Good Morning, America!

This is my first blog and I am very excited!. I know I should have done this a long time ago, but I am one of those people who takes time (lots of time!) getting used to something before I jump in.

This has been a very busy 2 weeks. Yesterday, I had a story about me appear in the NY Daily News! How cool is that? And it was the centerfold - finally, I am a centerfold girl. In the Queens section, of course.

This past weekend, I was on NY1 TV News. I called them a couple of weeks ago to let them know about my project, The Americana Stars Memorial. I got a call the next morning from a producer who told me that they looked at my website and all of the information I sent. They were so impressed, they wanted to make me their Queens Person of the Week!

My mom was a former Miss Queens in the 1940's so I guess we now have something in common (even if her title was for a whole year). She would get such a kick out of it, like no one else I know. I lost her last August and it's been so hard, but I know she would be proud. I can see the gleam in her eye as I write!

I realize that I kind of jumped in without you knowing anything about me, so here we go.

I was raised in Westbury, New York, a suburb of Long Island. I am a graduate of Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC with an A.A.S. in Display and Exhibit Design and a B.F.A in Textile and Surface Design. I have worked in the fashion and home furnishings industries throughout my professional career, creating designs for woven textiles and decorative trimming.

In Junior High school, when I learned how to sew, I did not know it would open up a world of needle arts. I started sewing clothes and moved on to embroidery in high school and college. In 1999, I walked into my local crafts store and discovered cross-stitch. It appealed to me because, as a weaver, the designing process was based on squares, just like the graph paper used in designing for the weaving loom. I was hooked.

After the fall of the World Trade Towers in NY, my needle arts focus changed. Up until then I had concentrated on designing quilts in cross stitch. After 9/11, I created An Americana Flag as an artistic response to my feelings about that day. When the Smithsonian Institution requested my flag for the National Museum of American History, I decided that perhaps I could create something bigger that would help others deal with the events of that day as my flag had helped me.

The Americana Stars Memorial is that project. After a story about my efforts was published nationally, I received letters, cards and emails from stitchers all over the country, wanting to be involved. The project has grown from there and I have been working on it since early 2003. I hope to have it completed and displayed by September 11, 2011.

I live in Rego Park, New York and love to spend time cross stitching, watching old movies, walking, weaving, cooking, and visiting with my nieces, family and friends.

So now you have some of my story, except that I was also in 2 other newspapers, the Queens Tribune and the Forest Hills Ledger, in the last couple of months. And another one, The Rockaway Wave, is coming next week. I have been sooooooooo busy, but thrilled that everyone I call has wanted to write about my project.

I promise to not be a stranger to my own blog and will post often. I will also be including links to my stitchers who are on blogspot and their own websites (as a courtesy they deserve for their wonderful efforts on my behalf).

See you later! Thanks for reading!