This note is so long overdue, I'm embarrassed to say. But as the saying goes life happens.....
To really get at where I am at I must go back to the last post. That post was done the beginning of March. - 5 months later and we are in August. I have never let the blog go that long.... I do believe it is a sign of increased social media time everyday on Facebook and Instagram. I dd do a little interview with Michelle Garrette of bendystitches on You Tube - or rather FlossTube - www.youtube.com/user/michellegarrette this spring- would have been beginning of April and a podcast with Gary L. Parr called Fiber talk. http://wetalkfiber.com/2018/06/10/fiber-talk-with-jeannette-douglas/- I hope you check them both out, fun to do, no time to get nervous.... it was such a busy spring, I just went from thing to thing and couldn't dwell on anything, just do it, enjoy and go on.
Thank you for embracing the Letters from Mom series. It seems more of you feel the same as I do and I am so glad to hear that stitching it as ever is our solace. We are finding a rhythm with the packing of all the threads and patterns that must go on. And that is good. We are used to the blast of packing at Nashville time but the rest of the year is usually a little quieter, with this project I have run out of bags and run out of time for bagging - hence my whole family was coerced into the project but we are finding our way. Check Instagram for photos of people stitching this under the hashtag of #lettersfrommom or #jeannettedouglasdesigns. Some have done the DMC conversion that is in the chart. It looked great too, I was happy to see, as I hadn't seen how those colours panned out.
Many of you have joined both fan groups on Facebook ( just type in the titles and they should come up, request to join) - Jeannette Douglas Stitchers and Jeannette Douglas is our Common Thread - thank you to you and to the girls who admin these groups, it is greatly appreciated. Please do check them out, it is fun to see peoples progress and we would love to see your progress. It is also a great spot to check on a stitch if you need.
In Portland for the Acorns and Threads event
Blossoms in spring in Oregon
My events this spring were back to back with very little time in between to do all that needs to be done. I have spent much of the summer trying to play catch up.
Firstly to Acorns and Threads in the beginning of April, the sun was shining and the trees and flowers were blooming, it was lovely after the super long winter here. It was good for my soul. We had a wonderful event with My Stitching Box being the piece - made me very happy everyone loved it.... and quite a few have finished or are close. Then it was fun to be on Michelle Garrette's floss tube channel and talk there. Thanks Michelle for making it fun! As ever Jeannine the owner of Acorns and Threads and I had some great laughs! It was also great to see Liz from Stitchy Box https://www.stitchybox.com/ who has taken charge of The Gifting Basket series that I designed for her. Please check them out, they are sweet little stitches with a meaningful saying that you can gift to someone when they are in need. I imagined stitchers having stitched a few and having them sit by your desk and even just remind us to be mindful and grateful always.
Stitchville USA
Secondly, I was home but 2 days and I flew off to Minneapolis to Stitchville USA in Minnetonka and if you have always wanted to go to a shop and be overwhelmed, this would be it. It is amazing! Just can't think that they wouldn't have what you might want! So neat to see! The class was wonderful, Debbie always does such a good retreat, our only negative was that it snowed miserably on the Saturday- it came down all day -18" or something and that meant a Sunday 7 hour wait at the airport for me to get home. Guess what, I stitched! It does pass the time nicely, I must say.
Boston
Thirdly, I think I had 10 days to get all my boxes packed for the Celebration of Needlework show in Nashua, NH. I also had 2 classes there, so it was getting those things ready so I could have a booth and have stuff for teaching. I think Canada Post may have really liked me these past months! Again if you ever get the chance to do Celebration of Needlework put on by Pam Reed of Olde Colonial Designs, please do, it is a great event. So much work goes into making it a place where you can learn some new stitching techniques and a place to go shopping with many varying vendors. It was great to visit with Pam from Olde Colonial and Linda Stolz from Erica Michaels, her 'berries' are amazing! Post doing the show, Dale and I go to spend a few days in Boston, we walked everywhere and what a delight- a new historical item on every corner, I loved it, and Dale loved it because he got to see the Boston Gardens- we did a tour - he is a big Boston Bruins fan.
Amish Country Ohio
We left Boston and in Toronto my sister came to pick me up and Dale went on to Calgary. I spent some days with family in the Niagara area and with my childhood dear friends went to Amish country in Ohio. Well, I should have bought a second suitcase, oh my gosh, so much to see and the shopping.....!!! so very fun. I then went on to Atlanta Georgia to the 2 Georgia Guilds and did a weekend event there. What a great group of ladies, they were wonderful stitchers and we just had the best discussions on stitching. The time went so very quickly. Thanks to my host Linda Telling for great hospitality and calmness when the whole suitcase issue could have dissolved into worse.
By the time I got home, Wilma and Kathy had lots done for our shipments of the first 3 monthly letter charts in the Letters from Mom Series- but so much more to do, so we all buckled down and got that ready so we could spend the next week shipping it all out!
And so that brings us to June already...... can you believe how fast it goes. After a year of planning my cousin and her husband came from Holland to spend 8 days with us, what a great visit- I was so happy to be able to entertain her as she always has me either before or after when I am in Holland teaching. I totally enjoyed seeing my own part of the country here and realized the mountains truly are magnificent. And I do hope that you take the chance to come and see them next fall for the JDD 20th Anniversary Celebration. Check events page for dates. We have 3 days in Calgary planned and then on to Vancouver to catch a ship and sail down to Los Angles. Check with Judy of Cambridge Cruise ship centers for availability. Judy Bradford <jbradford@cruiseshipcenters.com>
Beautiful Lake Louise
Then July was teaching in Charlottetown, PEI for EAC Seminar. It was fantastic. I enjoyed it very much. I had a 4 day slot to teach -Learning Stitches and we used every minute, I had a booklet made, which turned out good, and did a power point to help visualize the stitches better. It was a very warm week and at times I thought I might expire! but it went very well. Unfortunately I must tell you my first ablation went on the fritz on May 1 - so all this busyiness was now being done with my being quite compromised. But I do have a new date for the second one -Sept 14 - and I hope that this one will hold! Because I felt so great with those 5 months free of A fib.
August and it is time to gear up to ship the next set of Letters form Mom- monthly Letters- December January, February. I also have some new releases in the Patterned Pretties series- some Christmas pin pillows.I working on finishing the last one of 3 pillows.
Make sure you scroll through the several photos here of PEI and Nova Scotia. The photo on the header is Peggy's Cover Harbour