Too Much Birthday?

Julia's turned eight. It's hard to believe. Really, it is. My good friends Linda Pratt and Alice Gray came out to the farm for the big celebration. Cathy Payson was supposed to be here too but a business trip to NYC interfered. You may recognize these girl's names. Linda, Cathy and I worked together at Classic Elite for over ten years (or so???). Knitting drew us together. There are a lot of sweater patterns out there floating around with our names on them. We met Alice through knitting too - she is an amazing knitter and knit sample garments for us at CEY and designed some sweaters for our pattern collections. These girls have been with me for the long haul. (What is it with the knitting friendships??) We've been friends through thick and thin. Recently it has been Julia who has pulled us together.

Julia was born with hydrocephalus. Three weeks before she was born, we found out something was seriously wrong with our unborn baby and she might not survive. Luckily, for Mark, Julia and I, three days after she was born, the doctors in Boston at New England Medical Center diagnosed her with severe hydrocephalus. Julia's condition was treatable with surgery although there were no guarantees as to what she would be like, what her functions would be. These girls - our very good friends - have been with Mark and I through the surgeries (there have been ten neurosurgeries, most of them in the first three years of her life), the tears, the cheers, the fun. They have come to the hospital and sat with us. They have brought us food. They have cuddled our child. They have taken care of our dogs, cats and chickens. They are the best friends I could ever ask for.

This past weekend, Linda wanted to teach Julia to dance so she came armed with Ricky Martin and Madonna. We used Julia's Barbie Karaoke machine. Julia wasn’t interested in dancing but Linda and Alice sure did have a good time. We all had fun. I wish they didn't have to leave.

Three parties have ensued. I'm all birthday-ed out. I think even Julia is. I even made good on the promise to Julia for her very own “Fat Cat.” I had some leftover Fair Isle Felt and finished “Zoe Sophia“ in no time. She had a great day on her birthday with lots of other family and friends for cake and ice cream. As she said “This was the best birthday ever.” Oh, to be eight again.

Our daughter is a miracle - as any child truly is.

Embroidery on Knits again

The new issue of Interweave Knits is almost out. I've got three projects this fall - two in print and one on the web. I'll write about the two print designs next week since I don't think the mag has even hit subscribers yet. But the website is up with all the new down-loadable patterns. I think this is a great thing for magazines to do - have free patterns on the web. As a former person who had to purchase and design printed pieces for a yarn company, I know how much space on paper costs. Sometimes there just isn't the space for long patterns and interesting technique articles. Here's the link to the adult cardigan - it's halfway down the page and there is a pdf file: LINK.

My new pattern is an adult version of Julia's Seeing Dots Cardigan from the Spring 2006 Knits issue. I wrote about it March 21st. I just love this sweater. I want it myself. It's the kind of design I would wear everyday. Knit in plain stockinette stitch with drop shoulder sleeves, this design is perfect for advanced beginners. No nasty shaping except for sleeve width increasing and neckline decreases.

The edging is picked up all the way around the sweater with a circular needle and worked in garter stitch in the round. To make the mitered corner, increases are worked on each side of a central stitch evey other row. It looks so smart and it's really easy. There's something else new for beginners to learn - embroidery on knits to make the polka dots. You'll only need to do one stitch (the spider web stitch) which you add after the whole sweater is complete. I added a separating zipper to give it a real Fred Rodgers feel - love that guy! I'm working on a little sewing in a zipper tutorial for those who haven't done it before.

It's knit in Julia Wool/Mohair/Alpaca - what else? - in three lovely colors of Espresso No. B118, Blue Thyme No. 3961, and Lady's Mantle 3961 with the Blue Thyme as the base. Your choice of colors is large - so pick one main color and two other favorites. This fall you may even find Julia at your LYS. Soon you'll have a classic, but chic zippered cardi. Now when am I going to make one for myself?

Here's a link to the embroidery article I wrote last spring that is also a pdf file to download. This will give you more How-To about stitching on knits:
How to Embroider on Knits Link.

The Business of Stitching

I just received a new shipment of my kits from JCA, the people who are manufacturing them. I am still at the point that I get a real thrill out of opening a box and seeing my name on the kits. I feel I have been in an up-hill battle with the stitchery thing. For sixteen years, I built a reputation on my knitwear design and then I had to go and shake things up and start stitching again. It must be a flawed trait of mine - when I have success - abandon it and try something new.

After I had the bulk of Colorful Stitchery done, I approached Alan Getz who owns JCA with the idea for a line of stitching kits. I have known Alan professionally for about twenty years – he was always “the competition.” I stopped by at JCA unannounced (yikes) on the way home from a hair appointment in Pepperell with a basket full of C.S. projects and daughter Julia in tow. Alan pulled his team together and they looked. To my surprise, he was interested.

I went home, started drawing some ideas for pillow kits and visited JCA when I went to my next hair appointment (without Julia and a little better dressed). The JCA team picked eight designs (I was hoping I could convince them of four – boy was I overjoyed.) Then I had to source the colorful linen fabric and stitch the designs. Then my dad died.

In February of 2005, they were done and they “debuted” at the CHA show in Atlanta which I attended. Alan said not to expect much and he was totally right. The show was huge – there were two halls and all the action was on the “scrapbooking” side. I stood in the booth for as long as possible trying not to get depressed. But the kits looked good and an editor from Meredith (the Better Homes and Gardens and many other magazines) people liked them.

Alan then had to hop on a plane last summer and take the kits to the “chain buyers” – ACMoore, Hobby Lobby, Michael’s. And then I waited and hoped. Michael’s, the biggest craft chain, sets their stores twice a year. That’s it. Either you get put into the "plan-a-gram" or you don’t.

Last summer was the year of "knitting is hot." The craft store chains were looking at increasing their space in “knitting." They weren't going to add any square footage. You know what had to go? That’s it – the tried and true stitching department. There went my chances. Alan was skillful enough to get my kits into Hobby Lobby and I am still hoping against hope he gets them into some of the other chains. I have no control and I just sit here doing my best to generate publicity and excitement from my humble little basement studio. And then hoping that someone notices.

Surprisingly to me, very few knitting stores are interested in my stitching kits. I thought they might be but they are too busy selling knitting. It used to be that knitting stores carried needlework kits. No more – only a handful do. And many of the stitchery, cross-stitch, and needlepoint stores have closed. I wish I could get the knitting stores interested but they only have so much space.

If I don't sell kits, I don't make any money on the time I spent developing, designing, and stitching. It's all on a commission basis. I was feeling helpless - at the mercy of about four chain store buyers and their bosses. Enter my on-line business. If customers liked the kits and couldn’t buy them anywhere, I might as well sell them myself. My talented friend Lori developed my “order form” and I figured out the Paypal system enough to start my little stitchery kit business.

I thank all of you who have bought my kits from me - especially over the last few weeks. I've become a regular at the local post office. The retail sales of the kits makes me a little more money and keeps me going. I feel good interested consumers can actually find the kits. Better get back to stitching that last new kit before JCA loses patience.

Animal Anarchy

It has been a bit nuts here to say the least. Kevin Ford sheared for three days last week finally finishing the last sheep Saturday morning. While shearing is going on, it is chaos. The sheep have to be penned up and kept dry without food and water before they are shorn. They aren’t happy and they are very noisy. After each one’s turn, Mark takes the sheep from Kevin and pushes it through the gate to let it loose to find its other friends. Our fencing system becomes discombobulated because we don’t have enough lengths of fence to hold every one in different spots. By Saturday afternoon, it was bedlum. The goats were loose and enjoying my vegetable and flower garden, the bottle lambs decided they should come back in the house to visit where they grew up and Jeremy the guard llama decided he should visit the neighbors. When John called to tell me Jeremy was in his wife Joann’s flower garden, I told him “I’ll be right there as soon as I get this lamb out of the house.” And I wasn’t lying. I dragged the now grown and shorn bottle lamb out the door (that's her in the photo), cleaned up the pee and the poo, and Julia and I ran up the street to lure Jeremy back home with a pail of sweet feed. When lured, a llama can run very fast. He’s a little scary looking.

By Sunday evening, the animals were back in order. I like to keep my doors open in the summer to catch the breeze. I don’t have screen doors yet – I guess I probably should put that on the wish list.

Stitching news!

There's a great article in the Raleigh-Durham (North Carolina) News and Observer about stichery. It even mentions my new book along with a bunch of other new stitching titles. Here's the link.

On the web I've been finding some great stitching. Check out Hillary Lang's new post over at Wee Wonderfuls. Jane at Yarnstorm has some beautiful stitched pieces she made at a class with Janet Bolton this weekend. Vicki at Turkey Feathers made a beautiful embroidered bag. Stitching seems to be happening. The heat helps! Holding fabric and a little needle is way more comfortable than knitting needles filled with wooly yarn.

Suzi from Bavaria gave me the idea to post some pictures from Colorful Stitchery once in a while - so that blog readers would get a glimpse of what the projects inside are like. (She got the book and loved it - all the way in Germany - wow!) Here's a photo of one of my favorite pillows in the book - inspired by Matisse's colors and stitched in wool on linen fabric. I thought this photo might be the cover of the book but they deemed it too simple. To me, it's simple and enticing at the same time. And I love the rusted iron chair I got at a wacky farm auction for a buck the year we moved here.

Wednesday night I volunteered at the local library to teach a stitching class. Many times, when I volunteer to do a booksigning or class, noone shows up. It drives me crazy to give up my free time, prepare, haul the stuff there, and then have noone show. Is it that free doesn't work? I think so - I think if students pay, they are more apt to come. But the ladies at my local library are very nice to Julia - getting her special orders all the time - and so I feel I owe them bigtime! Wednesday night, I had nine students and most of them drove from other towns. They all caught on and had fun. Many were school teachers who were off for the summer and they were thinking about teaching their students stitching next year. It was fun to see such excitement and enthusiasm.

Shearing Days

Kevin Ford from Charlemont, MA has been shearing our sheep for over ten years. He is one of the only "blade shearers" in the USA. Maybe you have seen him at Maryland Sheep and Wool or one of the other Wool Festivals. Here are some scenes from yesterday. He sheared 61 sheep and today, he is doing about the same amount. We never know how many sheep we have until we count them on shearing day and pay the bill. We don't shear the lambs. Kevin wrote a book on shearing called Shearing Day and you can order it here.

BEFORE
"I wish I had my knitting with me."


DURING
"When will this ever end?"


AFTER
"I feel much better now. You?"

On The Move

The baby chicks have finally gotten big enough to survive in the great big world. Two weeks ago, I moved them out of the mudroom into their "rotating chicken pen" in the pasture. At first they were scared but now they are into the routine of grazing the pasture and eating a bit of grain every morning. I'll keep them out there, hoping for the best, and then next fall move them into the real chicken pen where they can lay their eggs. Their pen was another wonderful anniversary present from The Farmer four years ago - he built it himself which meant a lot since his carpentry skills are seriously lacking. It is actually pretty big but it looks so lost out there in the landscape.

With some bits of company coming this summer, the mudroom needed a giant washdown. What would Martha say?

Stitching for Self-Expression

I am one of five sisters and we are all crafty and creative in our own way. My sister Lynn (Francisco's mom) is a make-up artist and salesperson at Saks Fifth Avenue in Maryland but if she had her choice, she would paint for a living. She has a huge client following and can tell you anything about a particular cosmetic line. She dresses creatively, colorfully and fashionably.

Last Christmas, I gave her a copy of Colorful Stitchery. She was spending the month of January with her boys at my mother's house. She looked at the book and became intrigued. If you knew Lynn, you would be amazed she was even interested. When she was a kid, she was the only sister who never wanted to do anything crafty. The rest of us sewed, stitched, quilted, and cooked and she didn't. I think it was part of the rebellious side of her and that's just fine.


Lynn is really into fashion and she had been noticing all the embroidery on $750 jeans at Saks that she couldn't afford (yes, $750 - you read that right). So she decided to do it herself. I taught her the chain stitch and she just started to go to town. I called the house and she was still stitching. She was possessed. One simple stitch - that's it. These are pictures of some of the projects she has been working on since then. She purchased some beautiful Indian trims and combined them with her stitchery on jeans and jean jackets. They really are fabulous, aren't they?

So if you're chicken to try, take heart. Anyone, any age, can do this. Here's a little interview I did with her while she and Franny were here this past weekend stitching away:

The interview

KN: Why do you like to stitch?
LN: I've been painting sporadically for twenty years - giant, colorful canvases. But painting is too messy to set up for a couple of hours while working a full-time job. I can pick up my stitching at night for a couple of hours and do it while watching t.v. It makes me feel like I'm not wasting time. I'd like to try jewelry making and paint more but right now, stitching is filling my creative needs.

KN: Do you stitch at any other time?
LN: I bring my stitching to appointments and do it while I'm waiting for the oil to be changed in my car or at a doctor's office. It travels well - all in a little ziplock bag.

KN: Do you use any special tools?
LN: I have a huge color selection of floss that I keep in a tin box. I love color and I like to add new colors to my box. I only have one needle right now. I recently started using a metal thimble to help push the needle through the seams in the jeans. I use a needle threader because I have a hard time threading the thick floss through the needle.

KN: What is your favorite stitch?
LN: Hands down, chain stitch. It covers the fabric well with a thick line and it's easy to do. I use the floss just as it comes from the skein so it is really thick. My sister just taught me a bunch more stitches, so I'll probably start adding a few more to my designs. I have finally mastered french knots. I want to use them in thick groupings, maybe mixing different colors together. Because I don't know any of the rules, I think I can be more creative and artistic than someone who is trying to be neat and tidy.

KN: Where do you get your ideas for your designs?
LN: I look at my sister's book for motifs. I draw them on the jeans free-hand and then design as I go. I don't have a plan. On the borders and edges, I add a lot of swooping lines, blanket stitch and colorful trims.

KN: Has anything fun happened since you started stitching?
LN: Jeans are my favorite clothes to wear so I wear my stitched jeans everywhere. Just recently a friend has hired me to decorate her jean jacket. That's what I'm working on right now.

KN: Can you think of anywhere else you might want to add stitchery?
LN: When I get bored with decorating jeans, I might add some to dresses. I also want to make some decorated pillows and curtains.

The photo montage shows some of the motifs that Lynn has stitched onto her jeans. While she was here, she photocopied a bunch of pages from one of my exceptional design idea books called "Art Forms in Nature" by Ernst Haeckel. I can't wait to see what she comes up with next.

Summertime Visitors

Summer is a great time to entertain friends and relatives in the country. Everyone can enjoy the outdoors. I really enjoy sharing our rural life and animals with others. This weekend, my sister Lynn from Maryland and her twelve year old son Francisco, who lives in Brazil right now, were here to visit. Julia and I took them to the Farmer's Market in Brattleboro on Saturday and then we did some shopping in the downtown area. Lynn especially loved my favorite Indian store Adivasi. Our friends Peggy and Clara came for dinner and we barbequed some lamb.

It was so hot on Sunday we didn't want to move. Lynn had her jean jacket to stitch on (more about that tomorrow) and Franny wanted to learn to stitch too. I told him I would teach him if he was game. Franny is crazy over the Barcelona soccer team so he found their logo on their website and we printed it out. I gave him some gold felt and he picked some wool colors. Using my light table, he traced the logo onto the felt and then I taught him to stitch. In two days, he had finished. After he was finished, he said he was bored!

Here's what Franny has to say about stitching:

KN: Franny, what do you like about stitching?
FM: I liked that I was able to represent something I liked in a different way. I don't like to draw because I don't have the talent. But stitching was something I was able to do and it came out really nice. My patch looks just like the official logo of my favorite team - Barcelona.

KN: What stitches did you use?
FM: Backstitch, Satin Stitch, and Running Stitch.

KN: What are you going to do with your embroidered patch?
FM: Save it as a memory of the first stitching project I have ever done.

KN: What was your favorite thing about this visit to the farm?
FM: I loved hand feeding the pigs and goats with bread. My cousin Julia and I made delicious cookie brittle yesterday and I made lunch for everyone. My uncle's friend Bill Pratt took us for a ride in his Argo. It was the funnest thing to do. It went through the woods and also swam through the water. It was an adventure.

We all had a great time and look forward to their visit again next summer. Pick up a copy of Kids' Embroidery and maybe you can teach a visiting friend - either child or adult - to stitch.

Summertime and the Stitching is Easy

I've heard from a lot of new readers since the Creative Home issue hit subscriber's homes. I welcome all my new readers and hope I can convert some of you to become stitchers.

Everyone is so busy these days, racing around between trips to the seaside, visiting friends and generally enjoying the warm weather here in North America. Whenever I take a trip, I always make sure I have some kind of needlework project to bring with me. Since I mostly knit with wool (I just can't get excited about knitting with cotton), I find it a little hot and cumbersome to carry around my knitting projects.

We're in the middle of a massive heatwave here in the northeast and there is no relief in sight. We don't have any air conditioning, just some fans in the bedrooms. It is best to plan physical activity for early mornings and evenings and to just sit still the rest of the day or visit the local stream-fed swimming hole. Over-exertion is just plain uncomfortable. Lemonade and ice tea are beverages of choice.

Weather like this is perfect for teaching yourself to stitch. You'll feel productive and creative without overheating. If you've picked up my book Colorful Stitchery, your mind is filled with lots of fun ideas for gifts and your home. But face it, you're short on time. If this is new hobby, you're in a rush to learn. You are finding it overwhelming to collect the fabric, the yarn, and the tools. You might want to try one of my needlework kits. I've taken a photo of what's in a stitchery kit. There's fabric with the design printed on it (you won't need to draw the design on the fabric), complete instructions, a needle, all the yarn you'll need for stitching, a color photo to follow, and backing fabric for the pillow. The linen fabric in the kits is so nice and cool to stitch on. If you are really frugal (as I tend towards), you could use the linen pillow backing fabric supplied for a second pillow design from my book. Then find some colorful prints at a quilting store and back both with them. Voila - two pillows from one kit. (You'll have to supply your own threads though).

You can even order it from me and I'll ship it to you directly by Priority Mail. You can make yourself busy immediately, beat the heat and stay creative.

Beautiful Onions

In my fit of bulb planting last fall, I put in some classic Drumstick Allium (Allium sphaerocephalon). I ordered my bulbs from Van Engelen so late, I didn't have much of a choice. My potluck purchase has turned into a stunning show of dancing sticks topped with balls of color. What do they remind you of?

Maya the kitten moves on

The first kitten of three has moved on to a new home. Here are the two little fluffballs enjoying one last tussle before being split up.

Today my friend Deborah arrived with a wicker kitty basket to adopt one of the little black fluffballs. I have been agonizing over this moment all week. I know she is going to a wonderful, loving home and she will be one of the queens of the castle. She is joining Luna, a five year old Siamese-ish kitty. But tonight her mama Lilly Pons and sister Flora and brother Mr. Zoe Sophia are wondering what is a-miss.

Deborah is a textile collector and her business along with her partner Jay's is to sell Asian textiles to museums and collectors throughout the world. I like to think of our little kitty presiding over important meetings with hotsy-totsy curators. It's hard to say no to a wonderful woman who also is a painter and arrives in an outfit of chartreuse linen topped with an ikat shawl. Long live the new little family.

Our new Border Collie Ness

For almost 15 years, our Border Collie Paisley worked our sheep. Sadly, she died last Memorial Day at the age of 14. We were so lucky to obtain her from Becky Peterson of Leyden, MA way back when. Paisley had natural talent - a keen eye - and real dedication for keeping everything in line. It took Mark a long time to decide that he wanted and needed a Border Collie. Collies are a huge committment because they always want to be busy - it is kind of like having a bunch of kids, only they don't talk back with words. A good collie can round up 100 sheep in about three minutes. It can take three people four hours! You can see they are worth their weight in dog food!

Last July, we found Ness at Amy Dunnington's farm in Rhode Island. I love this picture of her. Border Collies are very hard to take photos of - they are either on the run at 900 mph or right in your camera lens. This photo kind of says it all - she is enthusiastic!

Ness (or Nessie) joins our other lovely collie Phoebe (who has decided sheep aren't quite for her - pigs and chickens are okay). From what we can tell Ness seems to have the natural talent and interest we were hoping for. We are keeping our fingers crossed. She turned one May 15th and Mark is just starting to work with her on the sheep. She will never replace Paisley but we are hoping she will become her own legend.

In the Sunday NY Times Style Section (July 9, 2006), there was an wonderful article entitled Happiness is Three Sheep and a Dog about people in Hollywood - film people specifically - owning sheep dogs. There is a sheep dog trainer named Janna Duncan who has started training these "Hollywood" sheep dogs and their masters how to herd sheep in Malibu of all places. It certainly is a funny read (at least from this side of the fence). But I am sure that the owners and dogs are seriously learning a thing or two.

I think Ness is glad she lives with us.

Quiet, Sunflowers Germinating!

Four years ago, a piece of land was for sale in Greenfield about three miles from our farm. It was “river bottom land” which means that it is really good soil, according to The Farmer. He has always farmed hill land with lots of rocks and marginal soils including clay and shale. He always envied the valley farmer’s deep, rich soil. I must admit, I wasn’t too thrilled about adding to our debt load, but the land seemed fairly priced and you only live once. And they aren't making anymore land, as far as I know. I agreed, signed the paper and made him promise to grow me some sunflowers.

For three years, he has kept the promise. I didn’t think about the work it would entail, obviously. Here’s a picture of the field as it looks now. I’ll keep updating the blog as it progresses to sunflower heaven by August and September. Julia and I will harvest the flowers when they start blooming in August. We set up a little roadside self-service stand and try to re-coup some of the money we spend on seed.

The field is finally completely planted. July 11th is a record for lateness but it’s not too late. The weather hasn't cooperated, there has been hay to harvest and there's a business to try to keep up with. Once the plants start growing, there is no stopping them. Mark wants me to paint a sign that says “Quiet, Sunflowers Germinating.” I don’t know if I’ll get to it this year but it’s a cute idea. This sunflower thing is The Farmer’s Art – and I always like to encourage anyone’s art!

Stitching Books and Stitching a Life

It began with the idea for a book for children about embroidery. Melanie Falick and I had collaborated on Knitting for Baby and Kids Knitting (I did the illustrations and some projects for KK). She was taking a new job as Editor of the new Crafts Division at STC. She knew I was interested in doing a children's book on embroidery and asked me if I would do it for her. It was a great opportunity and a fun project to develop. I learned a lot about working with children and realized I wanted to keep going with the stitching thing.

I met with the people at Storey Publishing who are just across the Berkshires from me in North Adams and told them I was interested in doing a stitchery book based on home decoration. They visited my home and saw what I had done with it creatively - especially with my use of color. They decided they were interested and signed me on. That idea became my new book Colorful Stitchery. C.S. gave me a chance to show the world how easy it is to stitch and to teach some of my design methods which I have developed over the years. I am really proud of the book (both books that is) and now I just hope they start selling.

Selling the stitchery books has been another learning experience. First of all, it seems that all the press and book stores want to talk about and buy is knitting, knitting, knitting. Have you noticed how many knitting books there are out there right now? It is overwhelming. Every publisher in the USA is printing them. And they're not all good. It used to be if you wanted to do a knitting book, it was very difficult to get a publisher interested. When my first two books came out, they were the ONLY knitting books published in that season. No wonder they sold - there were knitters out there - just not as many as there are now. But the world has changed and now everyone is pushing knitting. It's good for knitting in general and for that I am very happy since I haven't abandoned my knitting roots. I've had a chance to develop the Julia line and if knitting wasn't big, that never would have happened.

Selling books is a complicated effort for the publisher's sales people. Most books get sold through a distributor - whether it is a book, sewing, quilting, or crafts book distributor. What never dawned on me when I was thinking about doing my stitching books is that if a publisher only has one stitching book, a quilting distributor doesn't want to pick it up (they must order 250 copies of a book to get distributor pricing). So now I have two stitching books with two different publishers and sewing and quilting stores throughout the USA can't get them because no distributor has them. Not a smart move on my part but who knew. Luckily, both STC and Storey are developing sewing titles which should help bring my stitching books along.

If a book isn't in a store, it isn't going to sell - that's the honest truth. You can only sell so many books to the on-line world - to perhaps someone like you who is reading my blog. There are still bookstores and people still buy books in stores. And then there is the chain thing. Chains (Borders, B &N, Michael's, JoAnne's, ACMoore, etc.) rule. If they don't buy my book, I don't sell books and I don't earn back my advance and make future money. Some of the chains have picked up my books, but not all. The buyers (who leave these companies at the drop of the hat) don't have a clue who I am, nor do they know what stitchery is. You can see my destiny is not in my own hands. It's all too scary to think about. Best I don't.

I have tried hard to get publicity for both Colorful Stitchery and Kids Embroidery with a small degree of success. One really big magazine who will remain nameless was going to feature CS but then things all fell apart (no reason that I was let in on) and a different book (that the company themselves published) was featured. It's difficult and frustrating to say the least. Some days I just want to throw in the towel and find a job I don't have to think too much about - just show up and get paid. But then I will have some small degree of success and a ray of hope will light up and I'll keep plugging along.

Yesterday the ray of hope came in my P.O. Box and my e-mail in-box. There was two copies of a magazine called Creative Home and two orders for a book and a kit. In C.H. there is an eight page excerpt on Colorful Stitchery with a nice interview by a writer named Sarah Egge. Sarah interviewed me back in March and put a lot of thought into the interview. I like that because lots of writers just cobble together an article from my website. Sarah worked hard and wrote a very nice article. Thank you Sarah.

I'm hoping this will generate some excitement and maybe some of the sewing and quilting distributors will decide to buy my books so the sewing and quilting stores will have them. And then, stitchers and quilters can actually buy my books. If not, there's always my website people can order a book off of -- if they can find it.

So sorry about all the sordid publishing facts in this post. But just so all you out there in blogland don't think it's all wine and roses around this farm of ours. Kind of brings it all into reality, doesn't it? Back to work. Gotta go feed the pigs, the goats, the chickens, the sheep. And keep on plugging along on my next project. Spread the word for me.

The Day the Circus Came to Town

I have been spending a lot of time in my garden lately - mostly weeding and thinning out the perennials. This year I only put in a small vegetable garden and probably half of it is devoted to annuals for cutting bouquets for my house. At the end of the summer, I love to wander around the flower beds cutting flowers in the early evening. I bring them inside and strip all the leaves off and then fill my antique vases with flowers – lots of them. It’s kind of silly because I barely ever have any company come to visit. But I like my house to be full of garden flowers - it just feels right.

If you’re a gardener, you know about the value of well-rotted manure and how it can make a garden grow. I must admit, one of the big reasons I keep my chickens is for the chicken poop. My chickens aren’t free-range – if they were, they wouldn’t last around here with all the wild animals. So the not very fancy pen I keep them in becomes its own composting system. I feed them all the edible scraps from my kitchen and all the weeds that I pull from my garden. When (if) I rake the leaves, they all go into the chicken run and they pick over them finding grubs and bugs but mostly scratching them up into little bits. I add some wood chips once in a while. My chickens are pretty low maintenance just the way I like it. Every spring when I’m weeding and planting, I sneak into the pen and extract some of their black gold. I don’t worry about it being hot – nothing ever seems to die. Then I sprinkle it over my garden and boy does it grow. Chicken poop is great stuff for a garden - high in all the essential nutrients.

As I am bending, pulling, and tossing all those weeds, my mind always wanders. I think about my Dad who was an amazing gardener. He was so enthusiastic about flowers and veggies. All summer long we ate from the garden. Sometimes we were pulled into service – like when the string beans threatened to overwhelm the entire town – but mostly Mom and Dad puttered around making our yard beautiful. They didn’t live close enough to any farms to get manure but they always had a compost pile going full of leaves, coffee grounds, eggshells and more.

My grandmother Nicholas (of Cookbook Fame) was also a great gardener. She had a little plot of land so every inch counted. She had it divided into all kinds of gardens – a rose garden, a rock garden, a perennial garden, a sitting garden (with beautiful old pink metal chairs and table) and in the nooks and crannies she grew tomatoes, lettuce, squash, herbs and more. Talk about efficiency in a small space. Her method for composting was efficient too. She collected the kitchen scraps in a plastic container by her sink. Then she’d climb down the stairs with a kitchen tablespoon and the bucket and dig a hole somewhere in her garden and bury the scraps. Once in a while a cantalope or two would sprout. Try this method if you don’t have the space for a compost pile. It worked for her for over sixty years.

Every time I start hauling manure, I think of a story Gram told me when we were working on Gram's Cookbook. Back in the 1920’s, the circus would come to town – as it probably did in every major town in the USA. My great-grandparents lived within walking distance to the field where the circus performed. The morning after the circus left, my great-grandmother would get up before dawn and walk to the field, buckets and shovel in hand. She’d pick up all the elephant poop and haul it back to her garden a few blocks away. She had to get there very early because there was a lot of competition for the elephant poop. The neighborhood was full of German immigrants who all grew gardens for food and beauty. I can just imagine, the fierce competition. All the immigrants, right off the boat, looking for some black gold for free to make their garden grow. How the world has changed. I wonder what the circus does now with their animal manure. I’m sure it is regulated and disposed of in some manner. Or maybe there’s still a gardener looking for a little black gold making a side deal with an employee of the circus.

I’m 5/6th of the way done with a new line of kits for JCA. They’ll probably be out in a few months – after photography, screening, kitting and more. Here’s a sneak peak at the elephant I just finshed.

Julia and I found the cute plastic elephant watering can at Streeter's for $2.79. It was made in the USA. I wonder how long it has been there.

Check this site out for a chuckle. It’s pretty cute.

Brimfield Flea Market Warning

It's coming up - look at your schedule. Brimfield opens July 11 and runs to July 16th. I'm hoping to go Friday to the J and J Field. I'll see how much time I have to visit the other fields. I hope it doesn't get washed out like my May visit.

The Piglets have Arrived

On the 4th of July, my partner in swine Mike, his wife Kay, Julia and I ventured to Guilford to pick up our two new piglets. Faced with a choice of eight, we picked two females - one black and one white. They settled in to their "Pig Palace" with ease. They are eight weeks old and weigh about twenty pounds. We'll keep them about five months and when they leave, they'll weigh about 225 lbs.

The dogs are so thrilled to have another farmyard responsibility. Someone else to push around and take care of. We've named them Do and Re (as in the song) but mostly likely they'll be known as Blackie and Whitey.

Embroidery Feature in Domino

If you look hard in almost every high end shelter magazine, you'll find embroidered decorator objects. I look to these magazines for inspiration - color, motifs, design, graphics - just about everything. When one of my magazines comes in, I try to carve out a little time that evening to see what's new, what's hot, and to determine what the editors are looking for. I also try to jump on any opportunity to submit my books and kits to the editors for a possible feature. Most times I just spend the money for postage, the book, the kit and then swallow hard and know that it will either end up in the trash or in one of the illustrious NY sample sales. But there's always the "chance" that someone may be interested.

The new July/August issue of Domino Magazine has two interesting bits about stitchery. One of the editors is "craving" Nouveau Needlepoint. Although all the needlepoint shown is finished products for sale, can a resurgence in the craft of needlepoint be far behind? Maybe the editors are reading the same things I am reading.

The second feature is about a textile designer named Cara Spinelli who is working with stitchers in Transylvania to create a line of linens including embroidered pillows and bath linens. They have an almost antique look to them - similar to what I see being sold at Brimfield as antique fabrics. Maybe the antique dealers are buying from the same sources. In any event, the website is nice and the pillows (one shown at right) have a folkloric feeling to them: Transylvanianimages.com

Lena Corwin is a textile designer and illustrator who illustrated STC's Kids Crafting Series on crochet and weaving. They were published as companions to my Kids' Embroidery. Lena has a nice blog that I read often. Today she pointed the world to some new embroidered pillows on the Hable Construction site that are shown below. Retailing for between $135 and $165, they give anyone a good reason to pick up Colorful Stitchery and try a little stitchery on their own. Or buy one of my stitchery kits and do it yourself.

The Race to Hay

We have had an unbelievable amount of rain here in western Massachusetts. It is making Mark's farming difficult. He listens to the weather radio a few times a day trying to determine if there is a stretch of weather when he can cut hay. Once he decides, it is a race to get it all done.

This is how it goes:
1. He cuts the hay with his mowing machine.
2. He tetters the hay - he uses a machine called a "tetter" that fluffs the mown hay up in the air and then it all falls down on the field with air pockets so that it dries quickly.
3. He uses a rake to rake it into windrows - these are thin rows - about 2 feet wide.
4. He drives the baler over the windrows and the baler picks up all the hay and forms it into a extremely large bale weighing about 800 lbs.

He moves the dry hay undercover into our greenhouse barn to feed the sheep next winter.

He also cuts hay and bales it wet. This is more convenient because he doesn't need as long a stretch of weather to finish it. If he is putting up wet hay it is called haylage. He does steps 1, 3, and 4 like above. The last step is to wrap each bale in white agriculture plastic. It then pickles inside the bale and preserves itself - similar to canning and pickling. The goal is to not let in any air so that the haylage will be fresh for the sheep to eat next winter. This hay can be stored outside until it is needed. Once in a while bears claw or crows peck through the plastic and the bale is spoiled. Julia calls these "big marshmallows." The goal is to have enough bales to last us through the winter so we don't have to buy hay for the sheep.

In the photo below, you can see the first cutting's unwrapped and wrapped bales. Mark hays all his fields three to four times a summer beginning in early May and sometimes cutting as late as September.



Farming is a real challenge. It is so different than it used to be even twenty years ago. When I first starting coming to Sunbrite Farm, David and Mark still made square bales. I used to help pick them up and stack them on the haywagon. It was always a struggle to find enough people to pick up the bales. Eventually, Mark and David moved to the large round bale system. Although it takes more financial outlay for the equipment, they feel it is worthwhile because they can do it themselves and not have to rely on finding extra help.

It's a far stretch from these days. I found this picture at a flea market and it was a perfect gift for Mark's birthday a few years ago.

Happy July 4th!

p.s.

Streeter's had the flags.

In the Rockets Red Glare

Our local "2nd of July" Fireworks Show was cancelled last night because of the rain. This morning, I found the bergamot blooming in the garden making its own kind of colorful explosion. I love the weirdness of this bloom and the scent is remarkable.

Vintage Needlework of the Week

It was the Summer of 1971 and I was about 14 years old when I made this needlework patch. My friend Cindy Fisher and I stayed up all night long talking and stitching. Hers was light pink and blue and mine was the Patriotic Red, White and Blue. I sewed it onto a canvas bag. The bag has disappeared but I found this and it took me back.

Perfect patriotic post for this week of Independence Day, isn't it? I guess not too many things have changed in my life - I still like gingham, flowers, and bright colors and I still love to stitch.