Hello all, hope you are having a nice fall. As seen below by my very belated post- that was drafted and not posted till now..... sorry about that...... you can assess that it has been rather over the top here at JDD. There is only so much that can happen in a day, a week, and a month, before one runs out of time. It has been one of those kind of times here since mid August. Kathy, Wilma, Flo and I worked flat out and still did not feel we caught up or were on track till this past Wednesday. Finally we can all take a breath and for myself, hope that I can enjoy my week at the Cape. But first family time with our Canadian Thanksgiving. We will have a nice group of Douglas' to hang out with and the weather forecast is good, so turkey time here we come. I love Thanksgiving this weekend, the leaves are still on most of the trees and the colours all in their glory, the reds, oranges and yellows against the backdrop of those evergreen trees is amazing. Here in Calgary we may get a big wind and that will be the end of that real quick, so we enjoy it before it blows away. My flowers are all still blooming - I couldn't get rid of them to put mums this year, they were just so nice. Even my begonias in my window baskets look awesome, in October in Calgary! Happy Thanksgiving to those of you celebrating this weekend. I don't know where to begin..... to tell what I have been up to so I will back up to a few things that I know you have been following:
The church kneelers for the Cathedral of the Redeemer downtown Calgary - the ladies are all madly stitching away, I know of one for sure that is done and she sent me a picture- and I had tears upon seeing it, you know I am not a needlepoint designer so this was definitely a challenge to do these kneelers at the high altar - they are not the ones in the rows of benches- I was afraid I had gotten the measurements wrong, but the one I saw was terrific and what a relief to see it. Maybe it was tears of relief, but nevermind it was great to see it work out to what I had envisioned.
The Craftsy class on line - oh that has been fun, meeting stitchers from Brazil, Sweden, USA and such. They are learning and working on the project which is great. They offer so much over at Craftsy that I am humbled to be part of that team!
Being part of The Silver Needle's Circle - Little Help from my Friends group- I have finished designing it and Flo has finished stitching it and now to write instructions and some finishing and photographs and that will also be on it's way!!
Teaching in Buffalo and Cambridge in mid September. It was awesome!!! I loved both weekends, we had such a blast and even though leading up to both the weather was terrific, the days of the classes it poured but we were cozy stitching away in class and learning, sharing and enjoying meeting new stitchers. Thank you ladies for coming and making them both a special treat and memories to treasure. Out of that weekend in Cambridge one of the gals started a Facebook JDD fan page. Funnily enough when Erin Doremus stated to me in Cambridge she was setting up 'Jeannette Douglas is our Common Thread' I got tears in my eyes and I guess Judy Bradford had said I would! Well I guess I lived up to expectation! you are all getting to know me too well<grin> But that same weekend another JDD fan page went up at the same time! - called 'Jeannette Douglas Stitchers' - they are both awesome ladies who started both these groups, hope you enjoy them and hope you contribute to them, because my webpage of stitchers finishes is broken, I am not sure why it is not working right but it is not! much to my disappointment, and when I get some time (haha) I will look into why and reconnect the pictures to links. I think it sometimes happens with updates to the website hosting. And to let you know ladies my little electronic issue (A-Fib for those of you who don't know) it was reset last Thursday in hospital and although it took a few days I am back to my usual self thank goodness. Six weeks of being compromised at my most busiest time was not ideal. Dale picked up alot of slack and has been training that little Ryder and doing a great job, she is not little anymore and is lots of fun.
We have completed the Memorial Sampler for Gina Reyes. When Gina passed last year, Tony, her husband asked if I would design a sampler, I have, and it is stitched and ready to go to the framer. We will do a limited run of this sampler as it is too pretty not to share. I know some of her very good stitching friends are looking for it. It's coming! I am rather an emotional soul and here too I have cried as I designed this piece. It spoke so much of all our lived lives and how we take comfort from friends and family to help us through life's storms, and share joy in good times. Look for that to come.
Now we are working on our piece for the Christmas markets cruise, can you believe it is almost November and we will be departing for Europe and going down the Danube and sipping Gluhwein (mulled wine) and shopping the market squares! I have started a pile of things to take, and bought some boots! I look forward to sharing the fun little sampler of our river travels. Remember your ornaments for exchange and for finishing class with Mona! oh yes and a funky Christmas sweater! haha!
And in a few short days I leave for THE CAPE! I am so thrilled to be going, never been to the Cape so I am looking forward to seeing the ocean and just the whole New England feel. I am excited to show my piece for class...... can't wait. I am thankful that the storm has passed on- that hit the Carolinas so badly last week. I hope they have rocking chairs, I think after this long note I need a rocking chair and some ocean breezes.......
I think that brings you up to date, hope you got a chance to see some of the fall offerings. Along with all that - that went on above, I also did the market hop with fall releases! Thankfully Janice of Traditional Stitches did shipping for me, as I was away. I gave her my box of goodies and she and her team did a great job, Thanks Janice for offering!
Again here's to a lovely Thanksgiving weekend, I have so much to be thankful for.
