Erma Bombeck

  Did you know that Erma Bombeck, the famous comedy author and columnist, loved to needlepoint?  I still think about her book, If Life is a Bowl of Cherries, What am I Doing in the Pits? whenever I see cherry pits.  She laughed, and we all laughed along with her.  She knew what was important in life. […]

Boring Writing Assignment? Write About Needlepoint

Do all teachers start the school year with the same old writing assignment? “OK, class, everyone write one paragraph titled ‘How I Spent My Summer Vacation.’” I dreaded writing that initial paragraph in school. My summer vacations were typically uneventful, and I pitied the teacher who had to grade so many similar essays.  As a […]

Presidential Needlepoint

Shirley Kerstetter has stitched dozens of portraits of American presidents. They are meticulous, 24-count, multihued masterpieces. She put them all together on a massive quilt, pictured in the article about her monumental work. Among other ideas, she mentions this: “I collected fabric for the presidential quilt for years,” Kerstetter said. “Every time I saw a […]