Thot I'd drop in and say 'h'!
 

I've been out of the needlework teaching and writing loop for a couple of years and out of the RCTN loop for several more than that. This does not mean I haven't been stitching, generating more UFOs, or participating in SEX, however! (Just last night, a friend upped my quotient of UFOs and SEX toys when she turned over her stash and unfinished projects!)

How lovely to see some of the old guard still posting!

Hope you've been having a great time with your needle and thread!
mb

Thot I'd drop in and say 'h'!
 

On Tue, 6 Feb 2018 14:47:52 -0800 (PST), Martha Beth Lewis
wrote:

I've been out of the needlework teaching and writing loop for a couple of years and out of the RCTN loop for several more than that. This does not mean I haven't been stitching, generating more UFOs, or participating in SEX, however! (Just last night, a friend upped my quotient of UFOs and SEX toys when she turned over her stash and unfinished projects!)

How lovely to see some of the old guard still posting!

Hope you've been having a great time with your needle and thread!
mb

Nice to see you again! There aren't the quantity of posts it's true,
but we still breathe :)

Thot I'd drop in and say 'h'!
 

Wow. I was just thinking about you a few days ago and wondering what you’ve been up to. I know Kathy Dyer has given up on needlework because she’s so busy (she gave me all her Kreinik threads when she traveled to North Dakota a number of years ago). She’s apparently the kind that has to stay very busy, while I’m happy to sit back and enjoy my retirement.

I’ve kind of lost my stitching mojo but hope to get it back. I have too many WIP but might need to start something new, just to get me going again.

Happy to see you back, MB

Arliss

Thot I'd drop in and say 'h'!
 

On Wednesday, February 7, 2018 at 2:04:55 PM UTC-6, Arliss Link wrote:
Wow. I was just thinking about you a few days ago and wondering what you’ve been up to. I know Kathy Dyer has given up on needlework because she’s so busy (she gave me all her Kreinik threads when she traveled to North Dakota a number of years ago). She’s apparently the kind that has to stay very busy, while I’m happy to sit back and enjoy my retirement.

I’ve kind of lost my stitching mojo but hope to get it back. I have too many WIP but might need to start something new, just to get me going again.

Happy to see you back, MB

Arliss

I retired and left California. I have 187 pcs of needlework to hang and have "lost walls" to an open floor plan. (And I also have all of my mother's framed pieces and pillows.)

A well-known nwk shop is about 15 minutes from my new place, so I'm in no danger of being without supplies. Hah! Especially since my mother gave me her ENTIRE stash because she can't see well enough, anymore (she's 96); and a friend gave me all of hers (including her UFOs - as tho I need more of those!). I'm trying to organize my office, which now doubles as a pattern-filing room. As with anyone else, my fabric and thread and goodies stash is distributed in...um...several places.

Right now I'm trying to finish a set of 5 Scots angels. They were designed to be Chr ornaments, but I decided to make them into a sampler so I could enjoy all of them year 'round. Naturally, I made them much more complex than needed, including researching tartan patterns and translating them to a much-smaller scale. That was a challenge!

I'm not teaching at festivals - I'm not sure there even ARE any, anymore! Not writing for magazines, either, but I am contemplating starting that again.

~~

So, Kathy retired?

~~

Arliss, thank you for your welcoming words! Good to hear from you again!
mb

Thot I'd drop in and say 'h'!
 

On Wednesday, February 7, 2018 at 2:04:55 PM UTC-6, Arliss Link wrote:
Wow. I was just thinking about you a few days ago and wondering what you’ve been up to. I know Kathy Dyer has given up on needlework because she’s so busy (she gave me all her Kreinik threads when she traveled to North Dakota a number of years ago). She’s apparently the kind that has to stay very busy, while I’m happy to sit back and enjoy my retirement.

I’ve kind of lost my stitching mojo but hope to get it back. I have too many WIP but might need to start something new, just to get me going again.

Happy to see you back, MB

Arliss

Thot I'd drop in and say 'h'!
 

I've been out of the needlework teaching and writing loop for a couple of years and out of the RCTN loop for several more than that. This does not mean I haven't been stitching, generating more UFOs, or participating in SEX, however! (Just last night, a friend upped my quotient of UFOs and SEX toys when she turned over her stash and unfinished projects!)

How lovely to see some of the old guard still posting!

Hope you've been having a great time with your needle and thread!
mb

Nice to see you again! There aren't the quantity of posts it's true,
but we still breathe :)

What's happened?
mb

Thot I'd drop in and say 'h'!
 

Martha Beth Lewis wrote:

On Wednesday, February 7, 2018 at 2:04:55 PM UTC-6, Arliss
Link wrote:
Wow. I was just thinking about you a few days ago and
wondering what you?ve been up to. I know Kathy Dyer has
given up on needlework because she?s so busy (she gave me
all her Kreinik threads when she traveled to North Dakota
a number of years ago). She?s apparently the kind that
has to stay very busy, while I?m happy to sit back and
enjoy my retirement.

I?ve kind of lost my stitching mojo but hope to get it
back. I have too many WIP but might need to start
something new, just to get me going again.

Happy to see you back, MB

Arliss

I retired and left California. I have 187 pcs of
needlework to hang and have "lost walls" to an open floor
plan. (And I also have all of my mother's framed pieces
and pillows.)

A well-known nwk shop is about 15 minutes from my new
place, so I'm in no danger of being without supplies.
Hah! Especially since my mother gave me her ENTIRE stash
because she can't see well enough, anymore (she's 96); and
a friend gave me all of hers (including her UFOs - as tho
I need more of those!). I'm trying to organize my office,
which now doubles as a pattern-filing room. As with
anyone else, my fabric and thread and goodies stash is
distributed in...um...several places.

Right now I'm trying to finish a set of 5 Scots angels.
They were designed to be Chr ornaments, but I decided to
make them into a sampler so I could enjoy all of them year
'round. Naturally, I made them much more complex than
needed, including researching tartan patterns and
translating them to a much-smaller scale. That was a
challenge!

I'm not teaching at festivals - I'm not sure there even
ARE any, anymore! Not writing for magazines, either, but
I am contemplating starting that again.

~~

So, Kathy retired?

~~

Arliss, thank you for your welcoming words! Good to hear
from you again! mb

I believe that Celebrations in NH is still going on each
spring, but otherwise, I haven't heard of anything similar
to SOCS still active.

I haven't been doing much stitching lately and no designing,
although every once in awhile I feel the urge to complete
"The Gatherings" since I had only published Spring and
Fall back in the day.

Lots of stash, so that's not a problem. I've loaned out
a number of patterns (mostly ML-I) to a friend since she
got the stitching urge again.

More knitting, occasionally a sewing project, most most
of my time is taken up by reading. Love my Kindles! Once
the weather improves, I'll probably be out trying yet again
to outwit the deer and other critters who think my vegetable
garden is an all you can eat buffet.

Nyssa, who also needs to reinstall her design software on
a computer that can actually run it

Thot I'd drop in and say 'h'!
 

I lurk both here and on Facebook. There really isn’t anything wrong with Facebook, and I’ve reconnected with high school and college friends through it.

Thot I'd drop in and say 'h'!
 

We wouldn’t want to be without supplies! I have been ordering from around the country, but mostly from Needle in a Haystack. I was frustrated with the way things were changing at Nordic Needle - and then they went out of business. Well, the bricks and mortar store is closed. I think they had hoped to maintain an online presence, but they don’t seem to be getting in new things, and their emails are all pointing to a complete shutdown. I can’t imagine how Roz and Sue must feel - but they did sell it, so it’s not on them.

There apparently are only very small needlework festivals left, with most being just a weekend or so. Even ANG has dropped its annual seminar from 8 days to 5. Very disappointing. But there are cruises, including river and sea, around the UK and Europe. Very expensive cruises!

Kathy is semi-retired from Livermore Labs. Her acting, dancing, church choir, and volunteering with the Livermore Police Department seem to take up a lot of her time. I haven’t seen her for probably 3 years. She was in ND and Montana while I was enjoying a trip to the UK with my sister, her husband (and 44 others) in 2016.

Thot I'd drop in and say 'h'!
 

On Thu, 08 Feb 2018 13:09:19 -0500, Nyssa
wrote:


More knitting, occasionally a sewing project, most most
of my time is taken up by reading. Love my Kindles! Once
the weather improves, I'll probably be out trying yet again
to outwit the deer and other critters who think my vegetable
garden is an all you can eat buffet.

This sounds terrible but worked very well for me when I lived outside
town and was persecuted by deer in the garden - you need to put some
urine in a spray bottle and go out and spray around where you don't
want them. It really works and I feel it is probably obvious as it
would be like another animal leaving marker scent around. The deer
just find it confusing and decide to plunder elsewhere :)

Nyssa, who also needs to reinstall her design software on
a computer that can actually run it

Thot I'd drop in and say 'h'!
 

On Thu, 8 Feb 2018 11:29:20 -0800 (PST), Arliss Link
wrote:

I lurk both here and on Facebook. There really isn’t anything wrong with Facebook, and I’ve reconnected with high school and college friends through it.

It depends a lot on how private you want to be :( Never be fooled
about all their settings, they don't mean squat. After a precise
lesson by a nerd, I wanted no part of it.

There are other ways to connect, I wanted to write to my friends
sister (my friend died a couple of years ago) and all I knew was her
married name and that she moved to Wales from the Cotswolds. I put
his name into google, and Wales and he immediately showed up at a
school there. I emailed them and fully expect them to do as I ask
and contact her and ask her to get in touch with me. We'll see.

Thot I'd drop in and say 'h'!
 

I also dislike FB. I was not even tempted to join.

I'm not sure what's even on there now. I think in the "olden days" it was where people posted pix of folks and chatted with friends and family. I'm guessing now it's full of ads/etc. and troll-ridden.
mb

Thot I'd drop in and say 'h'!
 

Kathy is semi-retired from Livermore Labs. Her acting, dancing, church choir, and volunteering with the Livermore Police Department seem to take up a lot of her time. I haven’t seen her for probably 3 years. She was in ND and Montana while I was enjoying a trip to the UK with my sister, her husband (and 44 others) in 2016.

I knew she was singing in the Livermore Opera Com; guess she still is - but I didn't know she'd branched out into dancing and acting, too! Go, girl!

She does fabulous needlework. One day she was over stitching with me, and my ex said to me as he was passing by where we were sitting, "Why is her [ML-I] angel facing a different way [from the pattern]?" Guess what? He was looking at the *back* of her work. Sigh.......
mb

Thot I'd drop in and say 'h'!
 

On Thu, 8 Feb 2018 14:54:43 -0800 (PST), Martha Beth Lewis
wrote:

I also dislike FB. I was not even tempted to join.

I'm not sure what's even on there now. I think in the "olden days" it was where people posted pix of folks and chatted with friends and family. I'm guessing now it's full of ads/etc. and troll-ridden.
mb

Plus the 'fake news' - I was amazed the other day when a friend I
would categorize as sensible asked me if it was true Harry and Merkel
were breaking up.. I said I didn't have a line to Buck House, but I
would be quite amazed if it were so as having made their engagement
announcement, it must be a pretty sure thing.

Then suddenly thought to ask her where she saw that, thinking National
Enquirer or something, but it was FB :( I feel Zuckerberg has a lot
to answer for and hope he gets algorithms going before your next
election!

Thot I'd drop in and say 'h'!
 

On 2/8/2018 9:29 AM, wrote:
On Thu, 8 Feb 2018 09:03:54 -0500, Nancy Spera
wrote:

I'm still mostly lurking but not doing much stitching. I keep saying I
should finish the last ornament I started but never get to it. In fact,
the stitching bag is still where I moved it when decorating for Xmas.
Maybe the idea of starting something new would get me back into it.
Until then I have snow and ice to remove from the latest storm.

Nancy

Guess your winter is like ours to some degree. Last evening it
started snowing at 5:30pm, by about 10pm the wind and temperature rose
and the rain poured down, causing plenty of accidents. This a.m.
ground is bare but deceptive, a lot of ice. In 50 years I don't
recall such a changeable winter.

Sounds like you got part of what we had Wednesday.
It's been a seesaw winter. Teens one day, then 40s a few days later.
We had snow then hours of freezing rain, then more snow. I gave up
on the driveway, managed to get most off the steps and then salted.
Then comes another round of snow. Just hoping the snow I left on top
of the ice will give me some traction. Hopefully the warmup this
weekend will help.

Nancy


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Thot I'd drop in and say 'h'!
 

On Thu, 08 Feb 2018 17:04:01 -0400, wrote:

On Thu, 8 Feb 2018 11:29:20 -0800 (PST), Arliss Link
wrote:

I lurk both here and on Facebook. There really isn’t anything wrong with Facebook, and I’ve reconnected with high school and college friends through it.

It depends a lot on how private you want to be :( Never be fooled
about all their settings, they don't mean squat. After a precise
lesson by a nerd, I wanted no part of it.

There are other ways to connect, I wanted to write to my friends
sister (my friend died a couple of years ago) and all I knew was her
married name and that she moved to Wales from the Cotswolds. I put
his name into google, and Wales and he immediately showed up at a
school there. I emailed them and fully expect them to do as I ask
and contact her and ask her to get in touch with me. We'll see.

Answering myself but I just heard from her! Thank google :)

Thot I'd drop in and say 'h'!
 

Your post prompted me to come out of lurking. I remember your articles on knot stitches in Just Cross Stitch mag. being a big help to me at the time.

I am no longer doing cross stitch, having branched into various types of surface stitching. I think doing knots prompted me to get into embroidery with textures.

However it is nice to see an old-fashioned chat group continuing. Discussions about our stitching interest without advertisements, pop up stuff or trolls.

Sad to hear stitching festivals are declining in the USA. In July the New Zealand national embroidery school is happening in my town and we are all looking forward to it. We are expecting about 400 attendees so it will be great fun.