MY FIRST COVER... NEEDLEPOINT NOW

MY FIRST COVER NEEDLEPOINT

Last year, the Friday after Christmas,  I got a message

through Facebook from Elizabeth Bozievich.

She said she is the editor of Needlepoint Now magazine

and would I like to be featured in the magazine?

Would I ??!!!  She had been watching my posts

on Facebook.

From Thanksgiving to New Year's Day I put one new needlepoint design on

so people could see what I up to as a designer

& artist.  That Friday the canvas was "Kissing Santa at Mid-night".  To which Ms. Bozievich said "I cann't stand it!!  You 

have to let us run some of your designs in the magazine."

I said O.K.  Long story short, here is the canvas.

The Holly & Ivy Santa.

These are the steps I used to paint Him...Enjoy!!!  Now He is on the cover of the November- December issue 2013.

This was the best Christmas present I got last year!!

Thank you, Elizabeth. 

I will be featured in the January-February 2014 issue as well!!!

To order the canvas, have your favorite shop

contact me at:

curtisboehringer@yahoo.com

or call me at

216.381.2485  Mon.- Sat. 10:am- 5:pm EST.

(If I do not answer please leave a message...I'm

most likely out walking Buddy my dog.)

We are also putting the website together.

www.curtisboehringerdesigns.com

Will be up and running in a week.

Thank you all and Have a Merry Christmas !!!

Best Wishes,

MONDAY IN THE GARDEN

IN THE SEPTEMBER GARDEN

As I look around my garden
on this beautiful Monday morning
I am delighted to see all of these wonderful
colors of Autumn.

Or should I say the beginning of Autumn.

The smell of football in the air.
I live down the street from one of the high schools.

The leaves turning colors.

 Even the tin cat got in on the act...!!!

A season of cider and apples...

and burning leaves...

and putting flower beds to sleep for the winter...

and the racking of those leaves!!!

Autumn will be arriving soon with the
long nights and cooler temperatures...
sad to see the summer end.
And all that work with the leaves!!!
Oh, well.

Till we meet again...

Best Wishes,

MURDER MYSTERY FRIDAY

MURDER IN THE MANSION

Chapter Five

MILLICENT

Millicent was born in 1874.  Nine years after the Civil War.  On the birth certificate she was named,  Millicent Elizabeth Spencer.  The only daughter of 

Benjamin & Lillian Spencer.  Her father was the cereal king.

Who knew that a breakfast food,  oat meal, would bring in so much wealth.  Let a lone start every one's day with something hot in their belly's. 

Being the first born,  she traveled with her father all over.

She learned the business from the ground floor up and would be her father's right hand man in his later years.  She was educated in the best schools and went on to study at Smith College.  She would also, fight for women's rights.

An early feminist,  she didn't like women being treated as second class citizens.

One day in 1905, her beloved father died suddenly of a stoke in his office.

Dead before he even hit the floor.  After the funeral and the reading of the will,  Millicent became one of the richest women in America.  50 million dollars richer on that day.

She run the company until she met and fell in love with one,

William Harrison Bingham.  She and her husband traveled all over Europe and Asia before setting up housekeeping in the Hudson River Valley.

William had made his fortune in oil refinement.  Millie decided to give up the cereal business to become a great lady?  She let her younger brother Arthur have the company,

and she would live out her days in Wood Haven and raise a family.  Arthur would turn the company around and make even more money than his sister had.

Mr. Bingham was very successful in the business of oil, having amassed a fortune of over 250 million dollars.

Bingham Oil was all over the country.

He and Millie had three sons,  Christopher,  Gordon and Thomas.  Each being groomed to take over their families business when the time came.  And it did in 1956.

William Harrison Bingham had died in his sleep on June 15th, three days after their wedding anniversary.

Chris always told me that there was a question mark there.

As my husband and I would find out later,  the date of June 15th is significant to this story.


(Thank you, Curtis for letting me tell my story.  Janet)



copyright 2013 Curtis Boehringer Mysteries


If you are reading and quilting along, your next block
will be a four patch.
9 1/2" x 9 1/2" with the seam allowance.
( 9" x 9") finished.  Cut six. Iron and set aside.

Use a green print with white and solid green fabric.
We are making a scrap quilt made of many colors.


See you next week with Chapter Six.
13 in all.

Till we meet again,

MURDER MYSTERY FRIDAY

MURDER IN THE MANSION

Chapter Four

THE VOICE

"So Granny dear give me your arm,"  the voice said.  With a quick jab, the needle had sunk into her flesh and the deed was done.  Millicent hadn't made a sound.  She just fell deeper into sleep.  She would sleep the sleep of the angels. Permanently.  Her maid would find her in the morning  and no one would be the wiser.  Before "the voice" left the room,

they thought of all those millions.  Inheriting all that money made them almost dizzy with pleasure.

When the morning came, the news of her death didn't shock

the household staff.  Everyone would think it was natural.  A heart attack, maybe.  But the voice knew, "Heart attack, indeed."  She was an old nasty woman who needed to die. They just helped speed things up.  After all 96 years wasn't a bad life.

The police were called and an ambulance came to take her body away.  My husband and I stood at the front door as they entered and went to her room.  The police were very gentle with her, rapping her in a sheet and putting her into a body bag.  Interesting how gentle people are.  No one could hurt her now.  Not like those whom she had hurt.  All of the ones who tried to love her.  The police then left with her.  After answering some questions we went inside.  So this was the start of my day.  It wasn't even 10:00 am.  "What next?",  I said to Christopher.

No sooner had I said it, the

phone started ringing.  I was puzzled for a minute.  "Your kidding !!!  Are you sure!!!"

 I was in total disbelief.  "Honey you're not going to believe this...!"  As I handed Chris the phone,  I started to faint.
This was the last thing I would ever want to hear.

(Thank you, Curtis for letting me tell my story.  Janet)

 copyright 2013 Curtis Boehringer Mysteries 


If you are reading and quilting along...this weeks block in a very easy one.  Cut a floral print into a 9 1/2" square.
(9 1/2" x 9 1/2") that's with the seam allowance.

Cut six. Iron and set aside.
Use a pink floral print...fussy cut it if you want.
We are making a scrap quilt of many colors.

See you next week with Chapter Five.
13 in all.


Till we meet again,

JULY THE FORTH

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY !!!

STARS & STRIPES FOREVER !!!

LET FREEDOM RING!!!

GAVE ME LIBERTY OR 
GAVE ME DEATH !!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA !!!!
EAT LOTS OF CAKE !!!

I think I've said it all !!!

Till we meet again,

MURDER MYSTERY FRIDAY

MURDER IN THE MANSION

Chapter Three

LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN

When Mother Bingham died,  Wood Haven had had an air of relief about it.  There was laughter in 

the rooms again.  Millie's illness took a tole on 

everyone who lived or worked there.

She had a bad heart, so she thought.  It was all in her head.

Nothing was organically wrong with it.  She had

a series of fake heart attacks. Real enough for nurses and doctors and round the clock help. People were coming and going all day and all night.  A regulator Grand Central Station.

It was one of those days when things didn't seem right.

  She had her vitamin shots late in the afternoon.  She had them twice a day.  Morning and at bedtime.  But on this

particular day the morning shot late in the day.  The evening shot not at all.  By the next morning she would be dead.

Who would kill a hateful old woman like that.  She was, to her friends a loving old lady who would do anything for them.  But to the family, her sons and to me, Millie wouldn't give us the time of day.  Did I say she was hateful,  a penny pinching B___H,  who would listen at key holes for fear someone was cheating her.

But I'm not bitter.

The morning of her demise,  her nurse went in to wake her.

Finding her dead wasn't on the program for that day.

We all got to thinking was it nature causes or was it MURDER.

I just can't imagine who would kill her.  Though I could name three including myself.  And for what??

Maybe about 250 million.

But for now,  as Shakespeare wrote

"Leave her to heaven."

(Thank you, Curtis for letting me tell my story.  Janet)

copyright 2013 Curtis Boehringer Mysteries 

Till we meet again,

If you are reading and quilting along...This weeks
block for chapter three is a four patch.

Each patch is made up with a solid red and a
blue and red print.
Each block should measure 9" x 9".
9 1/2" x 9 1/2" with seam allowance.

Make six.  Iron up and set aside.

We are making a scrap quilt of many colors.
13 in all.  See you next Friday
with Chapter Four.

NEEDLEPOINT ON A WEDNESDAY

MORE ANTIQUE NEEDLEPOINT

The more I look through what I have photographed

the more I find.

The beauty of these old canvases are 

truly wonderful.  Pre civil war??

Who knows.

I love the old bouquets.  Forever

stitched in wool standing the test of time.

You don't have to change the water.  They are 

always fresh, no bugs.  Just loving stitches

put together to make a seat cover

more inviting to sit upon.

Having worked at an antique shop,

one gets to have the first look at these 

pieces when they come in.

Romantic wool gardens to collect 

and enjoy for years to come.

Sounds a little like pressed rose leafs.

So much for romance today!!!

Till we meet again,

MURDER MYSTERY FRIDAY

MURDER IN THE MANSION

Chapter Two
THE ARRIVAL

It was a grey and rainy day when I first come to
Wood Haven.  Christopher had brought me home to meet
his Mother.  He told her over tea that we were to be married.
I thought she was going to kill him.
On the spot. But she didn't.

She had looked at me all afternoon in a funny kind of way.
That 'my son is to good for you' way.
She asked a ton of questions about my back round.
Who my people were, what religion was I,
where was I educated.  I told her "Smith."
She said under her breath "Go to Smith you could
even spell it."  The afternoon kept getting worse.  I did not know that someone so kind looking in the painting, could be so evil in real life.  Then she showed me her paintings.

Now at this point I was so hurt.  Nothing I said had pleased her.  When I took a look at
her pictures I was in tears.  I started laughing so hard I had to leave the room.  The tears were pouring out of my eyes.
She was a bad artist.  A very bad artist.  That old lady
couldn't paint her way out of a paper bag.

That made me feel great!  I am an artist,  better than she was
and I had her son...So there!!

She would always hate me for taking away her first born.
I did not care.  Chris loved me and told his Mother to back off.  It wasn't till years later I found out that she tried to stop the wedding.  That B___H!!!

I'm sure she hated me because my husband had control over the estate after she died.  A little something his father put in his will that his mother could not change.  And that it was going to make me a very wealthy woman.  God Bless Father Bingham.

Mother Bingham was only with us three very short years before she was murdered.


(Thank you Curtis for letting me tell my story here.  Janet)



copyright 2013 Curtis Boehringer Mysteries


If you are reading and quilting along...the second block
for this quilt is a shoo fly pie patch.
(That's a nine patch with half square tri angles in the corners)

Each block should measure 9" x 9" when finished
(9 1/2" x 9 1/2" with seam allowance)

Make six shoo fly blocks in a blue print and a
white print with blue in it.
Iron and set aside.

This will be a scrap quilt made in many colors.

See you next Friday with Chapter Three.
13 in all.  Happy sewing!!

Check out my blog on Mondays and Wednesdays, too. 

Till me meet again!!

  

MY NEEDLEPOINT SANTA'S

PAINTING ST. NICHOLAS

One of my favorite themes to
paint in needlepoint is Santa or Father Christmas
or St. Nicholas or Mr. Christmas.
I thought it would be fun 
to show you how I get going.

On a piece of cut 18 mesh needlepoint 

canvas, I start drawing out

St. Nicholas.

This time I'm thinking green and red paint.

Red for some detail and apple green

for the flower design and dots.
It's coloring like we did when we were younger.

Now for the swirls! 

Hundreds of them.  This is a

trademark of mine.

Some needlepointers stitch them and some not.
They are a nice detail.

copyright 2013 Curtis Boehringer

Before you know it I'm done.

The classical music I listen to always helps.

Thank you George Szell and The Cleveland Orchestra.

He measures about 11" high.  The colors

apple green, red and medium green

work well together. 

Hope you had fun with me today!!!

Till we meet again on Friday!

P.S. The Murder Mystery is only on Friday's.

FROM MY DRAWING BOARD

BLACK & WHITE

On a colorful day like today, I'm drawing in

black and white.

I am illustrating the flowers in the garden 

and from my imagination.

For a new series. Flowers and vines, English Ivy,

a pumpkin or two...Drawing beyond the season of

Spring and Summer.

Thinking about Autumn & Halloween,

Winter & Christmas,

on a hot humid day like today is sort of funny.

Even a big black crow came to visit

must put him in the an All Hallows Eve picture.

That's the life of an artist, designer and illustrator.

We are always out of season!!!

copyright 2013 Curtis Boehringer

Till we meet again on Wednesday!