"Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore!"

So where have I been and what have I been doing? Ensconced at the painting table in my office/studio, cranking out canvases!

First I Sugar-Plum-Fairied myself out painting Nutcracker ballet ornaments. Yesterday I moved on to characters from the Wizard of Oz, and what a trip down Memory Lane this is turning out to be!

I remember the evolution of these designs as clearly as if I'd done them last week, although it was actually 1998. My two sons enjoyed keeping me company through the first showing of the movie I'd rented, but I lost them for the second screening. I sat there with pencil and paper in hand, making notes and sketches for future reference. We lived in Connecticut then, but would soon make the move to Texas, and my personal life was in turmoil. These little people are definitely a bright spot from that chapter, and I'm enjoying getting reacquainted with them.

Dorothy--and Toto, too--will be headed to South Dakota when I've finished painting the series for someone who saw them in the recent issue of Needlepoint Now and wanted to give them a good home. And if this stitcher enjoys working these canvases as much as I did way back then, I'll be Over the Rainbow!