Happy New Year!

Above is a picture of this year's brand new New Year's Eve ball that will be dropped at Times Square at midnight! Did you know that this is the 100th year anniversary of the dropping of the ball in Times Square on New Year's Eve? The new ball is "green" this year, with nearly 10,000 tiny very energy-efficient lights all reflecting off Waterford Crystal. If we can all stay awake to see it, it'll be beautiful!

If you're interested in a little history about the dropping of the ball on New Year's Eve, 1907 was the first time a ball made it's descent from the flagpole on top of One Times Square. Since then it's been dropped every year except 1942 & 1943 during the wartime light "dimouts" in New York City. Crowds who still gathered there those two years greeted the new year with a moment of silence followed by chimes that rang from Times Square.

Now, the notion of "time-balls" to signal the passage of time goes back further than 100 years; the first "time-ball" dropped daily at one o'clock from England's Royal Observatory in Greenwich in 1833 and allowed seafaring captains to correctly set their chronometers, essential for navigation. This tradition is carried on to this day at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, DC where a time-ball is dropped daily at noontime. Over a billion people worldwide will watch the new ultra-modern time-ball drop from Times Square this New Year's Eve.

Now, isn't that everything you ever wanted to know about the story behind "the ball"? I hope you all have a very safe, festive Happy New Year!

Although I'm still unable to update my web site orders can still be placed and we're very much back in business since Christmas. Don't forget - even though free shipping 'til Christmas is over, we always ship free for orders of $50 or more. New additions to available products include the Morgan No-Slip Hoop for punch needle and a new shipment of Valdani 3-Strand Flosses as well - no separating floss! Punch right off the ball. Please contact me for more information if you are interested in either of these new items.

Another 6+ inches of snow this morning with about that much again on the way tomorrow and it's just barely winter! I'll try to get pictures of our winter wonderland up soon. If you're in New England like I am, stay safe, drive carefully and start a new project to help the winter go by faster! 'Til next time,

Ain't Technology Grand!

My web site was down for a while from last night through mid-day today (Thursday) due to some problems and work being done on my web host's server. The site appears to be back up at this time, although I am unable to update it with new products or information. So, I'll just tell you about some new items in the meantime! I've just received a shipment of Morgan No-Slip Hoops in various sizes, perfect for your punch needle projects. These hoops won't budge during punching! Please email me with questions or if you'd like to purchase one. The sizes available are 5", 7", 10" and a few 17". Also available are a few 7"/10" Combo Lap Stands that are able to be used individually or assembled together to stand on your lap while punching. I am phasing out my stock of Susan Bates hoops and will reduce them to "fire sale" prices as soon as I can update my site again! Also recently arrived is a shipment of Valdani flosses to accompany Country Stitches' newest punch needle designs. I'll be putting up more floss packs for those soon. For now, if you wish to purchase a floss pack you can note in the Comments section of your check-out and I will send you a PayPal Invoice for the appropriate floss pack. The 27-yd balls are $2.95 each.

You'll also be seeing a slightly different look to my web site soon as I'll be changing over to a different service and new shopping cart where I can offer discounts on your order, coupons and choices of payment methods, not exclusively PayPal! I'm very excited about this change and it's been a long time coming! Watch for an announcement about this early in January as well as a big inventory sale!

I hope you have some fun planned for New Year's Eve, be it getting all "gussied up" and going out for a lovely meal and dancing, or simply staying put at home with loved ones and watching the ball drop at midnight! Stay safe and well if I don't get a chance to post another entry before the New Year! 'Til next time,

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas with your families, and a safe and Happy New Year too! I'm taking the next several days off to spend Christmas with my family down in Massachusetts. See you again after the holiday!

Christmas Lights

This picture didn't come out as well as I'd hoped, it's the famous Nubble Lighthouse at Cape Neddick, Maine, all lit up for Christmas. A few weeks ago on our "Christmas adventure" my husband and I took some pictures (see a few posts down) and snapped a few of the lighthouse in it's Christmas finery. If you click on the picture you'll get a much larger view - look closely and you'll see the house and sheds are outlined in white lights and there is a white light tree in one of the house's downstairs windows. All that gingerbread trim!   This has long been one of my favorite destinations and love just hanging out here, watching the ocean splashing away on the rocks.   I think the pictures we took when it got darker didn't come out unfortunately. It's really a magical sight at twilight and making the drive down there has become a new holiday tradition for John and myself.

A litte bit of What's New - the new January issue of The Wool Street Journal is in, with rugs and needlepunch and rugs and needlefelting - and rugs! A great new issue to settle in with while the snow flies - which has been happening up here in Maine all too frequently, and it's not even officially winter yet!   The cover picture is an adaptation of a Notforgotten Farm notecard design called "Oh Glorious Day".   Several of these adaptations have been done by Spruce Ridge Studios.  Read more about this on my web site.

Only six more shopping days 'til Christmas!   Are you done yet?   Better get going!

New Found Friend

Last weekend my husband and I went on a "Christmas adventure" - we started out at Maine Coffee Roasters for a yummy "skinny" Eggnog Latte and hit the Maine Mall first for some Christmas shopping, then made our way south to York and the Stonewall Kitchen store (my mother LOVES their Lavender Room Spray), timing our trip just right so we'd see the Christmas lights on Nubble Light at Cape Neddick at twilight. On our way to the lighthouse we stopped along a nearly deserted Long Sands Beach in York to throw a few "chowdah" crackers to the gulls, all of whom flew off when they were gone except for this fellow! Very friendly, unafraid of we big human folk he stood calmly to have his picture taken! I thought the colors of the gull against the rocks and snow were neat! I'll post a picture of Nubble Light next time. Off to bed! I've been wrestling with a sinus infection since Thanksgiving and it's wiped me out! I hope you're all staying well and having your own "Christmas adventures"!

Winter-B-Gone

A new trio of punch needle patterns from Country Stitches will have you thinking thoughts of spring before winter even arrives! Shown is the very sweet Tulip Time. Two others have an Americana theme and use wonderful colors. We'll be getting the Valdani 3-strand flosses for these very soon. All the patterns are on our What's New page with more details and are in stock, ready to ship - which, by the way, is FREE through Christmas! I hope you'll come out and take a look at these and the other new goodies we've received lately.

Winter Wonderland!

I don't know where the above lighthouse is, but I'm sure any lighthouse along the coast of Maine today is looking very similar!   We're having our first snowstorm of the season today and it's a winter wonderland outside!   There is something wonderful and special about the first snowfall of the season (I almost said "winter" but it's not even winter yet!).   It looks so pretty clinging to the trees and is helping me get into the holiday spirit!   We began digging out our decorations over the weekend and are looking semi-festive already.   This is early for me, I never used to set up the Christmas tree until around the middle of the month.   Too early and I get "Christmased out" before the holiday even arrives!

Hope you are getting in the holiday spirit as well, and take special care to stay safe and warm if the weather is bad where you are.

(Miss) Jump-ing for Joy!

The quilt above is from Linda Brannock's new and final book Cotton and Wool, Miss Jump's Farewell and is called The Gardener.   This is a wonderful book of six quilts and nine other projects in cotton and wool from primitive folk artist Linda Brannock, long known for her quilts and fabric lines collaborating with Jan Patek.   I can't wait to dig into this book and I think that quilt is a "must make".

Another new arrival is Indygo Junction's Denim Redesign, filled with creative ways to recreate, embellish and breathe new life into your old denim jeans.   I've got a couple of big boxes of jeans from when my son was younger, not to mention jeans of my own that will be made into wonderful purses, totes, aprons and maybe even a quilt, thanks to the cool patterns in this book.   Check it out on my web site!

I will be adding more patterns and special items to my eBay offerings over the weekend and I hope you'll take a few minutes to take a peek.   And don't forget - shipping is FREE on all orders placed on my web site through Christmas!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and if you live in New England get that grocery shopping done Sunday, we've got some snow coming to start the week.   That should get us all in the holiday spirit!

As always, thanks for reading!