Needle Delights Originals

I've been working on Sugilite and am almost done!! That means I can start on something new which is one of my favorite things to do. Here's a little bit of it - I changed the orientation and what I showed last time as the left side is now the top. There's one more square on the left side of this photo but it's not done yet. I like the way this is turning out even though it's not what I originally envisioned - it's fun when that happens!  I thought I'd share a few more ornaments with you - most of these are from exchanges and I love them. Long ago (about 10 years) we had a stitching group called Friends Who Count and we had an ornament exchange every year. The first few are from that time period. I'm especially happy to have this first one as the person who stitched it passed away a couple of years ago - she designed it herself using various parts of Shepherd's Bush patterns. The picture doesn't show how great it is - The photo above show...

colorways have been chosen and posted to my website. Here's a photo of part of my kitchen counter - a great workplace, I've discovered! Check them out at Mystery Colorways. I'm off to stitch - I've been working on the website all afternoon...and need a break! Kathy

is going on. Actually it has been going on but I've been working on my Mystery design which I can't show you because it's a Mystery... I'll be posting info and details about signing up soon (the kits and first pattern installment will go out in January).  I'm just about done with it and I'm at a place now where I can put it down for a bit and work on something new. I starting stitching last night on this fun purple design which I will call Sugilite (it's a gemstone). Here's a bit of a sneak peek... I have my tree up and took some photos of some of the ornaments to share with you. Here's the tree decorated with a lot of stitched ornaments. I'm fortunate to be able to say that many of the ornaments are from exchanges over the years and it always is wonderful to think of the people who have stitched them. I feel like I have little bits of lots of people on my tree. I went to my EGA Guild Christmas Luncheon yesterday and here is the latest addition...

to feel a little like Christmas! I wasn't planning to put up my tree this year but this basket of ornaments got me in the mood this morning. These are the ornaments I brought home from the shop and I think I have to put up the tree so I can look at them all month long! This is one of my favorites - it's very simple but I just love it. It's a Homespun Elegance pattern. I can't believe it's December already. November was a whirlwind month and it went by way too fast. I spent the first two weeks mailing out orders and figuring out how to work only from home. This will be an ongoing issue for me as I am still working on getting my space at home organized for my new way of working without the shop. I went to a Dear Jane quilt retreat with my mom the week before Thanksgiving. This is an annual event for us and we go to Shipshewana, Indiana. It's in the northern part of the state and primarily an Amish town. We hit Lolly's, the local quilt shop, as soon as we dr...

It's official - I turned in the keys to my shop today and am now a full time designer! What a job it is to close a shop - I'm very happy it's done and I can take a bit of a break. Since I have not been stitching much, here's a photo of my Color Delights - Pumpkin. I cut and pasted four together to show you what it could look like if you wanted to make it bigger! It also totally changes the look of the design. I'll post again soon - maybe with something new to show! I finally have some time and energy to stitch! Kathy

Congratulations to Kathy Raines who won not one, but two blue ribbons at the Montgomery County Fair in Maryland. She was nice enough to share photos with us! First up is Color Delights - Copper; she added some blue to it for a nice accent. And here's her "Rainforest Crunch" - I love the way it's framed. Back to stitching on my next "Mystery" for a few minutes tonight ... I got a square done last night and another large section started. Not much stitching will happen this weekend as I'll be spending a large part of the weekend adding sale items to the shop's website - www.needledelights.com (click on "Clearance Sale Patterns" from the Main Menu if you're interested and help me clear out the shop's inventory!). Kathy

Although I'm deep in the throes of closing my shop, I have managed to get a little stitching in - you know how "stress-reducing" pulling a needle through canvas or fabric is! I can't show you much but here are a few "parts" of the Mystery I'm working on. I'm about 3/4 done stitching it and can't wait to start choosing the different colorways. Although I'm stitching mine in blues, browns, and corals, I'm imagining it in the bright fun colors I love so much. And here's a part  of my fun colorful piece - it's a destination but where?? Suggestions? It's almost done but I won't be releasing it until the first of the year - no time to write directions or release new designs for awhile... You can probably tell by my needlepoint designs I'm an avid quilter; not necessarily an avid producer of quilts (there's that time issue again!) but I love love love quilting. I've learned a lot about color & design from r...

means I'll have more time to design! Today I officially announced I will be closing my retail shop to focus on my own designs. Although many of my retail customers are very sad, I'm personally very excited about becoming a full time Designer. It has been very challenging the last couple of years having a shop and releasing new designs. I've felt torn in too many directions. I'm looking forward to having just one business and giving it my all. This is a great thing for Needle Delights Originals fans! If you want more info about the shop closing (yes, there will be sales!), click  Needle Delights Closing . Kathy

Sarah sent me this photo of her framed "Appalachia" - she turned it on its side and had some really cool mats cut for it. Another photo from Sarah is her finished "Aquamarine". The framing is simple and really sets it off.  This is Mary E.'s "Amazing Color" - she used this as a "stash piece" and used DMC floss and perles in various colors, metallics (cool addition as I didn't use any in this piece), rayon, and variegated threads. Didn't she do a great job?!  And this is part of a new piece I'm working on. I'm using the overdyed Vineyard silks from Threadworx - I loved stitching Amazing Color so much because of the thread. I promised myself I'd use it again sometime and the sometime is now! I started this right before going to Baltimore because I needed a smaller piece to take on the plane than the large piece I'm working on. I did try to put my large piece in the bottom of my suitcase but the stretcher bars we...

I'm back from the Needlework Trade Show in Baltimore, Maryland. I exhibited my designs and had a fabulous time. My mom came and helped me in my "booth" and I'm always happy to spend time with her. The photo above shows my first Baltimore crabcake - it was so yummy I had another crabcake dinner Sunday night. It's so much fun to meet shopowners who purchase my designs and share stories with me of what has been done with some of my designs. I asked several people to send pictures and I'll be sure to share them with you if/when they come! If you're anywhere close to Baltimore, go visit The Stitching Post . I let Melinda take a bunch of my models home to display in her shop for a few weeks.  Here's a couple of photos of what my "booth" looked like - the market is held in an Embassy Suites hotel and we use the front part of the room for our displays and sleep in the back. And here's a photo of me with my newest designs - I hate having my ...