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

I've never met Laura Perin but I feel I know her through her designs and have followed her needlework designs for years. And have sold countless copies of her Blackwork Pattern book since it published in 2005. What is loved about this reference guide is her collection of over 600 stitchery patterns showing one-color, two-color, and three-color variations, intended specifically for blackwork designs and that in the back of the book is a gallery of finished designs in multiple colors. Most of us know that blackwork was very popular during the Elizabeth I Period. So I had a to include the queen decked out in a wonderful costume with great sleeves and bodice of great blackwork designs. These designs are still used and treasured today.

Laura mentions in her introduction that in her collection of blackwork patterns, beautifully graphed, "is an abundance of organic, floral, and natural patterns rather than abstract or geometric designs." Laura confesses as having collected more floral patterns because that is what she enjoys using them for clothing,flowers or abstract collage areas, she says she prefers patterns that have a softer organic look to them.Take a look at Elizabeth I again, her blackwork costume has florals. This wonderful spiral-bound blackwork resource book is a bargain.  $42.95

I need to mention here, Laura has a cyber class coming up: Daffodil Time. However time is limited to join in.  The registration period is open now and ends on April 30th.  The class begins in late May. All the information you need is on her website: lauraperindesigns.net. I love the design since daffodils are a personal favorite. And it is spring!
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 -

Color Study: Liberty Star

The Blackwork Collection -

Blue and Gold Angel

The Impressionist Collection -

Prairie Star

The Kimono Collection -

Autumn Leaf Kimono

The Sampler Collection -

Halloween Wreath

The Secret Garden Collection -

California Poppies

The Western Collection -

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:

      Starry, Starry Night
      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.

      Now I think I know what you tried to say to me
      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 know as stitchers we can worry over whether we've used the "correct" stitches and end up having another UFO (unfinished object). Jean Hilton applauded her own mistakes and her students'. She put her feelings about mistakes in her great book, Stimulating Stitches. She wrote, "Please note I have put quotations around the word "mistake", to stress that when errors happen you can often make something new and different out of that error that can lead to a new combination of colors and fibers, to a new pattern of stitches or to a new way of thinking." Jean saw mistakes could be beautiful. Jean was taught to stop and think which created an analytical personality. Her philosophy is one of "what if". Her stop and think is very similar to my "thinking time" where I stop and meditate on what I'm trying to do. I definitely relate to Jean's encouraging us to enlarge our perceptions of what works and doesn't work. Bravo! 

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.

This version of Rockaway was stitched by Jim Vestal. When Tony Minieri saw it displayed at Callaway School of Needleart in January of 1991, he was as pleased with it as many others have been and gave his permission to use Jim's photo on the cover of these instructions. Jim's Rockaway, which combines his perfect stitching and his exquisite sense of color, has won many awards across the country. What an inspiration!  Pick and choose your Little Guys from the 18 Jean stitched.   $50.00   (Discount Code: Remember to use this code (Mary17) for a 20% discount for this book and all the other new books listed in this and past blogs.)


Other New Titles:

Adams, Sean - The Designer's Dictionary of Color - This book is considered a groundbreaking guide to the origins and design use of key colors from an award-winning designer. The author provides an in-depth look at 30 colors key to art and graphic design. Organized by spectrum, in color-by-color sections for easy use, this book documents each hue with charts showing color range and palette variations. Chapters detail each color's creative history and cultural associations, with examples of color use that extend from the artistic to the utilitarian. This book opens up the world of color for all those who seek to harness its incredible power.  $24.95


Aldridge, Kelley - Royal School of Needlework: Raised Embroidery - This book features an introduction to the RSN and its prestigious heritage it reveals the history and context of raised embroidery and showcases galleries of inspiring raised embroidery work. This is primarily a practical, instructional guide that offers a complete grounding in the techniques you need for this embroidery. It also contains a comprehensive stitch guide and leads the reader through each technique using clear step-by-step photos and easy-to-follow expert guidance. The book contains three beautiful projects that put these techniques into practice and showcase additional advanced techniques.  $35.00


Chamberlain, Ruth - Beginner's Guide to Goldwork - This popular and enduring book was first published in 2006 and is still held in high regard today. It now returns as a Search Press Classic, with the addition of a preface by the illustrious embroider and world-renowned blogger Mary Corbet. Ruth Chamberlain aims to teach the reader how to create beautiful goldwork motifs, which together form an impressive sampler. Covering a range of designs, stitches and techniques, with templates throughout and examples of the author's inspiring work, this book provides a firm basis on which the embroiderer can build future projects.  $19.95



Cetti, Livia - The Exquisite Book of Paper Flower Transformations - Cetti will teach you how to play with size, shape, color, and texture to create 25 vibrant single stems in a variety of natural shapes - globes, spikes, bells, saucer, rectangles, cones, and arcs - including hydrangeas, coral charm peonies, honeysuckles, and paperwhites. Then, you'll use these elemental shapes to build the 15 bright, abundant arrangements, including bold wreaths, bountiful bouquets, fantastical gilded wall art, and blooming garlands. Introducing never before seen techniques for dyeing paper and creating moldable leaves and petals.  $24.95



Ciotti, Donatella - Soutache: How to make beautiful braid-and-bead embroidered jewellery and accessories - Soutache is the traditional craft of creating jewellery and embellishments from looped and stitched soutache braid. In this colourful book the author provides the guidance and inspiration you need to create beautiful contemporary designs for bracelets, necklaces, earrings and a whole host of adornments and fashionable accessories. Using a few, readily available tools and materials, embroiderers, sewers, and jewellery-makers alike will soon be creating eye-catching statement pieces in jewel-like colours, incorporating beads and gems for added opulence.  $17.95




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




Merrill, Jane, Gail DeMeyere and Karen Ben-Horin - The Sweater: A History - Originally knit as underwear, the sweater is a practical garment with homely beginnings and has evolved into a fashion statement. The book traces the sweater's 300 year history telling the story of its construction, national traditions, fads and fashions, and accessories. Learn about the panoply of yarns, Nordic patterns, buttons, vintage collars, runway designs, manufacturing, and today's exploration of form, structure, and material of this hand craft.  $39.99





Miller, Lesley Ellis - Balenciaga: Shaping Fashion -  Cristobal Balenciaga (1875-1972) remains one of the most revered and enigmatic of fashion designers. Here, marvelous illustrations reveal why he is renowned for exceptional tailoring, sculptural shapes, deft manipulation of textiles, and an dramatic use of color. His glamorous clientele included Grace Kelly, Jackie Kennedy, Pauline de Rothschild, Ava Gardner, and Marlene Dietrich; many of his clients dressed only in his creations. This book also looks at the Spanish-born couturier's designs and business practice, and places him in the context of the time, looking at the country in which he learned his trade and international fashion scene. 160 color illustrations.  $45.00



Owen, Roderick and Terry Newhouse Flynn - Andean Sling Braids: New Designs for Textile Artists - Learn to make the decorative braids used in the sling-making traditions of Peru Bolivia; this detailed guide, including400 step-by-step photos plus hundreds of diagrams, teaches the technique and over 100 designs for weavers, craftspeople, jewelry designers, basket weavers, and others interested in using braids for embellishment. In-depth detailed instructions are given, along with clear diagrams; recommended braiding yarns for lings and kumihumo; detailed set-up, making, and finishing instructions; and many fascinating contemporary applications. This book introduces a new piece of equipment, the core frame, and gives instructions for making it from wood and dowels. When the core frame is used with a braiding stand and bobbins, a wide variety of core-carrying braids become accessible to kumihimo braiders. Most of the braids, from 4 to 40 strands can be made on a braiding card/disk, and 50 patterns can be made on the stand without a frame.  $39.99




Moad, Elizabeth - Paper Folded Flowers - With step-by-step photos for guidance, Elizabeth shows you how to make 21 simple, yet effective paper flower embellishments, from greeting card adornments to flower bunting and decorations that brighten your home. Learn how to apply simple folding techniques such as origami, kirigami and teabag folding to create beautiful blooms. These projects range from straightforward concertina-fold flowers to elaborate and elegant paper roses.  $15.95


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. 

Better Homes and Corpses Mystery #1 - After Meg Barrett found her fiancé still has designs on his ex-wife, she decided it was time to leave her job at a top home and garden magazine in New York City to go to Montauk, Long Island, only to find decorating can sometimes lead to detecting. In between scouring estate sales for her new interior design business, Cottages by the Sea, Meg visits swanky East Hampton home of her old college roommate, Jillian Spenser. But instead of seeing how the other half lives she learns how the other half dies. Jillian's mother, known as the Queen Mother of the Hamptons, has been murdered. When Meg helps inventory the Spensers valuable estate for the insurance company, she finds herself in the thick of things. Cataloging antiques and art loses its charm when Meg discovers that the Spenser family has been hiding dangerous secrets, which may have furnished the murderer with a motive.   $7.99

Hearse and Gardens - Mystery #2 - To keep her mind off the legal battle over the oceanfront cottage she's trying to buy, Meg agrees to help het friend inventory and clear out furniture from the Montauk estate of wealthy art broker, Harrison Falk. But the job takes a terrifying turn when Meg discovers a skeleton in a hidden room of one of the estate's many bungalows.  $7.99









Ghostal Living - Mystery #3 - Ghostal Living - The first Sag Harbor Antiquarian Book and Ephemera Fair is right around the corner, and meg has her hands full decorating rooms at the Bibliophile Bed and Breakfast for wealthy rare book collector Franklin Hollingsworth. Rumor has it Hollingsworth is in possession of an unpublished manuscript written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. When that manuscript's authenticator is found dead at the bottom of a cliff, Meg suspects a killer is on the loose. Rare books start disappearing from the Bed and Breakfast and Meg sees a connector between the stolen books and the deceased authenticator. With the fair looming, she finds herself caught up in catching a killer and thief before another victim is booked for death.  $7.99


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

Cattrell, Bailey - Daisies for Innocence - (Enchanted Garden Mystery #1) - Ellie's life has blossomed in Poppyville, California, since she opened Scents and Nonsense, a custom-made perfume store. Her skills with aromas and botanical essences --some from her very own garden. Her perfumes can evoke emotions, bring about change, or simply make people happy. Customers are flocking to the store to buy her wares or just sit in her beautiful garden, sip tea and enjoy homemade cookies. But she smells trouble when she learns that her part-time assistant Josie is dating her ex. And before she can tell Josie to beware of his charms, she finds Josie dead in the Enchanted Garden. $7.99

Nightshade for Warning (Enchanted Garden Mystery #2) - Ellie's business is booming and she even lives right next to the garden with her corgi, Dash, and her cat, Nabokov, in a compact, tiny house. She is excited to hear that a journalist is going to write a feature about her home and garden life for a national magazine. But the journalist is found dead, and suspicion falls on the last person to see him who happens to be Ellie's brother's girlfriend. So before everything goes to seed, Ellie must rely on her powers: observational and otherwise - to pick out the real killer from an every-expanding bouquet of culprits.  $7.99

Harris, Sherry - Tagged for Death ( A Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mystery #1) - Starting your life over at age thirty-eight isn't easy, but that's what Sarah Winston finds herself facing when her husband CJ runs off with a 19-year-old temptress named Tiffany. Sarah's therapy happily involves hitting all the garage and tag sales in and around her small town of Ellington, Massachusetts. If only she could turn her love for bargain hunting into a full-time career. After returning from a very successful day searching for yard sale treasures, Sarah finds a grisly surprise in one of her bags: a freshly bloodied shirt that undoubtedly belongs to her ex, DJ who now happens to be Ellington's chief of police. It that's not bad enough, it seems Tiffany has gone missing. Now it's up to Sarah to prove that her cold-hearted ex is not a cold-blooded killer.  $7.99

The Longest Yard Sale - ( A Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mystery #2) - When Sarah turns Ellington, Massachusetts into New England's largest garage sale for a day, it's the small town's biggest event since the start of the Revolutionary War. Then a painting goes missing and the lifeless body of an Air Force officer is found in Carol Carson's painting studio, his face framed with the murder weapon - a metal picture frame. Sarah is definitely on this case but it's not easy sorting through increasingly strange clues that point to cheating spouses. $7.99


All Murders Final! (Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mystery #3) - Sarah begins a new step when she starts her virtual garage sale. But what began as a fun way to run garage sales during the long New England winter has become a nightmare of managing people and putting out fires. Online, she can avoid the crowds --but not the crazies. When a client is murdered, its time for Sarah to seek the help of her ex--CJ Hooker, chief of police. Together they search online and off for the killer. Can they solve this crime before someone else gets tagged?  $7.99


A Good Day to Buy - (Sarah W. Garage Sale Mystery #4) - When Sarah's estranged brother Luke shows up on her doorstep asking her not to tell anyone he's in town --especially her ex, the chief of police-- the timing is strange, to say the least. Hours earlier, garage sale was taped off as a crime scene following the discovery of a murdered Vietnam vet and his gravely injured wife -- her clients, the Spencers. All Luke will tell Sarah is that he's undercover, investigating a story. Before she can learn more, he vanishes. Rummaging through his things for a clue to his whereabouts, Sarah comes upon a list of veterans and realizes that to find her brother, she'll have to figure out who killed Mr. Spencer. And all without telling her ex..   $7.99


Cochran, Peg - Dead and Berried - (Cranberry Cove Mystery #3) - It's June in Cranberry Cove and Monica Albertson's plan to sell cranberry relish to chain stores is taking off. The cranberry bogs are in bloom, and local beekeeper Rick Taylor and his assistant Lori Wenk are bringing in bees to pollinate the blossoms. When a fatal prick fells Lori, the buzz is that Rick is to blame. In trying to clear her friend's name, Monica discovers that more than a few people in Cranberry Cove have felt the power of Lori's venom, and it looks as if this time she may have agitated the hive a bit too much. With the fate of the farm on the line, Monica must get to the bottom of the crime before another victim gets stung.  $7.99


Cox, Mollie Bryan - Death Among the Doilies (Cora Crafts Mystery #1 - For thirty-something blogger Cora Chevalier, small-town Indigo Gap, North Carolina, seems like the perfect place to reinvent her life. Shedding a stressful past as a counselor for a women's shelter, Cora is pouring all her talents -- and most of her savings into a craft retreat business, with help from close pal and resident potter Jane Starr. Between transforming her Victorian estate into a crafter's paradise and babysitting Jane's daughter the new entrepreneur has no time for distractions. Especially rumors about the murder of a local school librarian. But when Jane's fingerprints match those found at the grisly crime scene, Cora not only worries about her friend, but her own reputation. With angry townsfolk eager for justice and both Jane's innocence and the retreat at risk, she must rely on her creative chops to unlace the truth behind the beloved librarian's disturbing demise.  $7.99


Cox, Mollie Bryan - No Charm Intended (Cora Crafts Mystery #2) - Settling into her new life and career in small-town Indigo Gap, North Carolina, Cora Chevalier is preparing to host a "wildcrafting retreat" at her Victorian home. But then beloved nanny, Gracie Wyke goes missing. Amidst Cora leading guests in nature hikes, rock painting and making clay charms, she and her business partner, Jane, team up with Gracie's boyfriend Paul, to launch their own investigation. They take Paul in believing he's not the suspect the police believe him to be but as they discover new clues and a body turns up at a local abandoned amusement park, they begin to question their decision.  $7.99

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.