#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--MYSTERY AUTHOR DK COUTANT ON GRANDMOTHERS, KNITTING, AND NEEDLEPOINT

Grandmother's Green Sweater

DK Coutant was a Cross-Cultural Psychologist at the University of Hawaii at Hilo studying people and their cultural differences. But after many happy years, she wanted a challenge and made the move out of academics to write mysteries and forecast geopolitical events. Evil Alice and the Borzoi is her first published work of fiction. Learn more about DK at her website. 

My protagonist, Cleo Cooper hasn’t discovered the joy of fiber crafts yet. She is more of an outdoorsy type. So today, I’m going to grab the spotlight and write about my love of fiber crafts.

 

My grandmother taught me to knit when I was a little girl. She was a dedicated knitter, and I still wear sweaters she made for me. But back then, I only knitted when I visited her, to bond with her. When she died while I was in graduate school, I put my knitting away for twenty years.  

Scarf

But once my career was established and our kids left for college, I picked knitting up again. I’d forgotten most of what my grandmother had taught me, but thanks to Google, I managed long rectangles of beautiful wool yarn, otherwise known as scarves. I lived in Hawaii at the time, so unfortunately, we didn’t have much use for wool scarves. After a couple for me and my husband, I sent them off to our kids. Only one of our  daughters lived in cold weather, and our family soon hit scarf-fatigue. But I found I was semi-addicted to the scarf-knitting. I would get restless watching TV and needed something to do with my hands while I relaxed in the evening. 

Luckily a couple of the girls got married. Yay! Husbands I could foist a scarf upon!

 

Then babies, more Yays! I could knit my rectangles and crochet them together along the sides and… Voila! Baby blankets. That was fun and kept me busy for months instead of weeks.

 

The first 3 grandchildren were boys, and wow, I quickly learned those adorable little urchins could be destructive!

As much as I loved my knitting, it seemed wasteful to use all that beautiful yarn for projects that were no longer useful to me or the people I loved. Fortunately, one day I visited a friend with a lovely needlepoint cushion. I asked her about it, and she said her grandmother had made it. That brought back memories of my grandmother. I didn’t think she would mind if I moved from knitting to a different fiber craft. A little more Google-sleuthing and I found wonderful kits with all the yarn and color-coded backing I’d need to complete a project. They were not cheap, but when I compared them to what I used to spend on my luxurious yarn, it wasn’t THAT much more expensive. 

Well, yes, actually it was.

 

For a week I dithered over whether to spend the money on a needlepoint project. Fortunately (for my crafting project), that same week, I had a mishap on a ski slope and (unfortunately for my ankle), broke a bone. It wasn’t a bad break, but I was told to stay off it for a few months. That night I bought two needlepoint projects. It was a great investment. With all that time on my hands and frustrated with not being able to walk, I slowly but surely put together a lovely needlepoint that could be turned into a pillow. 

 

Work in Progress

To my delight, needlepoint takes me MUCH longer than knitting, so the floral needle point kept me busy while my broken ankle healed and for almost a year after that. I found a lovely person who would turn it into a pillow for me (Contact me at my website if you want her name) So when I calculated the extra expense for needle point supplies and pillow- assembly- assistance, and divided it by the long, long, loooong time it keeps be busy, and contentedly occupied, it is a bargain.

 

So I now have a completed pillow to commemorate my broken ankle, and I am still working on the pillow I started at the beginning of Covid (so I guess on the third year now?)

These pillows may make an appearance in a future Cleo Cooper mystery, so keep your eyes out for it!

 

Evil Alice and the Borzoi

A Cleo Cooper Mystery, Book 1

 

Evil Alice and the Borzoi is a not-too-dark, but not-too-light mystery set in Hawaii. Cleo Cooper, a cross-cultural psychology professor, is living the dream on the Big Island of Hawaii. With ocean-dipping weekends, she enjoys her dog, her job, and her boyfriend Ben - until the day she’s on a research vessel and a dead body is caught in the dragline. The police determine it is murder and set their sights on a gentle former student, Kai. It doesn’t take much urging from Kai’s auntie for Cleo to investigate.  But Ben grows distant, and Cleo’s dog grows ill. A couple of accidental deaths later and someone makes an attempt on her life. What happened to Cleo’s life in paradise? Can she discover the true killer? Can she stop the killer before the killer stops her?

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#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--MYSTERY AUTHOR BARBARA BARRETT ON CRAFTING & WRITING IN QUARANTINE

Mystery and romance author Barbara Barrett writes the Mah Jongg Mysteries, a cozy mystery series set in central Florida, and contemporary romances, the most recent being the UnderWright Productions Series. Learn more about her and her books at her website. 

Over the years, I’ve worked out a writing schedule that accommodated my enjoyment of lunches with friends, lifelong learning classes and two Mah Jongg games a week. But my writing has always taken precedence. The sewing machine I purchased two years ago, with the exception of a couple projects, has remained unused. Other projects I’ve started have been stored in bags in my closet, rarely seeing the light of day. My mind was on my books and getting the word out about them.

Then in March, even those limited external activities came to an abrupt halt when COVID-19 hit.  

Because I have spent the last several years focused on my writing, adjustment to the “new normal” of the coronavirus was easier for me than for some. I’ve been able to remain fairly productive, finishing the sixth book in my Mah Jongg Mystery series, Jokers Wild, due out in early July. I started the next book, The Charleston Challenge, scheduled for release next fall. I also wrote and published The Mistresses of Mah Jongg, an introduction to the four protagonists in the series. You can download it for free here. 

However, with little outside stimulation, when either the words wouldn’t flow or I just needed a break, I’ve been revisiting some of those craft projects that have gone wanting. If you’re old enough, you may remember the sitcom “That Girl” starring Marlo Thomas. At one time, she leant her name to a collection of dress patterns. In the mid-70s, I used one of those patterns to make a white sundress trimmed with a red and blue quilt border in honor of the Bicentennial. Forty-five years later, with that dress having been given away years ago, I decided to see if the pattern would produce a new sundress that looks as stylish today as the original. This time I used a bright aqua sport cloth. Took a little restructuring, but in the end, it turned out pretty well. Everything is finished. Except for the hem. Now, with warmer temps, it’s time to wear it. If only there was somewhere to go. 

While I was working on my dress, others were sewing face masks. I couldn’t get excited about such a project, even though they were easy to make and so needed. I held off until my son requested some for his family, since they didn’t have a sewing machine. As part of recent downsizing efforts, my fabric collection was no longer the robust assortment it used to be, so I was lucky to find four pieces, plus an old torn sheet. But once I got started, my mind took on a factory line mentality. 

In fact, once I finished the first batch of ten, I braved a trip to the fabric store to purchase licensed college and professional team cotton featuring the Iowa Hawkeyes and Minnesota Vikings. I produced another twenty-five masks. The main challenge was finding enough elastic. Everyone was sold out. I finally purchased ponytail bands. I still have a few masks to finish, but after those first two efforts, I can’t get excited about completing the job.    

I was somewhat more successful with the needlepoint Christmas stocking I began three years ago for my youngest grandchild. I find needlepoint restful, unless I miss a stitch. There’s still a little more to finish, but I think this is the Christmas it will be hanging with the rest of the collection. 

Since I only work on the stocking in the daytime when there’s enough natural light, I needed something else to occupy my restless hands later in the day. I pulled out an old knitting project that I worked on whenever my knitting group met. While the rest of them created sweaters and afghans, my speed was squares. These will eventually be stitched together to make a bed cover. I laid them out to photograph for you. Looks like I’m not done with this project yet, either. 

Notice any trends here? I think it has something to do with what feels like the never-ending nature of the quarantine. Guess I just don’t feel rushed. Except to get the next book finished. 

Jokers Wild

The Mah Jongg Mystery Series, Book 6

Marianne Putnam’s one-act play is about to come to life, if she can put up with the guidance of an egotistical New York director who seems to think his primary job is tormenting the cast and crew at the Serendipity Springs community center. Jason Newhall’s efforts might be working in more ways than one — while the play gets better, everyone hates him more and more, including a trickster playing jokes in the theater. 

Just when Marianne’s baby is about to have its moment in the spotlight, the director fails to show up for curtain time. Marianne and his wife rush to his house to find him dead. Though no one really liked him, who hated him enough to kill him? Everyone in the cast and crew is considered a suspect, along with the director’s wife and Marianne. 

Sheriff Formero plays a trick of his own when Marianne and her mah jongg friends want to investigate the case—he invites Syd, Micki and Kat to work with him and his deputies to interview a long list of potential suspects, but only under his conditions. But Marianne can’t resist getting involved too. She enlists the hapless husbands of her friends, and they set out to solve the crime on their own ... only to learn the hard way that independence can be dangerous. 

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#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--MYSTERY AUTHOR MABRY HALL ON INSPIRATION VIA ANTIQUE JEWELRY AND PINTEREST BOARDS

A needlepoint Santa embellished with the author's favorite Victorian
aquamarine earrings.

Mabry Hall created Annalee Wyatt, 18 Karat Cold Mysteries' bling-bedecked sleuth, out of her love of antique jewelry. She gets a vicarious pleasure when Annalee buys, sells, and sometimes wears the beautiful pieces of jewelry she would love to have for herself. However, she's quite happy to leave the murders to her fictional creation and lives a quiet life in Louisiana, not far from the imaginary town of Berryville and Annalee's Goat Hill Farm. Learn more about her and her books at her website. 

My 18 Karat Cold Mystery series revolves around a heroine who makes her living with antique jewelry, one of my passions. Annalee Wyatt lives in an historic family home in north Louisiana, has a good-looking neighbor who annoys and intrigues her, and discovers she has an affinity for murder. While she doesn’t commit any herself, somehow each death involves a piece of jewelry that pulls her into the action.  

I wish I could share my process of designing and creating jewelry, but I’d be lying. I have no such skills, but I do appreciate the talent that produced the antique jewelry I love so much. On my first guest blog here in 2016, I discussed how that love for antique jewelry led to the creation of my 18 Karat Cold Mystery series. Today I’ll share how my Pinterest boards influence my plots.

I was slow to come to the world of Pinterest, and among the first boards I created was one for needlepoint stitches. I’ve been stitching since college, and used to design my own canvases. I now rely on painted ones, but I put my own stamp on them with the stitches and threads I choose. Pinterest search results can lead you in directions you never planned, and in my case, searches for medieval stitchery began to turn up medieval jewelry, which led to Georgian and Victorian jewelry, then Art Nouveau, then on and on until I would look at the clock and realize life was happening without me. 

I created a general board for antique jewelry, which inspired me to create separate boards for each of my books. For example, the second book, A Regrettable Reunion, revolves around a brooch made of demantoid garnets, which most people have never heard of. Its Pinterest board shows multiple examples of intricate Victorian and Edwardian jewelry made with the unique green stones, including the salamander pin that’s a key clue in the mystery.

Each 18 Karat board gives a view of both the specific pieces that are mentioned in the books plus a broad array of similar items. While searching for demantoids, I began to see many pictures of Art Deco and Art Nouveau jewelry. I was inspired to add a subplot about the estate of an early Texas oil baron, and so the board is full of incredibly beautiful, intricate pieces from the early 1900s. You’ll see things by Tiffany, for example, that are far more complex and colorful than the items you find in the store today. In general, jewelry from that era is highly focused on naturalism, with many pieces depicting plants or animals— and lots of insects! There are bumblebees, butterflies, dragonflies, spiders, and even wasps made from precious jewels and colorful enamel.

The patterns and colors in these styles inspire me and feed my creativity. I’d love to take some serious jewelry making classes, but there are only a few places in the country that teach the techniques I’d like to learn. Another consideration is that the raw materials are quite a bit more expensive than needlepoint thread or even the laptop I use for writing. I think I’m better off with my Pinterest boards and the occasional purchase of jewelry, unfortunately not of Tiffany’s quality.

You can check out my Pinterest boards here. 

A Rumor of Riches

An 18 Karat Cold Mystery, Book 3

Annalee Wyatt is looking forward to a quiet, solitary week in the woods. Just her, a couple of friendly dogs, and a well-stocked wine cellar. What could possibly go wrong?

The offer to stay in a cozy 1850s cabin sounds perfect, even if winter in Louisiana means there won’t be a blanket of snow. All Annalee needs to do in return is make an appraisal of a deceased artist’s jewelry and antiques. 

As an added bonus, she’ll have some strategic time away from the easy-going boyfriend who’s gotten too complacent about their relationship.

From the minute of her arrival, though, the historic house has more in store for her than antique jewelry and Cabernet. As it reveals its secrets, beginning with a never-ending supply of gold coins, the remote property becomes a magnet for a cast of characters ranging from pretty darn charming to obnoxiously oddball. She views all with her usual suspicion, which kicks into overdrive when she realizes each wants something he believes is hidden at the old homestead.

 Who can she trust when one of her visitors turns up dead? Thank goodness for the two stalwart hounds and her old friend Tennie. A benevolent spirit from the past is just welcome lagniappe.

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#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--GUEST AUTHOR LEA WAIT AND THE #NEEDLEPOINT OF MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS

The emblem of Mary, Queen of Scots

Today we’re happy to have back Maine author Lea Wait who writes the Mainely Needlepoint Mysteries and the Shadows Antique Print Mysteries, as well as nineteenth century Maine-set historical novels for young people. Learn more about Lea and her books at her website. 

When I started writing the Mainely Needlepoint mystery series two years ago, one of the first things I learned was that Mary, Queen of Scots, had been a famous needlepointer. I’d grown up hearing stories about Mary: my grandmother had come from Edinburgh, where her family (the Stewarts/Stuarts) had lived for generations. She’d always believed Queen Mary was somehow related to us. (Our family home was just down the street from Hollyrood Castle.) So, of course, I started reading about Mary’s needlepoint.

I’d known castle walls were warmed by woven tapestries. But I learned that some were stitched by professional embroiders (most of them men) who lived and worked in castles. The clothing of noble ladies was also embroidered, as were bed hangings, curtains, valences, pillows and cushions, panels, purses ... almost any cloth that could be decorated. Wealthy and noble women also did needlepoint, although on a smaller scale.

Scotland-born Mary was sent to France when she was five, destined to be the bride of Francis, the Dauphin. She and her ladies learned needlework at the French court from her future mother-in-law, Catherine de Medici. One of the tasks of the court embroiders was to draw designs on canvas, silk or satin, for the noble women to embroider.

As an antique print dealer, I was fascinated to learn that the designs of flowers, birds and animals the women embroidered were copied from natural history engravings of the period.

Mary did marry Francis when she was sixteen and briefly was Queen of France, but Francis died only a year after their wedding. When she returned to Scotland to become Queen of the Scots, she brought with her a few servants from her French household – including two embroiders. Their work was needed in the cold stone Scottish castles.

Mary herself did needlepoint all of her life, but she is best known for the work she did during her long years of captivity. (Her cousin, Elizabeth of England, fearing Mary would act on her claim to the English throne, had her isolated in an English nobleman’s home.) Mary and the wife of her “host” in England, Bess Hardwick, spent hours each day embroidering. It was one of Mary’s few amusements.

Once she even covered a red satin skirt with embroidery of flowers as a gift for her cousin Elizabeth, hoping it would soften the queen’s heart. She embroidered gifts for friends. And before she was executed, she arranged for her needlework to be distributed among her friends and family.

In my latest book, Thread and Gone, I’ve managed to connect Mary’s needlepoint to the coast of Maine. How? To find out, you’ll have to read the book! (There’s a link to a free prequel on my website, www.leawait.com)

And if you want to know more about Mary’s needlework, I suggest Margaret Swain’s The Needlework of Mary Queen of Scots, Santina Levey’s An Elizabethan Inheritance: The Hardwick Hall Textiles, or George Wingfield Digby’s Elizabethan Embroidery.

Thread and Gone

When a priceless antique is stolen, murder unravels the peaceful seaside town of Haven Harbor, Maine. . .

Angie Curtis and her fellow Mainely Needlepointers know how to enjoy their holidays. But nothing grabs their attention like tying up loose threads. So when Mary Clough drops in on the group's Fourth of July supper with a question about an antique needlepoint she's discovered in her family attic, Angie and her ravelers are happy to look into the matter.

Angie's best guess is that the mystery piece may have been stitched by Mary, Queen of Scots, famous not just for losing her head, but also for her needlepointing. If Angie's right, the piece would be extremely valuable. For safekeeping, Angie turns the piece over to her family lawyer, who places it in a safe in her office. But when the lawyer is found dead with the safe open and ransacked, the real mystery begins. . .

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#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--GUEST AUTHOR LEA WAIT

The Loara Standish Sampler

Lea Wait is the author of the Mainely Needlepoint series (Twisted Threads, Threads of Evidence and, coming in December, Thread and Gone.) She also writes the Shadows Antique Print mystery series and historical novels for ages 8 and up. Living and Writing on the Coast of Maine is her series of essays on the writer’s life. Learn more about Lea and her books at her website. 

Being able to sew a fine seam and embroider were for centuries considered basic skills for women. In the fifteenth through eighteenth centuries needlepoint, the most decorative of these arts, was done primarily by wealthy women and the men hired by them to create tapestries, bed hangings, and elaborately stitched clothing.

In seventeenth through nineteenth century North America, tapestries were not common, but before central heating, bed hangings were common in wealthier households. And as in Europe, girls were expected to demonstrate their dexterity with needles at an early age, and often did this by stitching a sampler using various embroidery stitches, often including an alphabet, a scene, and, almost always, a devout verse.

Possibly the first sampler stitched in the New World was done by Loara Standish (pictured above,) daughter of Miles Standish, in 1640. It is now displayed in Pilgrim Hall in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

By the nineteenth century, embroidery skills were taught in girls’ schools on the east coast, and teachers designed elaborate samplers for their students to stitch, frame, and give to their parents to thank them for the gift of an education.

One of my favorite sampler verses was stitched in 1827 by Mary Chase, age eleven, in Augusta, Maine:  “Let virtue prove your never fading bloom, For mental beauty will survive the tomb.”

Girls like Mary Chase inspired my Mainely Needlepoint mystery series. (Twisted Threads, the first in the series, was published in January, 2015.)

In an unexpected twist for a craft mystery series, my protagonist, Angie Curtis, is just learning to do needlepoint. But her grandmother is a master, and has started Mainely Needlepoint, a business that employs a variety of men and women in Haven Harbor, Maine, to do custom needlepoint and identify and restore antique needlepoint. (In Threads of Evidence, the second in the series, clues in needlepoint they are restoring give clues to a mysterious death in 1970.)

I love the (often depressing) verses on samplers, so I’ve included a verse, or a quotation about needlepoint, at the beginning of every chapter in this series.

For example, this verse was embroidered by Lydia Draper, age thirteen, in 1742:

           

Nothing is so sure as Death and

Nothing is so uncertain as the

Time when I may be too old to Live,

But I can never be too young to Die.

I will live every hour as if I was to die the next.

What better sentiment for a mystery series?

Threads of Evidence

It's hard to imagine anything bad ever happening in picturesque Haven Harbor, Maine--until a famous face rolls into town and unthreads some very dark secrets. . .

Angie Curtis and the Mainely Needlepointers are all too familiar with the Gardener estate. The crumbling Victorian mansion, known as "Aurora," has been sitting vacant for nearly twenty-five years--and some say it's haunted by the ghost of Jasmine Gardener, the teenage girl who died there in 1970 under mysterious circumstances...

Harbor Haven is abuzz with excitement when Hollywood actress Skye West decides to buy Aurora and sell off its furnishings. And Angie is intrigued when Skye asks her to appraise the estate's sizable collection of needlepoint pictures. But the more she examines the pieces, the more they seem to point toward Jasmine's murder--and the murderer--and it's up to her to stitch the clues together. . .

              

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#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--GUEST AUTHOR AND NEEDLEPOINT NOVICE LEA WAIT

Maine author Lea Wait writes the seven-book Shadows Antique Print Mystery series, the first of which, Shadows at the Fair, was an Agatha Award finalist, in addition to the new Mainely Needlepoint series. She also writes historical novels for ages 8 and up. For more about Lea and her books, visit her website.  

I’m excited! Tomorrow, January 6th, is the publication date for Twisted Threads, the first book in my Mainely Needlepoint mystery series.

The protagonist, 28-year-old Angie Curtis, grew up in Haven Harbor, Maine, the daughter of a single parent with a questionable reputation. When Angie was ten, her mother disappeared; her grandmother guided her through a rocky adolescence. After high school she took off to make a new start far from Maine. She made it as far as Arizona, where she got a job assisting a private investigator, learned to handle a camera and a gun, and tried not to think about her past.

Twisted Threads begins with a message on her telephone: “Angie, they’ve found your mother. It’s time to come home.” She looks at her needlepoint cushion stitched with Gram’s phone number. Gram gave it to her when she left Maine: a message to anyone looking for her next-of-kin. Gram didn’t want her to disappear, as her mother had.

Angie takes the next flight out of Phoenix.

Back in Haven Harbor, she faces her past, is determined to find her mother’s killer, and discovers Gram has started a custom needlepoint business. And then … but you’ll have to read Twisted Threads to find out what happens.

The Mainely Needlepoint series is my second mystery series; the first, the Shadows Antique Print series, is centered around an antique print dealer. Since I’m a fourth generation antique dealer, none of my readers will be surprised that Angie will be involved with identification, restoration, and preservation of vintage and antique needlepoint. The chapter headings in the Mainely Needlepoint series will also have snippets of information about needlepoint and quotations from early samplers, like this one from a sampler stitched in Limington, Maine, in 1821 by fourteen-year-old Louisa Otis:

           

“Of female arts in usefulness

The needle far exceeds the rest.

In ornament there’s no device

Affords adorning half so nice.”

Why needlepoint? I’ll admit that although my grandmother knit, embroidered, tatted, and smocked, the only skill I picked up from her (despite her best efforts) was knitting. But I’ve always loved needlepoint and grew up admiring antique needlepoint and cross-stitched samplers. Antique embroidery, especially needlepoint, has always fascinated me because it represented the skills and interests and art of generations of women. It still does.

Writing the Mainely Needlepoint series has given me an excuse to learn more about needlepoint, past and present, just as Angie does.

I’ve joined the Embroiderers’ Guild of America. I now have several shelves of books on needlepoint, past and present. I’m even starting to do some stitching of my own, although having a kitten in my house hasn’t helped me concentrate on needlepoint projects!

But as the Mainely Needlepoint series continues, I’m looking forward to increasing both my knowledge and my skills.

What could be more fun? Learning a new skill … and solving a few mysteries along the way!

Twisted Threads

Returning to the quaint coastal town of Harbor Haven, Maine—a place she once called home—Angie Curtis finds her memories aren’t all quite pleasant ones…

After leaving a decade ago, Angie has been called back to Harbor Haven by her grandmother, Charlotte, who raised her following her mother’s disappearance when she was a child. Her mother has been found, and now the question of her whereabouts has sadly become the mystery of her murder.

The bright spot in Angie’s homecoming is reuniting with Charlotte, who has started her own needlepointing business with a group called Mainely Needlepointers. But when a shady business associate of the stitchers dies suddenly under suspicious circumstances, Charlotte and Angie become suspects. As Angie starts to weave together clues, she discovers that this new murder may have ties to her own mother’s cold case…

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CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--GUEST AUTHOR AND NEEDLEPOINTER VICKI BATMAN

Like some of her characters, award-winning author Vicki Batman has worked a wide variety of jobs—everything from a lifeguard to a ride attendant at an amusement part to store clerk to administrative assistant in an international real estate firm to general “do anything gal” at a financial services firm. These jobs have given her plenty of material for her writing. Most days begin with her hands set to the keyboard and thinking “What if?” Learn more about Vicki and her writing at her blog.

I Can do That!

Several years ago, my mom and I were perusing the clearance rack at Hobby Lobby and found needlepoint Stitch and Zip eyeglass cases. Despite having never stitched needlepoint in my life, I bought two with the thought, I can do that!

I did those cases in the basic stitch and when my girlfriend wanted to try advanced classes, I learned fancy stitching. However, I’ve stuck with painted canvases in the basic stitch, sorta like a paint by numbers thingy.

For my new daughter-in-law, I needlepointed this stocking:

For myself, I made the handbag shown at the top of this blog post.

Like most writers, some real life creeps into my writing. My heroine from Temporarily Employed, Hattie Cooks, carries handbags, and I love handbags. She drives a Wrangler, and I’ve owned many a Jeep. When Hattie checks out Allan Wellborn’s apartment, what does she find? Here’s a sneak peek:

A. Wellborn’s apartment appeared to be the same as other guys' with great emphasis on the television. His had evolved into a huge, 3D flat screen. His media equipment had been stored on a store-bought shelving unit, instead of crammed onto a cinder block and plank shelf or tottering precariously on a microwave rolling cart.

I assessed the other areas and noticed a dark chocolate leather couch, end tables which matched a coffee table, ceramic lamps, remotes, et cetera. Most likely, his mom had assisted in picking the furniture as his stuff looked too coordinated. And my suspicions were confirmed when I found the needlepoint pillows she’d crafted laying about.

No visible stains or smells were anywhere. No underwear tossed about. The kitchen looked clean with wooden barstools pushed to the peninsula. His computer desk, placed in the dining area, looked well organized. Books and papers were piled in neat stacks. Gratefully, I didn’t see his gun lying around, which led me to the relieving conclusion he had no plans to shoot me tonight.

Yep, there’s needlepoint. LOL. Surely, there’s something you like to make—cooking, sewing, papier maché. So are you crafty?

Temporarily Employed

New Job. New Love. And Murder.

Hattie Cook's dream job is down the toilet and her new SUV violated. Desperate for cash to cover the basic necessities of rent and food, she takes a temporary job at Buy Rite Insurance Company where she uncovers an embezzling scam tied to the death of a former employee--the very one she replaced. The last thing she wants is to clash with By-the-Book Detective Wellborn, no matter how much he makes her heart pound.


Detective Allan Charles Wellborn has secretly adored Hattie all his life. When the police determine there's more to the death of a former Buy Rite employee, he steps in to lead the investigation. Overly dedicated, always perfect, he puts his job first, even if doing so ultimately hurts the one he loves. Can the killer be found before Hattie's time is up?

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CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--GUEST AUTHOR M.S. SPENCER ON NEEDLEPOINT AND MURDER

Late 17th or Early 18th Century Italian or French Silk Bargello

M.S. Spencer has published nine novels, lived on five continents, borne two children, and loves the Florida sky and the Maine woods. Learn more about her and her books at her blog.

My romance/murder mystery Artful Dodging: the Torpedo Factory Murders takes place in Old Town Alexandria, an historic cobblestoned city on the Potomac River in Virginia. It follows the adventures of several artists at the Torpedo Factory Art Center. An old munitions factory on the waterfront, it lay abandoned after World War II until the 1970s, when an intrepid band of local ladies convinced the City of Alexandria to lease it to them for an art center. Today it houses 82 studios, the Art League, the Friends of the Torpedo Factory, and an Archaeology center. I had the pleasure of serving as the Executive Director of the Friends of the Torpedo Factory for several years and watched the artists at work, weaving their often-eccentric personalities into my characters. My office was in the tower at the top of the building, where Milo finds her first dead body.

In Artful Dodging Milo Everhart creates delicate needlepoint, while her friend Tekla Spirikova sculpts large metal objects. Together they fight City Hall (literally,) which wants to give their beloved Torpedo Factory Art Center away. Things get complicated when their greatest adversary turns out to be the man Milo loves, and even more complicated when too many murder victims turn up.

I have been doing needlepoint since my children were small. I made needlepoint Christmas stockings for everyone in the family before moving on to eyeglass cases. Of course, friends and relatives could only use so many eyeglass cases, and after awhile I began to find them hidden in nooks and crannies about the house. I still love it, but I'm not the artist Milo is. Which is why she has a studio in the famous Torpedo Factory and is a juried artist with all kinds of awards.

Antique Crewel Embroidery

Milo paints her own canvases, chooses her own yarns and colors, and finishes the product, be it a clutch or eyeglass case, pillow top or picture. She uses a variety of stitches, including Bargello.

Bargello uses thick, usually bright colored yarn on canvas. It's named after a collection of chair seats in the Bargello Museum in Florence, Italy. The long, vertical stitches usually cover two or more threads. It makes a nice thick mat--good for heavy use items, although the technique limits designs to geometric patterns.

Milo also does crewel--true embroidery that uses silk or cotton floss and a variety of stitches such as stem stitch, French knots, and satin stitch. Crewel is used for delicate items--samplers or pillows. Many people like counted cross stitch, but Milo hates it because, since she has to count the stitches to know when to change colors, she can't focus on her love life or the murders that keep cropping up at the Torpedo Factory Art Center.

For more information on the Torpedo Factory, check out their website. You'll also find more descriptions of the art of needlepoint in Artful Dodging.

Artful Dodging: the Torpedo Factory Murders
Waiting out the rain, Milo Everhart takes stock of her widowhood and the handsome man standing in the door to the bar. Little does she know she will meet that man again and again under both passionate and terrifying circumstances.

Tristram Brody waits for his date, too conscious of the beautiful woman sitting by the door. Little does he know that she will hate him for trying to destroy her beloved art center and even suspect him of murder. Nor that she will be drawn inevitably into his arms. 

Little does either of them suspect they will be embroiled in not one, but two murders, in which the fate of the Torpedo Factory, an art center housed in an old munitions factory on the waterfront of Old town Alexandria, will be decided.

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