Last month as you may recall we only had a stitch in at the Library due to some technical difficulties. This month however, is the meeting many of us have been waiting for – we will have a guest speaker, Anne Marie Anderson – Mayes. She is the owner of “Beautiful Stitches” in Australia. I have taken classes with her in person and you can’t meet a nicer person. She has beautiful designs and even more beautiful threads that she dyes herself. Some of her most well known pieces are Versailles, Celestial Twist, Medieval City and so many more. Her web site has some lovely free patterns you can get. This is a do not miss meeting on Nov 25th. https://beautifulstitches.com.au/

NJNA is again sponsoring a tree at the “Festival of Trees”. Jacqui is spear heading the planning and this year’s theme is “A Few of Our Favorite Things”. The ornaments do not have to be Christmas related. If you can kindly lend some ornaments please take a picture of them and put it in a zip lock bag with your name so that there is no guess work when it comes to giving them back. Jacqui will be at the Edwardian Needle on Wednesday the 18th to collect what ever you can contribute. If you can’t be there, please contact Jacqui to make other arrangements. The event will be open from Friday Dec 4 thru Sunday Dec 27. They are also a collection site for “Toys For Tots”. https://www.somersetcountyparks.org/maple-sugaring/pages/48th-festival-trees

Changes are coming to ANG national. To start, they are looking for an Executive Director on a part time basis. The Annual Membership Meeting is Wed Nov 18th. You should have gotten an email to sign up for a zoom link to the meeting. They will be discussing how the future will be unfolding for ANG. They are talking about a new direction by creating “Stitch Groups” along with finances and education. If you can’t make the meeting it is going to be recorded so you can see it later. It’s also time to renew your membership!

Did you look at Spring Fling?? You only have until the end of this month to sign up for a class. There are 20 possible classes you can sign up for and I am sure some are already full.

Plan ahead – Small Business Saturday is coming on November 28th this year. A good time to go shopping at your LNS for holiday gifts. Having been to 2 newer stores recently they have lots of things to either purchase or put on your wish list !!

I found a cool thing to do as a stocking stuffer – Tack Packs from the Social Stitcher. As they say on the web site – “Your canvas called. It wants better accessories.” These fill the bill !! You get 60 custom brass tacks in themed collections such as Mahj, Nautical, Flowers, Butterflies etc and they come in a reusable case. They can be used with both regular and mini stretcher bars and are compatible with the Corjac Tack Pusher. https://thesocialstitcher.com/products/tack-packs?variant=47930622640277

Another interesting item is for all of us that have a problem storing Rainbow Gallery cards. Go to “Stitch Sloth” (yes, it’s really called that – don’t you feel that way on some projects that take forever!) They have acrylic boxes made to fit the Rainbow Gallery cards and other threads we all use. https://shopstitchsloth.com/collections/acrylic-boxes

While your looking at the website for Stitch Sloth you will see under their Exclusive area they have something that made me shake – a Needlepoint Digital Tracking App !! OMG, I don’t think I want to know but if you do – it tracks your projects from start to finish, organizes your threads in an inventory, saves details like stitches, designers and finishing details (I’m getting dizzy!) and more. https://stitchsloth.com/

New Thread !! Tilli Thomas has 5 new Neon Colors in their Milan and Essentials thread lines. https://tillitomasfiber.com/pages/essentials

Now from new to discontinued. The Thread Gatherer’s Silk Chenille line is being discontinued. This 100% silk thread has 73 colors and when it’s gone – it’s gone. You can buy directly from their web site: https://threadgatherer.com/collections/silken-chenille

There is a new club starting by Threads Too in Fair Haven. A cocktail club! It runs for 7 months and the 13 mesh canvases are an exclusive to Threads Too. You get the canvas, threads, needle minder, recipe and a fun cocktail accessory. They also send a special project bag with the first shipment. It begins this month and runs thru May. https://threadstoo.com/products/cocktail-club?selling_plan=7856029947&variant=68381904830715

Tips and Tricks: Did you know that Radience and metallic threads can actually scratch up the inside of the eye of your needle??? If you were to use the same needle with silk thread or ribbon you can snag them ruining the look of your fiber. Ask for a “free” needle at your LNS or use an old one of yours and save the good Tulip Needles for softer threads.

Who is this Famous Stitchers? This is Kayla, the owner of Fire and Iris. She is a lover of the outdoors thus the reason she lives in New Hampshire. The company name is in remembrance of her Grandmother. A combination of her astrological sign (Fire) and her flower ! You know many of her designs such as the foot print of a hiking shoe, marshmallows on a stick, National Park signs, 3D S’mores canvas and a lot more. https://fireandirisdesigns.com/

Do you know who this Famous Stitcher is ?