Yes, it's Me!

Christmas Cowboy (my son as a little tyke!)

A Little About Me: 

I opened Stitch n Stuff, a needlework store, in my hometown at the age of 23 but when economic hard times made it necessary to close the store I began creating and marketing  counted cross stitch designs and made my first sale to Crafts n Things magazine in 1992.  I've been published dozens of times since then and as a counted cross stitch artist my work includes everything from furry little animals to wall-sized pop art designs.  My newest work is scheduled to appear in the spring issue of The Cross Stitcher magazine -- a 14-inch square design entitled "Keys to My Heart" featuring hearts and ribbons created with floss and metalic blending filaments.  My Pawkeepsie Corners animals have also been featured in numerous magazines as well -- "Be Yourself, an Original is Hard to Copy -- Buckaroo Moo," among many others -- while my Sugar and Spice collection of cat designs is currently being considered for inclusion in a new publication by Joan Toggett/Zweigart, Ltd.  Other designs including "This House is Maintained Solely for the Comfort and Convenience of our Cat," "Happy is the Home that Shelters a Friend," and my Penthesilea Wedding Set (wall hanging, ring bearer's pillow and rice bags)  are also available at the Crafterstudio website

I'm also an author and have self-published a number of books including "Violence in the Arts", a parody of the popular television program Nightline wherein four Renaissance artists are questioned about their use of violence in their work.  The discussion is deep and often humurous while the book has been purchased by an east coast library for possible use in classrooms.  My other written works include a Hitchhiker's Guide-style sci-fi trilogy ("A Guided Tour of the Bleeding Obvious," "Admission Impossible," and "A Catastrophe of Biblical Proportions"), "Buy the Book" (insights on modern problems), and "The Potent Portable Wit and Wisdom of Amy Weaver," while my autobiography "Americanfusion" was purchased by the state of Michigan in 2005.  My writing and editing are also featured in the book "Alive on the Andrea Doria -- The Greatest Sea Rescue in History," published in the US and Italy in 2006, as well as in the soon-to-be-published "Wisdom in Living with Fibromyalgia," a medical treatise on a condition I share with far too many others. 

On a much ligher note, I also play the piano, am an avid movie buff (anything unique, well-crafted or purposely poorly constructed), I care deeply about world events, have developed a wide-ranging personal library, and am also a major Beatle fan since seeing them, along with 70 million others, on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964.  As an avid fan I collect all things Beatle and am currently reading a most fabulous book, "Magic Circles -- the Beatles in Dream and History".  I also, amazingly, share a birthday with Sir Paul (the same birthday as the friend who introduced Paul to John the year I was born) and an Irish cultural heritage with three of the four Scousers as Liverpool is the largest English port across the English Sea from Dublin. I hope to actually visit these port cities one day, but in the meantime tribute bands and conventions make life enjoyable as I create art and make it available here, there -- and well, everywhere.