Bet you all thought I forgot I even had a blog. Remember me saying waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back when how bad I was at this. Apparently I've gotten worse. [sigh] But I am here, at least for now, so "Hi, everyone. Sorry for being such a poor blogger." Seems when I meet people I never shut up. Too bad I can't incorporate that into my blog.

At ANG Seminar in Anaheim in August I had several people ask me about my vortex I was stitching. You know, the turquoise/blue/aqua one. I actually finished it in May of 2012. I just never got the photo posted. So here it is. For your viewing enjoyment.

Creation Day Two
The original design was created with my iPhone using an app called Artisan.

This was stitched in counted cross stitch with single strands of DMC floss on 24-count white congress cloth over 1 thread.
For those of you pedantic about statistics, there are 86,400 cross stitches in this piece, unless I missed one or two.

There were 36 pages of chart. I had to use colored blocks with black symbols to tell where I was. I used a marked and crossed off stitches as I did them. I may preserve that marked-up battered chart for posterity as a testament to my inherent insanity.

It took me approximately 1 year of strictly spare-time stitching, and I was told more than once that I was crazy.

A larger view can be seen on my web site in the Art Gallery http://www.lkreinmiller.com/gallery.html

The next design is called Creation Day One,, also created on my iPhone. It is all kitted and ready. If I ever get any more spare-time.

Maybe I can keep up better with the blog this year. Last year just seemed to - ZAP - be gone!! Fingers crossed!!! Read more!

Using my iPad for stitching

Can't believe it's been five months since I posted. Or maybe I can. Playing catch up is for the birds. Some days I wonder if I will ever catch up from being sick this summer. [sigh]

I have fun news. My dear sweetie got me an iPad for Christmas. A total surprise. We weren't supposed to get each other anything this year, but he cheated and got me some Barnes and Noble gift cards. And I cheated, because I knew he would, and got him some DVDs and smoked almonds. Then the Thursday after Christmas he said he had to go to the Apple Store to get himself a docking station so he could watch his music videos from his iPhone on the TV. So we went. I played with the iPads, as usual. When I went to the back of the store where he was talking to a sales person I saw him opening an iPad box. "What are you doing?" I asked. The sales person said, "He just wanted to see what the engraving on the back looks like, so I'm showing him one." I thought, how nice of him. Then Bill showed me the engraving and said, "I think that's a nice size, don't you?" It was my name and an endearment from him. I cried. Everyone in the store went, "Awe, that's so sweet." Then I got embarrassed. That sales person was really sneaky.

I wanted it for totally fun reasons - reading books, watching movies, as a sketch pad, as a way to take notes at meetings where I didn't want to haul my laptop. But I'm working on more ways to use it in my business. Recently I started putting stitching instructions on it in PDF files. And I just discovered a great way to view it easily while stitching. I have a floor lamp with a magnifier and a clamp on it. The iPad fits perfectly in the clamp and just sits right there so I can see it easily. Perfecto!!!!!!

And I am ending the post with bad news - well, sad news anyway. ANG has postponed the art exhibit planned for Philadelphia because they didn't get enough entries. They hope to have it in Chicago in 2014. I suppose it will give them more time to make arrangements with both a museum/gallery and stitchers. I sure hope a lot of people step up to the plate and plan to enter the exhibit. It is going to be the only way we get original needlework into the art arena where it should be. Read more!

Exhibit Opportunity

Just a quick post. As part of ANG's 40th Anniversary Celebration in Philadelphia next year, they will be mounting an exhibit at the Philadelphia Art Alliance. http://philartalliance.org/ The exhibit will be about contemporary needlepoint samplers and will hang the entire month of August. And they asked me to exhibit Walk on the Wild Side.

To say I'm thrilled beyond belief is a big understatement!!! My goal as a needle artist is to push hand needlework kicking and screaming into the field of fine art. This is the first chance I've had to take on that role.

I can't wait to see what all is exhibited!!!! Read more!