NEW BLOG FOR JUNE/JULY 2017 COMING ON JUNE 19TH! I'VE BEEN ON HOSPICE DUTY AND A LITTLE BEHIND. I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU THEN!
MARCH/APRIL BLOG 2017
Happy Spring!
Welcome to my favorite time of year that brings not only leaves, flowers, and warm weather but new books. I love perusing new catalogs and websites for new titles. So welcome to my "finds" and see if there are titles you want to add to your library. And don't forget - all books are 20% off when you find the discount code hidden somewhere in this blog. So grab yourself a cup of tea (or coffee), a snack and enjoy the blog and find the code!
FIRST STOP: LAURA PERIN



Contact her : 650 - 823-5373 or e-mail her at: ljperin@comcast.net. Or check her website: laurajperindesigns.net.
Laura divides her wide variety needlework designs into seven catagories and I will show an example of each:
The American Quilt Collection -
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Color Study: Liberty Star |
The Blackwork Collection -
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Blue and Gold Angel |
The Impressionist Collection -
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Prairie Star |
The Kimono Collection -
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Autumn Leaf Kimono |
The Sampler Collection -
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Halloween Wreath |
The Secret Garden Collection -
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California Poppies |
The Western Collection -
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Mallard Collage |
I hope this taste of her designs leads you to visiting her website at: laurajperindesigns.net
WHAT IS BEAUTY?

According to Webster beauty is a quality present in a person or thing that gives intense aesthetic pleasure of deep satisfaction to the mind or to the senses such a work of art. And I will add such as needlework. What makes some designs in needlework so appealing and others not? Over the last 20 or so years I have viewed countless juried needlework shows, looked at thousands of book covers, seen a number of fashion shows. I've discussed this subject with many people and find and found many things effect opinions on what is beautiful or not. I would not presume to tell anyone her or she is wrong but I do know what "I" like, my personal taste in things just as they do.
One thing definite, the cliché that beauty is in the eye of the beholder seems to hold true. We get a taste of someone else's perception of the world when we look at a painting, listen to music, read a book and others needlework. And of course the reverse is true when they look at something we chose to wear, chose to needlework, chose to put in our home. I purposely put some of Lauren Perin's designs in the above article because those designs are something I'd stitch and I like her color choices. To me, color in a design, clothes, decorations, walls, etc. is very important to me. I am "color fussy" I guess. I'm also "word fussy" and "music fussy" and "art fussy". Maybe most of us are. So who's right?
When writing a story or book if I get thinking what would others like I get stuck so I back up and try to focus on my theme, research, and the characters themselves. Then I can make progress. We all create our own world in the midst of everyone else's. That's perception. Our eyes are camera that allow us to see the world and then our brain interprets what the eyes focused on. That creates our perception. If you have five people at an accident scene each person will have a different perception of what happened making eye witnesses not always the most reliable sources. Why? Our eyes play tricks on us. Think of optical illusions. We are not always in control of what we see. Psychologist know that it is possible to "prime" a person's perception to a particular direction. What is priming? That happens when you engage in a familiar activity, so familiar you don't think about it. If you are asked to do a variation (ever so slight) an error will occur. Just think of the truck driver who because he was texting, killed 10 people on a bus.
But lets get back to needlework. Think of a piece of paper or fabric. Whether we're an artist or a needleworker, the main idea is to transform something three-dimensional to that two-dimensional flat material and make it LOOK three-dimensional so it will give the ILLUSION of being real flowers, animal, people, and scenes. We know how it should look but how do we get that down on a flat surface. Carl Purcell, in his book, Your Artist's Brain: Use the Right Side of Your Brain to Draw and Paint What You See - Not What You Think You See -$26.99,
says, "enjoy the scenery, view the world in terms of shapes and edges, tie everything together with unifying value patterns make drawing fun." He also says, "see values correctly, search for relationships of angle, size and position, define form with line and angle, size and position, and explore the RELATIONSHIP between objects and space, everything together with value and patterns. This is what every needlework designer has to consider. Molly Bang, in her "Picture This: How Pictures Work" shows us in pictures and words how shapes make us perceive things in certain ways. Using the tale of Little Red Riding Hood as an example, Molly Bang
uses boldly graphic artwork to explain how images - and their individual components work to tell a story that engages the emotions. If you want to see how our brains tell us things like what is scary and what is beautiful. This is a classic. $22.99
Now we address the issue of color. I've seen some designs I thought were great but the colors used made me blink. I walked away from that design UNTIL I saw it in different colors. I've seen the choices made for needlework book covers where I knew because of the cover that book would sell very little. Yet inside were wonderful projects that would have made an inviting cover. Over the years I discovered I was right 8 out of 10 times. Perhaps those selecting a cover had no experience in the needlework field. That would definitely make a difference. Their perception came from a different place. Their idea of beautiful cover clashed with needleworkers idea of a great design. Their training came from a different field of study.
This brings us back to us. Yes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but maybe we need to keep learning and seeing things from various perspectives. Didn't Beauty in Beauty and the Beast come to see the Beast as a beautiful person? Who ever thought a giant soup can painted by Andy Warhol would become an icon in art? Who ever
thought that paint splashed on large canvases would be considered art? Yet, Pollack did something he wanted to do in painting and took the art world by storm. Van Gogh, a favorite of mine, starved and suffered for his vision of the world in paint and died never knowing how much his work would be loved by millions. I know, some of you don't like Van Gogh, but the minute I saw some of his art on loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York as a twelve year old it spoke to me. Why, I can't say. It just connected. I saw plenty of other painting but I kept returning to his art. I've
visited his museum in Holland twice as an adult and I still get that same feeling. When I heard Don McClean sing "Vincent" his tribute to Vincent Van Gogh I recognized at once he captured my feeling about Van Gogh's paintings (and for me his wonderfully written letters to his brother). These are some of McClean's lyrics:

Flaming flowers that brightly blaze
Swirling flowers of violet haze
Reflecting Vincent's eyes of china blue
Colors changing hue.
Morning fields of amber grain
Weathered faces lined in pain
are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand.

How you suffered for your sanity
How you tried to set them free
They would not listen
They did not know how
Perhaps they'll listen now.
We may not have the talent of Van Gogh but we do have our own visions and designs to create. I know I do.
What about you? Do you have any needlework designs you vision on canvas? I guess us creative people need to learn to not hide their light under a bushel. Many of us (me included) need to develop a courage to share our visions of the world and beauty. I've learned to ask myself: Do I need an attitude adjustment or are my creative ideas perfectly fine, thank you? Is my business or writing reflecting what I feel or am I using bits and pieces of advice from people that are good for them but bad for me? Am I afraid to express my real creative self because I fear criticism?

I think Jean was encouraging us to appreciate that what we call mistakes might contain something beautiful but to listen to our inner self and confidently present it to others. I'd love to see what you have created. I have a historical novel due out in the next thirty day - The Secret Codices that takes place in the 4th Century A.D. in Egypt and the brave struggle to save writings doomed for Roman bonfires. I was nervous about sharing this book but my editor really loved it and has encouraged me to write a follow-up. And to think I was sure it would be rejected! Whenever I get discouraged I take Jean Hilton's Stimulating Stitches off a shelf and reread her message. I highly recommend it for all artisans especially those designing in thread.
POTPORRI OF NEW BOOKS!
Momma Mia! What a Great Project! 18 Little Guys (Jean Hilton) and Rockaway (Tony Minieri) are brought together in one project.

Other New Titles:






Hill, Michele - Stitching with Beatrix Potter - This book gathers together 10 easy yet elegant projects celebrating the life and talents of Beatrix Potter. With 10 applique and 6 embroidery designs, even beginning stitchers can work with hexagons to crate a beautiful embroidered quilt, stitch up a cushion based on The Tailor of Gloucester, applique a wool storage box, and construct a beautiful wedding quilt based on one from Beatrix Potter's home. Plus, all-of-the-designs can easily be adapted - just add a dash of imagination to create bags, appliqued pinafores, or embroidered gifts. Stitch by hand and by machine. Learn about the life and work of Beatrix Potter with historical vignettes. Amazing applique tips from best-selling author of William Morris in Applique and More William Morris in Applique. $22.95




Paper Panda - Paper Panda's Guide to Papercutting - Paper Panda (Louise Firchau) is a papercutting superstar with thousands of fans eager to purchase her distinctive and highly sought after papercut designs. In this book, she shows you not only how she
does these designs, what inspires her and how she works, but how to do the 20 papercut projects she's included here along with a template, which is reproduced at full-size at the back of the book. The designs are simple enough for beginners, though interesting enough to inspire more advanced papercutters. The projects themselves include cards, decorations, and mounted and framed pictures to hand on the wall, all using a variety of coloured and patterned papers to show them off. $24.95
Mystery Corner


Please meet Kathleen Bridge
The minute I saw the titles of the mysteries she's written I was hooked for they take place on Long Island, New York where I was born and raised. I wondered if she came from there too. But no, she was born in El Paso, Texas. But she lives there now and is an antiques and vintage dealer and has contributed to Country Living Magazine. Her mystery series: Hamptons Homes and Garden Mysteries take place in the posh Hamptons where the rich and famous like Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton and others still playtoday. The Hamptons have been called, "the playground of the rich and famous."
I didn't grow up in the Hamptons but I feel very fortunate to have been raised in the fifties on Long Island a place full of great history, great schools, great beaches and farmlands and an easy trip by train or car to New York. Long Island is one of the bigger islands in the USA but is only 12-20 miles wide and 118 miles
long, hence the name "long". The native American name for Long Island is Paumanok, meaning 'The Island that pays tribute" and was occupied by a number of peaceful tribes before the Dutch and English arrived in the 1600's. Houses of that time period still are inhabited today. Many towns took Native American names.
Charles Lindbergh took off from Roosevelt Airfield, Garden City Long Island on his famous 1927 flight from there to Paris. Captain William Kidd took port there and the book Jaws was written because the author, Peter Benchley, was on a fishing boat enjoying deep sea fishing when a giant great white shark was caught off Montauk, Long Island. The North Shore of the island has been called the Gold Coast as it is dotted with mansions, former homes of the wealthy such as the Vanderbilts, the Roosevelts, Getty, and more current Billy Joel, the singer and songwriter.
I grew up in Hempstead, Long Island where churches were from the Revolutionary war and the cemeteries had ancient headstones from the 1600's. I loved the white sand Jones Beach, visiting the mansions, taking school trips into Yankee Stadium, The New York Times, and the UN. My mom took us to the Bronx Zoo, the great museums of New York City, the Planetarium, Radio City Music Hall for shows with the Rockettes and sent me on to plays on Broadway with four of my friends as birthday parties. We were hardly rich and famous but I grew up appreciating the arts, history and what this island world had to offer.
Why did I leave Long Island? The weather! I was not made for snow and ice, fog, rain, and high humidity. My great uncle George sent yearly subscriptions to Arizona Highway during my childhood and I devoured each issue discovering where I truly belonged: in the dry heat with many Native American cultures, the Grand Canyon and Sedona among other wonderful places to visit. So here I am many years later with no regrets and still loving my adopted home of Arizona.
Long Island will always have a special place in my heart so I was happy to discover this mystery series by Kathleen Bridge. Now I can visit parts of Long Island through her. I hope you will too.



AND ON TO SOME MORE COZY MYSTERIES ......









WELCOME TO RUTH KERN BOOKS!
I hope you enjoyed your visit. If you haven't heard of you before I'd like to introduce you to our business. We've been in business over 25 years. We set up book shops at both the ANG and EGA Nationals and regionals and other needlework organizations.
Can't find a certain book? Give us a call whether the title is in or out-or-print. We have a website as well as this blog. It is:ruthkernbooks.com
Questions? Give us a call Monday -thru Saturday (602-943-0738) between 8am and 6pm. Yes, we are the people who never change our clocks forward or backwards. If it goes to message I'm probably in the middle of helping Mark or taking books to the post office. PLEASE leave a message and I will return your call ASAP. If you prefer you can e-mail me at: rkern3@mindspring.com. To reach us by mail: Ruth Kern Books 7235 N. 9th Avenue, Phoenix,AZ 85021.
IMPORTANT! Don't forget to find the discount code in this blog that gives you a 20% discount on any new book you order.
I look forward to having you back: New blog: June 15th 2017.