From the Editor

Oh, happy day! The magazines from the last issue sailed across the country with record speed! It is hard to believe that they reached the West Coast in one week! It shows what can be done when a publication receives help from a congressman and is "carefully monitored" by postal authorities from Washington, DC as it makes its trek across the country. Many of you contacted us to say how much you like the new envelopes we used for this mailing. This process is costly and time-consuming, but we think a welcome improvement. We will be working with a new mailing house and our magazines will go out from a different post office. We sincerely hope that all of these changes will help to serve you better and make it possible for each of you to receive your book in excellent condition and in a reasonable length of time. Thank you for your patience with the mailing problems of the past and we hope those problems remain "in the past."

It is hard to believe that the summer is drawing to a close. I hope that everyone did that one thing this summer that restores your soul. I did get to my spot in the sun, Nags Head on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I spent an entire week there with my two daughters, Mary Jane and Lelia, and we met my cousin, Marge McMillan, who lives there all summer. We have enjoyed "Girls' Week" together in this same spot for the past twenty years. This year we had a guy for the first time during the week and I so enjoyed spending the time with my little one-year-old grandson, Donald Clarence McKinney, Junior. The weather was terrible and poured buckets of rain every single day so we didn't get to the beach but still loved the smell of the salty air. We shopped, stitched, ate at favorite places, played a really competitive game of Scrabble until 3 a.m. and reconnected our lives as we do every year. I returned home filled with awe for the beauty of God's universe and joy for the strength of family.

Now that fall is here, everyone wants to stitch. I was delighted to learn that needlework is on the rise in this country. I understand that at least 15% more people (especially young adults) are stitching. We welcome the new stitchers and in every issue will try to include at least one project that teaches basic information. Our cover design, Golden Cabochon, is such a project. Meredith Barnhill shares her expertise in working with metal threads on canvas with an entire page of helpful hints for the beginner in this technique. She not only gives us a lovely design for stitching but offers three other patterns for our selection. We are asking that you share with us what you do with this project. See information on page 9.

Ro Pace is a popular contributor to this publication and I love the idea of her new series, From The Heart. She is designing a box as a special and personalized gift for each of her daughters and granddaughters. Ro will stitch the boxes as her time allows and share them with us. We begin the series with Cathy's Box. Laura J. Perin, a new artist for us, designed the striking Blue Diamond Kimono. The idea here is to choose a variegated thread and then to build a color palette around it. Natalie Fisher experiments with color in her most informative article, The Colors of Nature.

I am grateful to all of the talented designers who share their beautiful projects with us and give us hours of stitching pleasure. I am also grateful to our feature writers who give us a wealth of information in every issue that goes to press. I am always thankful for my outstanding staff Sarah Bennett, Circulation Manager; John Lukomski, Chief Financial Officer; Sara Ann Cohen, Promotions Director; John Linthicum, Art Director; Janice Archer, Data Entry; Jennifer Taylor, Staff Photographer; Beth Robertson, Graphic Artist; Pat Timpanaro, Webmaster; and eagle-eye Proofreaders Fay Haverly, Donna Gotts and Marianne Frost.

Joyce Lukomski

Copyright 1999-2004, needlepoint now, LLC. The contents of this page were expressly posted for individual viewing purposes on the Internet only. No part of this Web site may be published, reproduced, stored in, or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (including electronic, mechanical, photocopy) whatsoever without written permission from the above copyright holder.

Photography by Jennifer Ashley Taylor

Web site by Neon Flamingo Designs

Last Updated November 24, 2004