Mrs. Santa Has Heart

Judy Harper asked me to design a piece to help promote Heart Research ...the # one killer of woman....I came up with this little Mrs. Santa holding a very healthy pink heart...
Judy featured her in her article in NNow magazine ,Possibilities and on her blog...she has been shown on my web-pages....and no response from shops ...not one...
Yesterday, a wonderful lady called Shirley Sherrod, in NM found me via Judy's blog and inquired about her.....She has purchased one and this morning I made my first donation to the Heart Association for 14.00 via electronic check...30% of the profit from selling Mrs. Santa..this is all do to the generosity of this lovely woman ...and I am so happy and proud to do a little to help ....
I have decided to sell her myself and donate directly...
and will post the name of each lady that buys her in a slide show at the bottom of this blog along with Mrs. Santa's picture......also every canvas will come with a print out from the American Heart Association documenting the donation....
so ladies if you want to help women everywhere and future generations fight heart disease...Mrs. Santa says she has a way of giving in a very heart felt way...and at the same time making you smile and happy stitching
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxo
SQUIGGEE

Deep in Thought...

Sometimes I am amazed at the time my little Squiggee just sits in one spot and seems to stare off in space....you can almost see the wheels within that very cute , very square head turning...

Of all our dogs to date , Squiggee is the most like , my husband and I...I have a tendency to get that look and stare off into space , and have a think...I like Squiggee-Buns , tune everyone and everything out...my mother would comment, oh you are back now...nice trip!....I just wonder what Squiggee is thinking...I would love to be able to tap into her thoughts...she always has such deep look...

Sometimes she will stand in front of me, look me directly in the eye and just stare...trying to tell me something , that I know is amazing....

Our dogs are part of the family and are included in conversations...that is to say......we talk and they listen.....they love people , and have a strong need for personal...dog to human physical contact...

I'm sure this behavior is somewhat a bi-product of they way we have raised them...... with great love and affection.....But , Miss Squiggee I find is unique...a thinker...I just wish I knew what she was thinking....

omg...I wonder if she is thinking of firing me and getting a new artist...yikes!

now where are those special dog treats...!!!!!

Custom Ornaments...something for everyone!!!!

Being A Painter Isn't Always A Walk In The Park!

One part of my working life as a needlepoint designer and painter, is custom work. You approach it just as you would any other project. You get an order sheet from the shop with dimensions , pictures or reference materials supplied by the customer , the approximate size, stitch canvas the customer wants , and finally , depending on the customer, an estimate of cost. Sometimes , if there is no estimate needed , I just give the order a glance, and make sure I have all that the order sheet says I should.

Well , I got an order for a belt , which is nothing unusual, and the customer wanted eight beer labels on the belt, and had included a zip bag with coasters displaying the logos. All seemed in order and I had the proper measurements, the logos and she didn't require an estimate. So I filed it in my book and didn't give it a second thought. I have painted thousands of belts over my 35 year career...candy wrappers, wine labels, and everything in the world, that seems somehow to end up on a belt.

But here is the rub, and entirely my fault..I did not notice, the one big difference in this order...

13st.

Now to the average person , that means nothing.....but most ,if not all belts, unless the belt is very simple and designed specifically to be painted on 13st...all belts are painted on 18st...and for most things that are requested on belts...the 27 stitches you have to work with on 18st. and the 17 stitches you have to work with on 13st...that 10 st. difference is a big deal.....It is hard enough to get a beer label that looks remotely like anything on 18st....13st. is not fun.......

Yes I paint on the stitch and am very precise, but even I have my limits.... a belt has to fit into the loops , so you have no wiggle room..... you are locked into a 1.25" height and you can't change it.....

So , of course like most orders, you only find that you have missed something crucial, when you sit down to the drawing table and get ready to start, at this point in time, I most likely have given the shop a delivery time....boo hoo

so sorry for me...you just have to suck it up...(a technical term)..........and get on with it...you allowed to whine a little and feel sorry for yourself...but no one is listening , so what is the point...

Your only saving grace is, like all belts, you are creating an illusion....of course you can't paint a family crest , even with the 27 stitches, a belt on 18st. allows...... "that is like painting, Michelangelo's Christine Chapel Mural , on the head of a pin"..( one of my favorite studio expressions , when I am attempting to be cleaver !!..............well the dogs love it !)

So I do what I always do, I created a feeling , taking just enough from the labels, to give the illusion.... fitting what I could it into a tight spot...

So I thought I would show, the beer coasters and then the belt......your eye tells your brain , of course that is the label...but it is only an illusion , a small bit to give you the sense of the label...

and believe me ...every stitch counted...lol......martini glasses would have been so much easier...

A Set of Chair Seats

It is a Small World

Who says Squiggee is not on the cutting edge of what is happening NOW.....The publisher of this up coming book googled the title of this new children's book and up popped my little Santa....now how cute is that...I can't take all the credit for my little Santa...yes the design and idea was mine , always ...but when I showed it to my husband..he took one look ..and said" Santa Goes Green"....lol...so he had his name...my husband also found me the picture of the windmill...he sometimes helps with research...he is a big plus here in Squiggeeland....and considering how much time ,he waits for me, when business takes me away ...I am very lucky...xoxoxoxo DUDE...

Now back to my main thought...I thought it was so nice that the publisher sent me a promo copy of the book, he emailed it for me to take a look...he seemed just as tickled as I was, that we had the same name for our PC Santa.....no matter how unique you think you are...you are connected to the human race...the world is small...and there is someone out there that thinks like you...I love it...

Squiggee is Putting On The Glitz

Here in Squiggeeland we always have an abundance of pretty pearls and beads...Someone , that shall remain nameless, can't resist anything that shines or has a luster to it...just like a crow!

So we thought we would put some of our huge stash to work...This is our first in a new Squiggee series...called..Putting On The Glitz...( translation: using some of Squiggee's stash to justify buying more stash...lol)...This design alone has...15 pearls and 22 beads .........simply glitzie

Squiggee's ANG chapter Lake Houston

OK ..we all know how important needlepoint is to the hardliners....When i joined the

ANG, I had to pick a chapter to join...so Squiggee here in rural PA, joined the Lake Houston Chapter in Texas...they are a really great group of women.....some have supported Squiggee from the beginning, and have become friends...Melinda burr, Mary Katherine lobel, Cynthia Thomas, Kim Genrich...just to name a few....The morning before Ike was to hit ,I heard from Kim,she had bid on two of my canvases on ebay, and was concerned that if Ike took the power down, she couldn't get in touch...now that is a needlepoint junkie...worried about needlepoint...it was sweet and funny at the same time...i get it , how important needlepoint is to these girls, they are a needlepoint family , the Lake Houston Group....but ladies, a hurricane.... is a hurricane..can blow your shorts off...needlepoint ...well ....is just that needlepoint...lol...i know , i know...needlepoint is their life's blood...I'M just like the dealer on the street corner.....lol

great for Squiggee ....

Hope all the girls are safe , I know that They all took their needlepoint with them ......I seem to remember Melinda, telling me ,she dragged all her needlepoint to the car last big storm and beat it out of town...

Squiggee sends xoxoxoxoxox

Finished Gingerbread House

OK.....recently I have been getting tons of emails about my little gingerbread houses...how they are finished.....the above pictures give you an idea...not being a finisher , I have no idea of what is inside...but this gives you an idea of what the little houses look like finished...

This is one of my first designs and the sample was worked by the great stitcher Cynthia Thomas, and finished by a Dallas TX company called S&S Finishers.....This design and the first batch are sold in the wholesale line called the POIADesigns......and are available in shops...where and who has them , you got me..that isn't my side of the business...the wholesaler takes care of that...

but they are under my name and Squiggee....and can be seen on

http://www.thepointofitalldesigns.com

they are only sold to the trade ..... you can ask your local shop.....anyway....I hope this gives you an idea of what they look like finished....this is my attempt at a public service message...lol..or as close as I can get to being organized...

Finished pillow

This was a custom chair seat originally, when the customer changed her mind and wanted
a medallion in the center with a similar design....so not to be wasteful....the shop sold this canvas and it was made into a very pretty pillow......I especially like the tassels...nice finishing touch...
classic, without going overboard...sometimes finishers get carried away ,and do too much....I myself, like the light touch in finishing...

More New Squiggee

Jane of Chilly Hallow sent me an email that made me laugh...she said..."Squiggee moves faster than a dog after a cookie"...lol...that really tickles me...I take a breath from my custom work and do new Squiggee...it is fun and renews me to go back to the custom work...like a housewife shopping or a health nut, taking a jog in between meetings, to blow off steam...artists are a strange breed...lol...I should know...you can't get stranger than me...ask anyone...lol...that is anyone normal...that leaves out ,all my friends ,my dogs and husband...yikesssss..... we are all nuts here in Squiggeeland

New Squiggee

This is my newest shaped gingerbread house just in time for Halloween.....
I have been saving the little brass rat charms for months just for this little house...
this little house is on 18st and when finished 1.5 " cube x 3" high....Squiggee has a passion for anything gingerbread...

Your Life on a Canvas

This is a large composite on 13st. 22 x 36".........a birthday gift for a mother from her children...
celebrating all her hobbies, family , working and passions......what a great gift...and a family heirloom in the making...

Finished Chair Seats

These abstract chair seat backs I designed, all worked and on the chairs.......I do enjoy seeing the finished project...

Squiggee Low Fat Gingerbread Cookies...lol

Squiggee Loves Halloween