Hi everyone,

The hardware store is no longer the domain of the home handy man, move over boys the stitching girls have claimed them as stitching accessory havens.

It all started with a set of clamps for attaching stretcher bars to a table top and has grown from there. Many of the stitchers at the Guild have clamps, pliers, baby hammers, staple guns, storage boxes, trolleys with wheels and fastening nic nacs of all shapes and sizes. So now when DH says he is off to the hardware store I chime in “Okay when are we going”. This is usually followed by a very heavy sigh... his domain has been infiltrated.

 Hardware store shopping was always been for me, up until now, 5 minutes shopping and 25 minutes waiting in the car for DH but now it is a contest of who will leave the shop first. Every aisle has something interesting. Why was this not known earlier? Were the handy men of the world conspiring to keep these places a secret? We will never know. But next time you run out of stitching shops to visit and want something different try your local hardware store, you’re mind with be whirling with ideas of what the object in aisle 3 (insert any aisle number here) could be used for in the stitchy sense.

On the stitching front, not much on Looking Glass.
 I have been asked about this design and how difficult it is to stitch. I will admit this one is not a design for your first counted canvas piece. It is an Intermediate project which requires a lot of counting and checking. Having said that it is a great learning piece which by the end you will have increased your knowlege of many of Jean Hilton's stitches. My advice is not to rush this project and do practice stitching of the motifs on a scrap of spare canvas first  before stitching onto the main project and you will be pleased with the results. As with most projects if there is a stitch you do not like doing just remove it and replace it with one you do like. Hope this helps.

Here is a new start which I am stitching between working on 35count linen (new chart project).

Emerald, by Needle Delights Originals

This is the original colours, all greens and a just adore green so I didn’t change any of the colours. This stitches up quickly and I can stitch on this one at night it is a nice change from the fine linen which is best stitched in daylight.

I see that a lot of snow has already fallen in many parts of the USA. Keep safe and warm and I wish you don’t have too many power outages.

Happy stitching, bye for now, Carol