Long haired boys….

Raised three of them. And these gals are probably where I get most of my inspiration. My girls were never much for wearing dresses or fancy hair-bows. More along the lines of cowboy boots and bandana bikinis. They can change a flat tire on their pickup truck, back up a trailer into a cow chute and fish and hunt game with the best of them. They have often lamented that this has made them intimidating to boyfriends, but personally I fail to see that as a problem. As my husband, the Red Head says “makes ’em easier to sell come weaning time”.

The oldest long haired boy was often the ring leader of their adventurous undertakings. Meggie is the mom of two (and eight/ninths) of my grand children, wife to Dutch and gainfully employed in the crazy world of commercial real estate. She’s busy and successful, recently voted 40 under 40 for the city of Fort Worth, making me very proud. But in her younger days she was the class clown, the one that always that “great idea” that got everyone in trouble, but also the staff of stability in our family.

When she was about 12, Harper was 10 and Sarah was 4 they all decided to go dewberry picking in the back pasture. Well not only do bubbly little blondes love dewberries, so do rattlesnakes. Well needless to say ever the two shall meet. They were picking away when Meggie heard that undeniable rattle. Luckily, Harper had just learned in school that snakes do not have eyelids, so she “blinded” the snake with sand while Meggie beat it with a stick. They kept Sarah the four year old far enough away during all this, to be safe (yeah right). They proudly brought this snake home and Dad had it made into a belt for Mom. My stomach can still go into knots every time I see this picture 9really, I can’t make this stuff up). This, of course was not the only snake that met its demise from these three, and one is proudly enshrouded as the piping for Meggie’s Christmas stocking.

Of course, none of my girls picked a very “girly” Christmas stocking. Meggie’s Western Santa from Liz Goodrick Dillon, is no exception.

Filled with Texas themes, this cowboy Santa walks thru the night among the prickly pear cactus. I used a lot of overdyed threads in this canvas, both for the sky and the ground. The coat is Very Velvet with lots of couching and beading on the trim. My proverbial nemesis, the armadillo along with his buddy a jack rabbit, anchor the toe.

But the true highlight of the stocking and the element that makes it truly unique is the rattlesnake piping…yes one that met it’s demise by my oldest.

As noted, Meggie is almost 9 months pregnant. She and Dutch elected not to find out what this baby is going to be. Most needle-pointers will agree that this is not a great option when you need to timely finish another Christmas stocking. This will be my 22nd stocking and 19th Liz Goodrick Dillon stocking, so it was important that it fit this little person perfectly. To settle this dilemma, her doctor sent me a letter about 4 or 5 months ago with the sex of the baby. So now just the Redhead and I know what this baby will be. I am working diligently on the next stocking and pictures of both baby and stocking to come…….

Until then please feel free to call us 361.572.0088 or get online www.pasttimesneedlepoint.com or “Click Here” to order the stocking and stitch guide for Western Santa!

Princesses, Bows and Boots

I am blessed with two Princesses. My granddaughters are eleven and 2 years. Therefore, I know the names of all the Disney princesses and mermaids, names of fairy horses, which princess uses a magic wand and who got to kiss Prince Charming. Since I have three daughters, I had a head start on this, but it became far more important knowledge in the future generation. Barbie and Hello Kitty to come.

MaryAnn is my first grand child, my name sake and the keeper of a large chunk of my heart. Spit and vinegar sprinkled with powdered sugar, she will keep her mother very busy for many years to come (pay backs are hell).

MaryAnn was was due to make her appearance in early February 2005. In the hospital that she was born, every time a baby is delivered they would play a snippet of Brahms lullaby. It is uncanny how a grandmother can know exactly when its their grandbaby’s song. Sitting and stitching in the waiting room, I knew instantly. I jumped and ran through the door and there stood her dad holding a pink blanket full of wiggling pink baby. Life has never been the same.

Well Granddaughters and princesses both grow up. MaryAnn has turned into a regular pre teenager and happily for me she loves being a cowgirl and so, my second granddaughter, DJ will have to take over the princess duties.

Prior to her birthday I can remember vividly being at the January market in San Diego walking up to the Liz Goodrick Dillon booth and first seeing the canvas that would become her stocking. Ya know that feeling when you see something and it just has to come home with you…..

It was the perfect one. I had the background down right away. I really believe that horizontal brick stitch is a great sleeper stitch. It is great at showing movement. Here it was done in a Caron Collection overdyed silk. The scattering of snow flakes are various bullion knots mainly in Rainbow Gallery Artic Rays. The dress was done in Flair in a stem stitch.

Since all my daughters are blondes I was fairly sure I was getting a blonde princess, thus the Snow Fairy had to have amazing blonde hair. This hair is 2 strands of Splendor in very tightly stitched stem stitches, dusted with pearl beads.

The wings are a combinations of fly stitch and stem stitches in Impressions. Sprinkle a few snowflakes from Mill Hill and voila! The whole stocking only took about 5 different stitches!

So if there is a princess in your life we at Past Times would love to make this Liz Snow Fairy her stocking! Please click here or call us at 361.572.0088 and we will get it to you!!

I wasn’t Born in Texas……

But I got here as quick as I could, as the bumper sticker says. You just don’t move to Texas, it moves into you (probably another bumper sticker). I was born in North Jersey and moved to Texas in the early 70’s, so by now I think that makes me native. Ranch, check, cows, check, drive a pickup…. you got the idea….. Life has handed me some twists and turns of late and my writing/needlepoint inspiration had abandoned me. But yesterday, I was struck when my new housekeeper, with only three days on the job, killed a pretty big snake just outside my garden.

This guy is a coral snake, yes he is poisonous and yes he is dangerous. But as pointed out by Harper, my spicy daughter, he is iconic. A slithery symbol of the Texas landscape. This got me thinking about all that inspiration around me! Just the striking colors in this picture stopped me in my tracks! He is the third snake this summer, the other two being more venomous cottonmouths. But the best Texas snake symbol would probably be the rattle snake, luckily one of those has not visited ….yet. Several customers in the shop have stitched snakes, including this rattle snake by Liz Goodrick-Dillon that I did several years ago……..scary….maybe this is too many pictures of snakes, might have nightmares.

So now it is life as a cowgirl…..

My desk chair proudly displays my motto. This canvas is by Patti Mann. Life is so different than it was in the 70’s………

So speaking of the 70’s, I have been working on my Texas Armadillo, specifically his armor. The stitch used for his armor plate reminds me of a sport coat my Dad wore in that era, almost exactly.

Figures and images of Texas are all over this canvas. The big Guadalupe Bass will be stitched in basket-weave and then covered with clear sequins to look like scales. We shall see…. But he is coming along.

For fun I made each prickly pear pad a different stitch. I am thinking that the tunas (fruit) will need some dimension, but we are still talking. The blue bonnets just cried out for french knots. Done in one of my favorite new threads, several Threadworx overdyed Kreniks. The monarch has some Flair, some beads and some turkey work, made him flashy.

Had some issues with the grass, still needs some more beads, but now that I am a little more motivated he is starting to come together.

So be inspired by the world around you, Be Texas loud and Texas proud!! “The last best place”, according to Ted Nugent!

To order any of these canvases please call us at 361.572.0088 or click here

Life’s a Game…

But GOLF IS SERIOUS…… at least in our family.

This would be my grandmother (Nana) practicing in her back yard. Got to love it.

And it was just Masters Week!!! For those of you who don’t know or don’t care this is golf’s first major tournament of the year. Last year about this time, The Redhead and I took our whole family to this prestigious event, including two of the grand kids. We all stayed together in one house (yikes!) and took turns sharing the passes, watching the players, and enjoying the pomp and the beauty of the place. Even if you don’t like golf, it is one of the most beautiful places to see.

My tribe last year at the Masters

And yes, I have seen a lot of golf courses…

All three of my daughters played golf in high school, even taking their high school to its first state championship (yes, women’s golf), but Sarah was the only one whose game carried on to college. Sarah is my youngest daughter, a good six and eight years younger than her sisters, she had the luxury of having her parents cart her all over the country chasing a little white ball. In high school she took the school to 3 out of 4 state championships. She played junior golf on the Nike tour and for the American Junior Golf Association in both the summers and on many weekends. She played for Texas A&M, lettering for four years. She even finished well when she played in the 2012 US Women’s Amateur, with her coach as her caddie.

The TV interview

The final putt as a college golfer, yes it was a birdie!

I think she was so good because she was part contortionist

But she elected to stay in Aggieland to get her Masters (degree) and is now a financial analyst in Dallas. Golf is now a past time. The Redhead and I miss chasing after her and the little white ball, but now I have grand kids to chase after!

When she was in grade school, Sarah asked if I could stitch a new stocking for her. She picked out the canvas she wanted. Of course it is a Liz Goodrick-Dillon, Santa & Critters stocking.

As you can see instead of bells and tassels, this stocking sports a little Aggie golf bag. Santa’s beard IS most of this stocking and is again stitched in an outline stitch with Wisper by Rainbow Gallery.

The snow owl was done in turkey work and satin stitches.

The pine cones were stitched in a buttonhole stitch with an Impressions over dye. Lots of beading and french knots, satin stitches with blending filament for the holly leaves and a beaver cuff to top it off.

But being the marooned blooded Aggie that I am, the tributes do not stop there…more kool aid.

Sarah’s Santa is a Texas Aggie cowboy. Amanda Lawford custom painted this one with a black lab in tribute to the Redhead’s big black lab, Ranger. The canvas usually comes with a border collie.

Sporting a maroon cowboy hat, I added a Aggie ‘buckle’. His fabulous beard is interlocking gobelin, again in Wisper and edged with Krenik silver. His waistcoat is done in Silk Lame Braid in a byzantine stitch. The buttons are layered beads. The Teddy bear is all french knots and the fur on Santa’s magnificent robe is sheared lamb from a wool market that I couched on.

Santa is, of course, bringing some lucky Aggie a new set of golf clubs and the Bevo (longhorn) with his horns “sawed” off. I actually bought a toy longhorn, cut his horns off, drilled a hole in them to attach to the Santa. What any good Aggie would do….. and now we are not even in the same conference……

So again we at Past Times needlepoint would love to make this stocking and/or Santa yours! Please call us at 361.572.0088 or check us out online at pasttimesneedlepoint.com

Ethereal Sounds

It is a sound like no other. The bugle of an elk. A majestic animal that can weigh 700 pounds and stand nearly 9 feet tall, a bull elk is a imposing, scary, really unbelievable sight. During the rut and hunting season bulls and cows call to each other (often all night long!) in a process of herding up into groups of several cows and one bull.

I am not a hunter, but everyone else in my family is. Over the years this Yankee turned Texan has learned a lot about hunting and the benefits of managing wildlife.

One of my gals and very good friend who frequents the shop is Miss Barbara. She and my Other Redhead, Kathleen are probably my most prolific stitchers. Barbara is also one of the biggest hunters I have ever met. Her family owns several ranches and she has hunted everything. But when she visited us in New Mexico during a stitching retreat, we found out she had never hunted elk. Well we had to fix that! And so it went…..for the next two years, nothing. First year there were too many other hunters and then a mountain lion roamed through the ranch, that really messed things up. Second year, a poacher came on the place and killed an elk right out from under her….geez.

So then we decided to call in the big guns, (figuratively!) my daughter Harper and her husband, Eric. Eric has been hunting elk in northern New Mexico most of his life, and specifically on our ranch for several years. He and Harper know the ranch well and knew just where to take Miss Barbara.Yes, three was a charm, and yes this would be Barbara, Harper and I drinking champagne, in the woods, in the dark, after one clean shot took the largest spread ever from our ranch!! Love it. Love you Bobbie!

My son in law Eric is a patient and gentle person with a wicked dry sense of humor (where was he when Harper was in high school !?!?!?, but that is another story). Eric is currently the tallest member in our family, and as chance would have it, he also has the biggest stocking. This wasn’t intended, it just happened.

Being the hunter that he is, choosing his stocking was easy. Another Liz Goodrick-Dillon stocking, this is Woodland Christmas. The original canvas had a deer with a much smaller rack. The first thing my husband, The Redhead, told me is you have to “fix” those antlers. So the ones on Eric’s stocking are a little bigger, a little heftier.

The background is a squared eyelet stitch, hopefully depicting snowflakes. The edging on Santa’s robe is a massing of french knots (I love french knots), kind of a shearling look.

In most of my Liz stockings there is some form of animal. Usually, I use Wisper by Rainbow Gallery in random straight stitches for the bodies and using the same threads, I basket weave the faces. For these stockings I am always searching for the more realistic, traditional look. But the big cap to this one is the Canadian coyote hide cuff. I like the look and feel of real fur (of course, I do). If you have put that much time and money into an heirloom piece, it doesn’t seem right to put fake fur on top. For hides that I do not already own, I go to glacierwear.com, they offer amazing quality hides at fair prices, not cheap, but fair. The hide on this piece was huge! So, therefore the stocking is huge. It was suppose to match the coyote on the heel, but I think it may have overwhelmed him.

As usual we at Past Times would love to make this your own! Please click here, or call 361.572.0088 and we can get it on its way to you!

I do not like to excercise

My mother always said you should not hate. Well redundant exercise comes close. I mean a big soft chair, good light, an empty canvas and a needle…you see where I am going. But my husband, the Redhead drags me to the gym every morning so we can walk around in circles, this is in an effort to keep me healthy. I’m just not so sure…..

But healthy is a necessity for my oldest daughter and her family. She is type 1 diabetic and her husband, Dutch is lactose intolerant, so they have chosen the Paleo lifestyle. Eating right and getting enough exercise is paramount for them and my grandchildren, Davis and Dylan (Madam Crazy Hair). Dutch owns his own gym in their hometown. He is an Olympic weight lifter and we are all very proud of him and his accomplishments, plus the job he does training others in this pursuit.

But just because we differ in our thoughts on rote exercise, we are not at odds on much else. Dutch is the best Dad my two grand kids could of ever had. AND he has to take care Meggie, a VERY big endeavor…we sure don’t want to lose Dutch. So when my children have gotten married and changed their last name, that is when I feel that things are solid enough to put forth the big effort and make a “son-in-law” stocking.

Dutch loves to fly fish. Something I also like to do, but neither of us really have enough spare time for. But that made deciding on the perfect stocking rather easy. Of course, another Liz Goodrick Dillon piece, this Fly fishing Santa was easy for me to stitch. Santa’s coat is more maroon than red (a nod to Dutch’s time at Texas A&M) and embellished with real flies (hooks removed).

Santa is heading home to Mrs. Claus with dinner in tow. The early evening sky in this canvas was a big challenge for me, I wanted the essence of a true New Mexico sky at dusk. This called for a lot of overdyed blues with pale purple. Combinations of Waterlilies by Caron Collection, Silk ‘n Colors from Thread Gatherer and a lot of patience.More overdyed threads with the creel. Impressions by Caron Collection done in Lazy Roman. Plus more “reel” flies. It was very entertaining for the Redhead to explain to clerks at quaint little fly shops why I wanted flies that did not match what was biting that season…….

This was also the first time that I tried open work stitching. More overdyed thread in a T stitch over the rocks. It looks like I spent hours dealing with shading, when I just let it show through.

Love ya, Dutch!!

To do this stocking for yourself or loved one please click here for the pasttimesneedlepoint.com or call us at 361.572.0088. We would love to oblige.

Crazy Hair, I don’t care…….

Have you ever loved something so much that it hurts??? That’s what happens when you get grandchildren. Dylan is my 18 month old granddaughter. She has the most laid back personality of any of my grandchildren. Always a plus. But she does have a little something going on with her hair….

It actually started out pretty straight, with a little wave but then….around October…for some unexplained reason….it really went wild.

Curly, unruly, disheveled, generally crazy hair…

So we have tried to contain it with what we call the “volcano hairdo”. Here is one of my favorite shadow pictures of she and her Aunt Boo Boo!

And then dancing with her Momma……

Hair under control….sort of

I have always pushed my kids to find out the sex of my grandchildren so that I could make sure on “Baby’s First Christmas” there is the perfect heirloom stocking. In our family Christmas is all about the stockings. Whenever we see things throughout the year that are stocking “worthy” they are purchased and stashed till the big night! In my world, that can mean several senior moments and you may end up with two of the same thing…..All our stockings with Santa and nine reindeer

So Dylie is my second granddaughter and fourth grandchild. Her momma wanted her stocking to coordinate with the rest of her family and her Mimi wanted it to be “pretty”. So we decided on this one:

Of course another Liz Goodrick Dillon canvas, Enchanted Santa. I added lots of bling to this one. Santa has a velvet coat trimmed in snowy white fur, lots of beads, crystals, pearls, stars and snowflakes. Everything is pretty encrusted…..

Santa’s beard and the horses mane are both done in an outline/stem stitch again. To me it is the stitch to make them look like real hair. On 18 count canvas the beard is done in one strand of Wisper and the mane is in two strands of Splendor, both by Rainbow Gallery.

It seems the horse is wearing most of the bling:

He has pearls surrounding his conchos, stars and crystals covering his bridle. Even more crystals on the reins and breast plate.

The mittens that Santa has on are not what Liz painted on the canvas. I could not get my mind wrapped around the checkerboard looking mittens. After one or two attempts, I settled on covering them with a jacquard stitch. I often change colors or cover up things that don’t work for me. Even though the artist paints the canvas one way, you are the final say in how it will turn out.

Well…just in…literally from Mountain Shadow and Sharon Hall!

Dylan’s Garden, also known as Amy’s Yellow Garden by Birds of a Feather! Doesn’t it look amazing! That pink glitter mat is perfect, just the thing to enhance such a crazy piece. Plus the hand painted frame, so whimsical…

I think it is just the thing to compliment my crazy haired girl!

As always this canvas and more can be purchased at my website, just click here.

Harper is Spicy

My middle child. Says a lot right there, right? Beautiful, brainy and feisty, Harper has always made our life interesting. I have often thought that she may be my most artistic child. She has an amazing talent as a photographer (I wish she had more time for that pursuit) and luckily for her checkbook, she is also very good at finding oil and gas as a geologist.

Harper and her husband Eric are also talented bow hunters. True hunters. There is a huge challenge in out smarting an animal in his own neighborhood with just a bow and arrow to protect yourself. Often they come with in just yards of an elk. A massive creature that can weigh upwards of 700 pounds with a spread of antlers of 2-3 feet. Needless to say I do not go with them.

But not last year. Finally it was Harper’s turn. She shot the elk at dusk. She and Eric tracked him until they could no longer see. Being the talented hunter that he is, Eric had placed several flags and markings along the trail, so we were able to continue the hunt the next morning. And find him we did! Harper and I were jumping up and down!

I stitched Harper’s stocking when she was still in high school. Test is a word that comes to mind when thinking about Harper’s time in high school, I was always being tested. That’s where the spicy came in. Spicy, yes Harper is definitely spicy. Absolutely love this kid….

So I found the perfect stocking:

This is Liz Godrick Dillon’s Chili Pepper Santa. Spicy, of course. Stitching this Santa face taught me a lot about face colors. Now I am always in search of the perfect skin colors. If it is too dark it looks like Santa got beat up, too light and he looks washed out. Sometimes the threads may not even be the same kind, same dye lot or from the same manufacturer. I re-stitched this face at least three times.

Again his beard is my favorite beard stitch, outline or stem stitch. You will see that through the years the random stitches look better when they are stitched closer together. Sometimes I literally push them over and it is almost like I stitch on top of each other. Unfortunately the thread that was couched for his collar is no longer available. Rainbow Gallery has some that will probably work well though.

Often using overdyed threads, I like to use slanted satin stitches for holly leaves and random straight stitches for pine needles. Makes it look so realistic. The conchos are real. I love little “found” things to add to canvases. These came from ebay, I am betting that you could google up some similar.

Okay, now to catch you up….

The yaks are here!!!…. and settling in.

To start off there are 12 of them. We are learning lots about them, first off they eat a lot, 3 bales of hay a day, but then all the grass is covered with snow. They have a pecking order, kinda look like buffalo with a horse tail and are very tame.

Will let you know how they progress…….

The Yaks are coming

Santa Fe is beautiful whens it snows. The chile ristras and boughs are just starting to come out for Christmas decorations and now they are covered in a light dusting of snow. My husband, the Redhead and I have come to Santa Fe for business and are having dinner and a glass of wine at a nice restaurant. This rare occasion is because he went to visit a yak farm today. Apparently, I need some yaks and it is far better to inform me of this over a nice dinner and a glass of wine. It has taken over thirty years to turn this Yankee city girl into a cattle woman and now you want me to do what?!?!?….. Maybe two glasses of wine.

In an effort to keep our ad valorem taxes low he has been researching animals we could raise in the mountains. We tried raising steers for several years. The mountain lions loved that. Then he looked into buffalo. They can fend off coyotes and mountain lions, but they can also bust a fence and run for miles. Yeah right, we border the national forest…. nope. So now it looks like the yaks are coming. Yaks are healthy as a meat source and once a year you can comb them and use their down to process into yarn. Okay I’m into fibers, I could maybe go for that. But we shall see…..the saga continues……

So in the mean time I have finished a backgammon game board that my oldest daughter started…..

This piece was way too fun. The original set came with game pieces that we have not been able to find anymore (part of the problem when it takes so long to finish something). So I think I will try to make some pieces with FIMO to look like the middle medallions.

Needless to say we will have to wait and see how that turns out……

I also finally finished Dylan’s garden!

Just a wild as my crazy haired granddaughter….

So I thought my favorite was the springy blue stem on the big tall flower, but that little rainbow snail with the bobble eyes has stolen my heart!!!

As you can guess with all those little beads and things it would be way too tempting for an 18 month old to pick all that off, so it won’t be a pillow anymore, it needs to framed. So off to the finisher, when they come back I will let you see how they turn out…..

My other Redhead

Kathleen is my alter ego. I want to grow up and be Kathleen. She lives on her ranch with all her animals and stitches in bed with her dogs most afternoons. She has beautiful red hair very similar to my husband, the Redhead. I am hoping my granddaughter Dylan will have red hair.

Kathleen was my very first customer. She came in before the store was even finished and my inventory was spread out all over the place. She hasn’t slowed down yet.

My life and Kathleen’s run very linear. When she comes to visit we talk about cows, horses, dogs, oh yes and needlepoint. My favorite Kathleen story was when she needed to shred at her place down by the coast. She was lamenting how to get her tractor down there. “How big is the tractor?” I asked ” I don’t know, pretty big.” she answered. ” Well, Kathleen, do you think it would fit on a forty foot?” “Oh I am sure.” she said. “Okay, I will have Sherry bring the forty foot to your house.” Done. So later on that month her sister comes in from California and exclaims how great everything looks now that it is mowed. “However did you get that tractor down here Kathleen?” the sister questioned. “Well, I just went to the needlepoint shop….”

Full service, I just love that Kathleen….love you too…..

So Dylan’s Garden and I are back talking. I found some stitches to work into the background, finished the flower on the left and the big one in the middle.

Love the pom poms in the middle. They are glued in there with fabric glue. I am very new with working with Silk Wrapped Pearl Purl, so don’t look too close….

Got some ideas for the flower on the right, needs a few beads….

Next time we will see what happens with all those leaves and stems……

As always we would love to have you call 361.572.0088 or visit our website pasttiimesneedlepoint.com to purchase this canvas or anything else we could help you with!