nearby stitches and there won't be any gaps. 

I have finished his teeth using the slanted gobelin.  Notice that those teeth on top slant one way and those on the bottom slant the other.  

Frosty the snowman, Finished

The scarf on this snowman is stitched in long stitches from corner to corner in a diamond pattern using fuzzy stuff.  The body is the criss-cross Hungarian with French knots.  I tried to alter the contrast so the patterns would be more apparent.

 This snowman's body is done in the Victorian step stitch.

The body to the left is stitched in the Hungarian ground stitch.  And to recap, the hat is the encroaching gobelin in silk 'n ivory.  The nose is upright gobelin in neon rays while the scarf is the cross stitch done in fuzzy stuff.  The coal buttons are the smyrna cross stitched with silk lame braid.

The background is the mosaic stitch in silk 'n ivory in a pleasant French blue.  Altogether, a fun pillow to stitch.

An afternoon with Shakespeare

I've said this before:  It requires a different mindset to have Saturdays off.  I really wonder how long it will take my mind to adjust.  This afternoon I did blog and newsletter housekeeping (including adding another 35 addresses-yeah!).  Then I played Freecell and did the Needle Nicely weekly bank deposits--2 this week since you have to have one for the end of the month and one for the beginning of the next month.  Piece of cake.  Done.  I join my husband on the couch to watch the end of the seniors' golf tournament, when a lightening bolt went through my brain--it's NaBloPoMo! 

Thursday afternoon I left Marcia in Needle Nicely to walk across the parking lot (actually a customer saw me and gave me a ride--I don't even know how many yards;  I felt guilty for riding  but didn't want to be rude and refuse the ride!) to the Majestic Theater in Vero Beach.  There I paid $20. for a High-Definition transmission of a performance in London of Timon of Athens by Shakespeare at the National Theatre.  If you have an opportunity to see one of these performances, I highly recommend it.  It seems that British theater is financially supported by the government and the productions are more adventurous than the majority of American productions.  Yesterday's Timon of Athens was performed in modern dress and set contemporaneously; thus relating it to modern financial misdeeds and also ending with a homeless focus.  Really interesting staging and conceptualization.  Definitely not your usual sets.

I regularly attend the High-definition transmissions of the Metropolitan Opera's performances of operas at the Majestic.  Extremely inexpensive, but so memorable.  Four years ago I was an opera novice.  Today, I am a true follower.  Admittedly there are some that are not "my cup of tea".  But it is interesting to be exposed to all of them.  The singing is stupendous because that's their job; the bonus is that their acting is really just as wonderful. My favorites over the 4 years are Elena Garanca in Carmen and Karita Mattila in Salome.  Fascinating how they can climb and slither and dance while still singing on key. And Juan Diego Flores is so adorable, not to mention a magnificent tenor.  Sigh! 

troglodyte, perhaps?

I wholeheartedly accept that I am a troglodyte.  I've had a cell  phone for at least 8 years and almost no one I know has the number.  I'm rather proud of that achievement.  I had a snit-fit with AT&T years ago and cancelled Needle Nicely's  long distance  plan and went to Sam's to purchase a phone card.  Except I discovered several years after I started this program (by listening to the "prompts") that I was paying a multiple of 4 to make calls in Florida.  That's when I started using my cellphone to call customers and suppliers in Florida.  So I am always surprised when my cell phone rings.  It is usually in the bottom of my purse.  Recently I have wised up and have started placing it on the table beside me while I'm in the shop.  That guarantees that it will seldom ring.

I recently traded up to an I-phone 4S.  Pardon me if I am less than enthusiastic.  I even attended a class that Sunday at Verizon to learn about using my wonderful phone.  I know almost nothing more than I did before.  Message to Verizon--try to make your classes a bit more specific and don't group I-pads and I-phones in the same class.  Please.  My next phone call will be my first on my I-phone.  Days pass. * I just received my first call--it was a robo-call.  Multiple expletives!!!!

The one plus of my up-grade is that my perfectly nice Samsung "flip-phone" is being donated to the battered women charity in Vero Beach.  That's what I did with my last one and I see no reason to change a great idea.  

*Tonight after work I went to the mall to pick up a new pair of Ecco sandals.  From the parking lot I used my new phone to call to order a pizza for pick-up.  When I arrived at the beachside pizzeria, South Beach Pizza  (the best in town), they had no record of my order.  Is that another message?  Thank goodness they took pity on me and threw a "pie" quickly into the oven so Arthur and I will have dinner tonight.  

Finishing--from a customer's viewpoint

Most customers automatically assume that all needlepoint shops offer finishing.  This is not necessarily true.  There are levels of finishing that can be offered by lns (local needlework shops).  There is a great degree of variation.  Also, some shops do their own finishing.  Needle Nicely does very little.  I have about 20 professional finishers I send items to, depending on what the item is and how it is to be finished.  In-house we block all belt canvases before sending them to any of the 4 finishers we use for belts.  I make the yarn cording before I send a rug to that finisher.  We also finish Pischke Pockets, Voila's key fobs and Lee's Needle products, though with all of these we try to encourage people to try it themselves.  And yes, I'll block that Sophia purse flap and sew the lining down for you.  Frankly, I'd rather spend my time needlepointing or making orders than doing hand-sewing!  I can do it and will for money,  but my heart belongs elsewhere.

I regret to say that there are several items that I do not have finishers for.  Among these are:  director's chairs for adults and children; footstools that are upholstered, not drop-in pads; Trubey's wing chairs for children.  I have tried my usual finishers and been unhappy with the results, so I don't use them for these items. 

One of the first things a customer should consider before purchasing a needlepoint project is:  Where can I get it finished/put together?  The obvious answer is "where I have purchased it".  But the second question should be, "do I like how they have finished it in the past--by looking at their samples?"  We have lots of models in Needle Nicely to help with the finishing decision/s.  The third question is:  "Do I want to pay their price?"  All of these questions should be answered before purchasing the canvas.  I especially try to prepare people when they are considering shoe or purse canvases.  Better to get the bad news before you buy than after.  I had someone bring in a wall-hanging last week.  We had had the canvas specially painted years ago.  After I told her how much my finisher would charge and saw her shock, I mentioned that a local frame shop could probably do a job she would like for less.  And that's what she decided to do.  It never occurred to her to ask about finishing when she commissioned the canvas. 

I have many customers who simply hand over the stitched canvas and say "do what you think is best".  This makes me uneasy.  They are the ones who did the stitching and should have a vested interest in the finishing.  I may see plain and they may want embellishment.  Also, each thing a pillow finishers does to a canvas adds to the cost.  Sometimes you may just want "quick and dirty" or "plain cake".  Don't hesitate to say this to your shop owner.  Better to have the discussion before the item is finished than after when someone is unhappy with the final product.   It's easier to "do" something than it is to undo it--and a lot cheaper. 

climbing the walls

Anne of The Cape Stitcher requested photos of the walls of canvases put up by my wonderful assistant, Emma.  This is the wall to the right as you enter Needle Nicely.  You can see the fiber racks, first silk 'n ivory, next splendor, and then sparkle rays and watercolors.  We have white rolling racks that hold the canvases in categories (the turquoise dividers mark the subjects).  You can see part of the shelf that runs around the top of three of the shop's walls (the 4th wall is the plate glass windows).  We put that up there to display shop models. 

 

 This is the left side of the room.  The basket with belt canvases is under the long shell piece on a bench.

 This is the back left side of the room.  First you see the case where we have painted a Christmas tree and have Christmas ornament models.  The ornaments on the shelf above the display case are Needle Nicely's limited edition ornaments.  Next you see DMC cabinets with class models on display and Melissa Shirley canvases above them.  Then come the Christmas ornament canvases.  I have displayed some of the Princess and Me canvases on the wall beside one piece of a Susan Roberts tree skirt.  And on the back wall is a Santa hanging that is a limited edition.

This is the far left side of the right-hand wall.  It's hard to find an elegant way to display those huge tote bags for Pischke Pockets.

These 3 photos are close-ups of the right-hand wall.

These canvases are on the left immediately inside the door.  They are what people see when they are getting ready to leave--I like to have really striking canvases on this part of the wall.

Tomorrow is November 1 and the beginning of NaBloPoMo.  I plan to do a blog entry everyday in its honor.  Hope you can stop by.

Frosty the snowman, part II

Yesterday I did something I have never done.  I watched someone else climb a ladder and hang canvases on the walls of Needle Nicely.  I have always insisted on being the climber, partly because of liability issues and also because many of my employees have been less mobile than I am.  But this year is one of changes.  I have hired a 5'11" high school student to do the climbing.  I had preselected canvases and tentatively decided what would go where so that things would move smoothly.  An hour and 20 minutes later, the walls looked wonderful.  And she'll be back next month so we can do it again. 

This snowman's body is stitched in the Jacquard stitch.  His umbrella is done in the mosaic stitch using silk lame braid.

Here we have the body stitched in the Byzantine #3 variation from Stitches to Go.

This little guy's body is stitched in the Bargello Line Pattern #1 from Stitches to Go.









And I'll show and discuss that last 3 snowman on the pillow in another week or so.  Tonight I've promised myself that I'd put some study time in on my new I-phone 4S.  I realized today at the opera that I wasn't sure how to turn it off.  Talk about pitiful!  So  please send me positive thoughts about wrestling with technology.