It's the Online Needlework Show!

It's that time of year again, the leaves are an incredible palette of orange and red. It's time for hot spiced cider, cold crisp mornings and the scent of woodfires in the air.  It's also time for the Online Needlework Show.  There are tons of new designers (at least new to me) and an incredible array of talent. You really must check it out: www.theneedleworkshow.com
While you are there, check out my booth: Brenda E. Kocher Designs.  I'm fortunate that everything is alphabetical and I'm toward the beginning :-).  Once you've had a chance to look at everything, decide which is your favorite design and email with the name.  I'll enter your name in the contest to win a pattern of your choice.
I've always been fascinated by history and antiques. I love to go antiquing and find unique items that had a very important use in it's time, but now are just an oddity to us.  I love firescreens and designed several of those in the past.  My newest interest is hornbooks.  Did you know that hornbooks have been around since the 1400's?  They were a very important part of a childs education.  A child's first lesson, the ABC's, were written on a piece of parchment.  That was placed on a flat board with a handle.  To protect the parchement, a cow's horn was placed in cold water for several weeks so the horn could be separated from the bone, It was then heated in boiling water and flattened between boards. Now it was translucent and could be placed on top of the parchement and fastened to the board. The first laminating!
Schooltime Memories is a series of three hornbooks, all worked on Congress Cloth that can be framed individually or mounted on hornbooks from Images Stitchery Design.

I decided to design some smaller, quick and easy designs for a change :-)
The next design is also a small one: Hearts in Bloom is approximately 3" x 3" when worked on 18 count canvas.

I think it would be great in Christmas colors.
Now it's time to get started on Christmas gifts!  There's just not enough time in the day to get everything accomplished that I have ideas for. I often joke that I do things in my spare time in the hours between 3:00 and 4:00 in the morning.
Jay's Stocking is almost finished so I hope to get a photo of it up online soon.

If you have a moment, check out this really neat website: www.theknottyquilter.com  Isn't that a great name?  She has gorgeous art quilts that you just have to see for yourself. Prices are super reasonable. If you need ideas for Christmas gifts, this would be a great place to start looking!

In the meantime, I hope everyone is enjoying this incredibly beautiful day that God has given us.