Delectable Jan

After we dropped Jack off in Boston, Jim and I drove the 2 hours West to Brattleboro, Vermont where we spent the weekend.

My trip to Delectable Mountain Cloth to visit Jan Norris inspired this video:

[Note:  I highly recommend clicking on the HD which will take you to vimeo where you can watch the video in high definition.  Otherwise it's a bit fuzzy at full screen.]

Delectable Jan from Susan Elliott on Vimeo.


You can find the Delectable Mountain website here.  You can reach Jan and the staff at Delectable Mountain by phone at (802) 257-4456 or by email at staff@delectablemountain.com  You can follow the shop news on Facebook here.

I've uploaded all the pictures that I used in the video to my Flickr account here.

After my visit, I felt such overwhelming gratitude to Jan that this was the only way I knew how to express it.

She does so much more than buy and sell cloth.

She puts all of herself into what she creates.

She really is everything.  I just love her.

Delectable...

Mountain Cloth.

Some things are just too good not to share.

Do you know that there's this gem of a cloth shop located in Brattleboro, Vermont called Delectable Mountain Cloth?

Did you know that the owner Jan used to work in the Garment district in New York and has the most exquisite taste in fabrics?

And best of all, did you know that she puts together packages of small cuts of these exquisite fabrics for sale to crazy quilters?

Here's what you do.

You call or email Jan Norris at Delectable Mountain Cloth and you tell her what you're looking for...she has some packages already made up and she can tell you what she has in stock. If you want a custom order, she can do that too. It may take a little longer because she's a small shop but just tell her what you want...a color, silk brocades, lace, velvets, tulles, etc....you tell her how much you would like to spend (packages range from $20 to $40 depending on what she has..she sells based on weight)...And there's SO many different fabrics in each pack. I didn't count but it was a lot.

And she sends you a package in the mail. And you get to turn over each fragment of beautiful fabric and exclaim over the beauty that is now yours to transform into art.

This is a pink one...

There is no way we could afford these fabrics if we had to buy them by the yard or the quarter yard...

Check out these green brocades...

And when they come in these quilter's packages...there's just nothing better than that.

Jan didn't give me any remuneration to write this post about her shop...just her charming and personalized service, her discerning eye for the exquisite and her deliciously delectable fabrics.

It's one of my life's current treasures. And now I've shared it with you...

Have a delectable day everyone.

P.S. My friend Shirlee wrote a post a few weeks ago about her trip to the shop...check out her post here. You won't be disappointed...

Meeting Elizabeth!

Elizabeth Woodford and I have been blogging needle friends (BNFs) for a couple of years now and we finally had the chance to meet each other in Alexandria, VA yesterday.

Since the Woodlawn Needlework Exhibit is about halfway between the two of us (Elizabeth lives in Virginia and I'm in Maryland), we decided to meet there and see the exhibit together. We spent a few hours touring the show, eating lunch and talking non-stop.

It's funny to meet BNFs in person after you have gotten to know them so well online. We know so much and yet...so little. We have knowledge of the other through what we each have chosen to share with each other on our blogs. But that leaves the whole rest of someone's life to get caught up on!!

Well...I'm here to tell you that Elizabeth and I had one heck of a first date!

Elizabeth has to be one of the most upbeat, positive, and supportive friends I have online. Her work is exuberant and full of life. Whether she's teaching felting to school children (LOVE this post), making art quilts, dying, journaling, jewelry making...she happily does it all...and does it well.

Check out this beautiful scarf that she Nuno-felted using a silk crepe de chine blouse from the thrift store, some lace from a garage sale and a little bit of wool roving...!

She just whipped it together on Sunday so she could wear it to our date on Monday! Love the colors...Elizabeth also loves gardening and flowers.

Today she taught a Beaded Cuff class. Each cuff is unique to the maker and her classes are getting rave reviews. I LOVED this cuff...and "Happy" is most definitely Elizabeth's signature.

After lunch, Elizabeth took me to her favorite bead shoppe which was only 10 minutes from Woodlawn...Beads Limited. Oh, it's a "must see"!

This is the owner Rosalie Lamanna or "Ro"...she's a joy.

And she has filled her store from floor to ceiling with stringed beads...many of them vintage. Even the back of the door was covered!

It was a wonderful shop located inside of an old brick apartment building complex -- not a "normal" location for a bead store but it works! And it's only 10 minutes from the Woodlawn needlework show! It was an added bonus to an already terrific day.

And if that's not enough, Elizabeth gave me a collection of her sun prints which I have coveted for years. I LOVE her sunprints! They are gorgeous and I cannot wait to use them...And for her to teach me how to make them...

We may get to see each other again for the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival the first weekend in May. Fingers crossed. We just need our pocketbooks to recover from the bead debt we incurred yesterday...

If you haven't met Elizabeth, give yourself a treat and head over to her blog, Elizabeth Creates, and say hello. And thank you Elizabeth for a great day -- I'll get in trouble with you any day!

See you tomorrow for more adventures...

P.S. Here's the bead store info:

Beads Ltd.

1801 Belle View Blvd., Suite A-1

Alexandria, VA 22307

(703) 768-9499

Hours: Sunday 1:30 - 6:30pm

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday 11-6pm

A Needlepoint Groupon -- Wednesday, February 23

I spent my part of my morning taking pictures of these canvases, threads and supplies for my friend Ruth.

When I said the other day that the needlework industry needed to get with it, I forgot all about Ruth Schmuff of Bedecked and Bedazzled.

It turns out that Ruth is going Groupon tomorrow!

For those of you not from the States, Groupon is an online coupon purchasing program that is city-specific. Local businesses offer extreme discounts if a certain number of subscribers agree to purchase the deal. It's great. I've bought everything from movie tickets, to meals, to bus trips to New York City.

Well, I'm pleased to announce that Ruth will be offering a Groupon tomorrow for a Beginner's Needlepoint Class at her Baltimore shop, Bedecked and Bedazzled.

For only $79, a new customer can receive a 2-hour beginning needlepoint class; canvas, threads, stretcher bars and tacks; and either that beautiful leather jewelry box or luggage tag to finish the item.

It's designed to reach a younger stitching audience and I think it would be perfect for a few of my older nieces.

If you're in the Baltimore area, maybe you know someone who would love the opportunity to learn how to needlepoint and spend a day with the girls too!

You can read more about the offer on Ruth's blog here. And you can check out this post I wrote about Ruth's shop a year or so ago.

Ruth is always doing something cool. My hat is off to her for using modern conveyances to attract new needleworkers to our craft.

P.S. If you've sent me an email in the past five days, I'll get back to you. I was away from the computer all weekend and I'm still getting caught up!

Island Inspired

Visiting tropical climates never ceases to amaze and inspire me and the Florida Keys were no different.

Forget cocaine...I got so revved up by all the postcard views and the colors and the fact that everything was so green...that I didn't need a Thanksgiving feast. The visual banquet was enough to keep me full for weeks...

I give you Exhibit A. Check out this little island off by itself...

Now if that doesn't set your mind to dreaming, I don't know what does.

I used to draw pictures like that when I was a kid. Stick-figure Me on a remote little island with a hut, a palm tree, and birds and seashells and the ocean and sun and sky. That was it.

I wonder who lives out there? I wonder if they do needlework? I mean, let's face it, that would be a pretty spectacular view to wake up to every morning. And I wonder what I would create if I woke up and saw such beauty every day...

I didn't need to wait long for an answer. We drove the hour to Key West and found Island Needlework, owned by designer Julie Pischke. Her shop didn't officially open until yesterday but the website said to call ahead for an appointment. So I called on Thanksgiving and Julie was true to her word...she opened up her shop just for me the next day. Sadly, on the day of my visit, Julie got called away by a sick friend and it was her husband and her friend, Sally, who I met that day (and Sally lives 15 minutes away from me and was just visiting -- small world)...

Even though I didn't see Julie, I felt like I met her.

Everywhere her shop is full of her life's work. And here it was. The answer to my earlier question...

Here is what an artist creates when they wake up to such beautiful views every day.

Interpreting the island life and tropical pleasures with canvas, needle and thread.

Fabulous. The shop itself is a three-story house, 100 years old and renovated by Julie's husband Richard -- they live upstairs. It's picturesque...it's gorgeous...from the open windows with propped up shutters...to the fans lazily swirling overhead...

To the color outdoors that comes in...and the color indoors that blend out...

If I were going to design, and own my own shop, and live a full-life, integrated with a loving community in an amazing location...This would be it!

I wanted to stay there in Key West. And come back on a relaxing afternoon, and sit in the front room around the table with a group of friends and stitch. The place called to me.

And I was inspired. Not just by the island...but by the woman who designed and created this extraordinary needle-life in a cottage on an island in the middle of the sea...

You got that right, Julie. Peace indeed...