More on A Work'd Pocketbook ...

Judging from comments left both on this blog and on the With My Needle Facebook page, many of you are in awe of Yuka’s beautiful work, particularly the 7000 plus queen stitches on A Work’d Pocketbook.

Zeena, who I affectionately call, “my lady of quotes”, often sends me wonderful verses and quotes for my newsletter, With My Needle and Pen. The other day she sent me this quote from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow which seems so perfect to use now: Perseverance is a great element of success. One really does need to persevere in order to do all the queen stitches necessary on A Work’d Pocketbook…but ah, the happiness of success! What an accomplishment!

I thought you might enjoy seeing photos of the antique pocketbook that inspired my project. The only personalization is the two initials cross stitched on the lining. Who was "M E"? Don't you want to know? I know I do.

Yuka from Japan shares photos of her work!

How exciting it was to receive a lovely note and photos of two projects from Yuka who lives in Nagasaki, Japan!

Yuka wrote, I enjoy stitching, and I love your designs. I was able to finish my favorite two. On these two projects, I learned different ways to finish cases, and I had a lot of fun making them.

The first photos are of Yuka’s Maidens of the Sea. The photos clearly show the beautiful job she did with stitching this case and scissors weight and also with the assembly. Also notice the beautiful piece of whitework on which she has placed her pieces.

I was VERY excited to get Yuka’s photos of her A Work’d Pocketbook!! WOW!! Isn’t it incredible? Her queen stitches are beautifully executed, and look at her finishing!! Exquisite!!

Yuka wrote, I love the color combination on this project. The queen stitches took a long time, but I had great joy when I finished.

The pocketbook has over 7000 queen stitches! (Yes, you read that number correctly---it is not a typo.) Because of all the work involved to make this project, I have nicknamed it Not for the Faint of Heart. I think you can now understand why.

My model for this project was based on a pocketbook I found at an antique show. I was particularly excited because the antique is in such wonderful condition. Even the original ribbon closure is still attached! Often the ribbon is partially or totally missing. My version is an adaptation of the antique--it is the same size and with the same ribbon closure as the original . I changed the thread colors, but I used a bright silk lining similar to what is on my antique. I also added an area on the inside for personalizing the pocketbook.

Yuka also wrote, I love both works. Stitch stores are very limited in Japan, so I purchase your charts and materials from an online store in the United States. I will stitch other designs, and I look forward to your new charts.

Yuka, thank you very much for sharing these photos of your beautiful work!! You can certainly be very proud of your accomplishments!!

Visiting Needle Craft World in Kissimmee

I often visit needlework shops when traveling. On our recent trip to Florida to visit family, I went to Needle Craft World in Kissimmee. It is very near Disney World and attracts customers from all over the world. A map on the wall is marked with pins indicating the locations of the shop's customers--it's an impressive showing.

Needlecraft World has been in business for over 30 years, and Cathy is the third owner. She has been the owner for four years. Cathy is a very enthusiastic person and is constantly encouraging her stitchers to try new things. Her enthusiasm must be contagious to those who visit her shop.

One thing Cathy does is hold contests. When I was there, I saw a tree with some darling scissors fobs that her customers had made. They were so different, not only with the stitching but also with the finishing ideas. Cathy also tries to get the stitchers to make sure that they put their full names and the year on each project; this serves as documentation for future generations.

Although the shop is small, Cathy has packed lots of goodies in it. She can also always order things for you.

Here are a few photos from the shop. The first one is of Cathy with Duncan. In the background you can see some of the variety of charts she carries.These lovely teacups are in the front window of the shop. Of course, they immediately attracted my eye. Cathy says that someday they will be made into teacup pincushions.If you are ever in the Kissimmee/Disney World area, check out Cathy and Needle Craft World at 4151 W Vine Street. You won’t be disappointed. The shop phone number is 407-933-5955. You might even want to call ahead and find out when her monthly stitch-ins are. It would be fun to attend one. (I had just missed one the night before.)

The last photo is of the swans in Lake Eola which is only a block or two from where my father lives. There was an art festival going on there over the weekend so we walked around it. However, we got less than half way around when our daughter phoned to say that she, Greg, and Haiden had arrived. You can probably guess that we hurriedly headed back to see them. (Tom walked so fast that I couldn’t keep up with him!)

Celebrating my father's birthday

Over this past weekend we celebrated my father's 88th birthday in Orlando where I grew up. It was a wonderful family gathering!

I am the oldest of three children. My sister, Evelyn, is 16 months younger, and my brother, Frank, is almost 4 years younger than I am. However, there’s a 22-year age span between the oldest grandchild, my daughter Carolyn, who is 35, and the youngest, my brother Frank's daughter Libby, who is 13. Perhaps you can imagine the logistics of getting together the seven grandchildren (who live in 6 different states) with the older ones' work schedules and my brother's two oldest in college and his youngest in middle school.

Here is a photo of the seven grandchildren with Daddy. (My two are the second and third from the right. Carolyn, although the oldest, is the smallest as you can see, and Stephen is definitely the tallest by quite a bit.)There were 18 of us altogether from seven different states (Florida, Indiana, Illinois, New York, Delaware, Ohio, and Massachusetts). We are so grateful to everyone for arranging work and school schedules and vacations in order to attend. It had been nearly 4 years since we were all together.

On Sunday everyone scattered again. Tom and I and our children and their families went to Jacksonville to visit his parents. Boy did Haiden have fun running around in their back yard!
And then on Monday, Haiden and our daughter and son-in-law flew home to Chicago. (They had a very short visit!)

After they left, we asked Stephen, our son, and Michelle, our daughter-in-law, what they would like to do. Michelle suggested a ride to the beach. Here is a photo of them there--it was quite windy as you can tell from Michelle's hair, and the large waves and gloomy sky were due Hurricane Ida several hundred miles away.
It certainly was nice being together, but the time went by all too quickly!!

Donna has been busy--again!!

Donna G., who lives in Berkeley, California, has been doing needlework since she was 8 years old. She told me that if you can do something with a needle and thread, she has probably tried it at some time.

Recently Donna finished and assembled my series of Quaker Christmas ornaments from the Just Cross Stitch ornament issues. She stitched her pieces with DMC 902 on a creme linen. She added a tassel to the scissor weight and a swan on the back of the pocket.

view of the fronts

view of the backs

You may remember seeing some of Donna's lovely work in earlier blog posts. Just type her name in the search box on the top left corner of the blog to see other examples of her beautiful work. As you can she, she is extremely prolific as well as talented. Thanks, Donna, for sharing these photos.