Only 33 More Unpacking Days Until Halloween!

Normally, my Halloween stuff would have been up and on display for a month now-- right after Labor Day, my Patriotic stuff is put away and Fall and Halloween is taken out for display all the way to Thanksgiving weekend.  This year, I'm running pretty late, my stuff is still in boxes!  I don't know what to do in this new space yet, plus I got rid of a lot of the shelving and tables I used to display my colletion.  To get inspired, I started to look at my photos from Halloweens past:

This is a display from a couple years back featuring three of my favorite Halloween cross stitch designs that I've stitched.  The designers from left to right are Prairie Schooler, Shepherd's Bush and Hillside Samplings.

My favorite Halloween Tree, this one is made from black Maribou feathers and holds all my glass ornaments:

This is a display from last year where I tried to include all of my small Halloween cross stitch and needlepoint ornaments, as well as most of my own EyeCandy treat bags:

The painting above is by Lloyd Garrison, he paints lots of great seasonal designs.  This is one of three Halloween paintings I have by him.

And here are closer shots of the treat bags, this one is "Frankie":

And this is "Witchie".  I could not have been more thrilled with the finishing on both of these!

My set of 6 vintage-styled candy pails:

And finally, "Candy Cornucopia" finished as a very glam Halloween handbag!

Hope this has gotten you in the mood for Halloween as well-- hope I'll be back soon with pictures of this year's display!  Happy Haunting (& Stitching!) 

A Little Light Reading

I only wish I was doing some light reading! What I've been up to is more like heavy lifting!  Unpacking and shelving books is hard, sweaty work.  Stopping to read a little is simply not an option at this point-- the month is 2/3 over and I am still less than half unpacked.  At first, I was taking my time, putting things away pretty thoughtfully.  Now, it's just get these &^%$ boxes unpacked already and organize it all later!  That's why these books look so terrible right now.  Although they were packed in some order, unpacking has resulted in a lot of disarray, plus I have books set on their sides, which I can't stand but I'm not taking time to re-set the selves right now.  And all those magazines actually are supposed to be somewhere else but again, I'm not spending the extra time and energy to relocate them just now.  The main thing is getting rid of all these cardboard boxes that are trying to take over the house!

That being said, I am really looking forward to some relaxing book time-- there are a lot of books I've nearly forgotten I had.  It will be fun to rediscover them again.

Almost done, glad I've got a little room left!  And from now on, it's e-books and e-mags for me! 

And yes, these are ALL needlework books and magazines!  Anyone want to volunteer to scan all these to my iPad?  Pretty please?  Just kidding, I'd really hate to part with these, I love books and the electronic versions are just not the same.  Moving them all really stinks though!  Until next time, Happy Stitching to you all, I'll get back to unpacking now... ;)

Movers and Shakers

There has been both moving and shaking going on around here at EyeCandy Needleart!  Here is a picture of the movers and shakers in question:

Actually, this is just one of the movers, here at my new location and home in Houston, Texas!  Yep, hubby and I made the move at the end of August and our stuff arrived here September 1st.  The shakers I refer to were at the beginning of the move, up in my former home of Rhode Island.  I'm calling them that because they certainly shook the living daylights out of my bead collection!  Here's a picture of one of the several piles of loose beads I now have:

I got a preview of what was going to have to deal with in Texas when I discovered a trail of beads on the driveway as we were leaving our old house in RI!  I have yet to even start trying to sort this out-- I still have boxes to unpack! 

Here is a picture of what my new "headquarters" looks like, before the move-in:

Current conditions are piles of boxes and tons of mixed up beads under clear blue skies! :)  I am very much looking forward to getting this room all set up and ready for painting.  The weather greatly affects my mood, so this room is perfect for me.  Rainy day?  No problem-- it's always going to be a sunny day here, especially after I find that perfect shade of yellow to paint the walls! 

I hope to be able to share some progress photos soon, until then, Happy Stitching!

September's Trunk Shows

It's a big month for EyeCandy and Ruth Schmuff as we have trunk shows on their way to two great shops, Peacock Alley, located on Ada Drive in Ada, Michigan (a needlepoint shop on a street and city that shares my name? I love it!) and Needlepoint This! in Dallas, Texas.  

Peacock Alley (be sure to check them out on Facebook too) does some fantastic window and table displays in their shop.  One of my kitties and one of Ruth's ladies appeared in the window last December:

My owls are a great part of this Halloween display:

They are happy to mail order anything, give them a call toll-free at 877-550-9898 or contact them via email peacockalleynp@sbcglobal.net.

Needlepoint This is a fun store that also offers great finishing services and LOTS of threads:

They are on Facebook too and you can call them at 214-363-6377.  Of course, if you are in the vicinity of either of these great shops, be sure to stop by between September 14th and October 1st to see all our canvases and stitched models in person!

Happy Stitching (& Shopping)!

Happy Labor Day!

Happy Labor Day all!  Hope it's happy and safe and you that find lots of stitching time!

Stars N' Stripes, stitched by Judith Furie: