Ferris - Embroidered Truths

Embroidered Truths — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "Embroidered Truths" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

1234567...51

Table of Contents

Praise for Monica Ferriss Needlecraft Mysteries

Ferriss characterizations are top-notch, and the action moves along at a crisp pace.Booklist

A comfortable fit for mystery readers who want to spend an enjoyable time with interesting characters.

St. Paul Pioneer Press

Filled with great small-town characters... A great time... Fans of Jessica Fletcher will devour this.Rendezvous

Colorful and humorous... perfect. BookBrowser

Delightful... Monica Ferris is a talented writer who knows how to keep the attention of her fans.

Midwest Book Review

Another treat from Monica Ferris.Mysterious Galaxy

A fun read that baffles the reader with mystery and delights with... romance.Romantic Times

Fans of Margaret Yorke will relate to Betsys growth and eventual maturity... You need not be a needlecrafter to enjoy this... Delightful.Mystery Time

Needlecraft Mysteries by Monica Ferris

CREWEL WORLD
FRAMED IN LACE
A STITCH IN TIME
UNRAVELED SLEEVE
A MURDEROUS YARN
HANGING BY A THREAD
CUTWORK
CREWEL YULE
EMBROIDERED TRUTHS

Anthologies

PATTERNS OF MURDER

Acknowledgments

Mexico City is wonderful. Godwin is right, John is wrong, its a great place to vacation. The places I mention down there are real, except for the night clubI was privileged to see and hear a flamenco guitar performance in a private home. Maru is real, she designed the tlattoli pattern in the back of this book. The places described in Excelsior and Minneapolis are real, except that a sushi bar has replaced the Waterfront Caf. I wish to thank Ellen Kuhfeld, my own private editor, sounding board, and idea person. Also Berkley Prime Crime and my agent, Nancy Yost. Needleworkers everywhere: I am more grateful than I can say.

Toda es segun el color del cristal con que se mira.

Everything depends on the color of the glass you see through.

Spanish saying

One

IT was a glorious spring morning in Excelsior. Trees were showing off their bright new leaves, and while tulips were dropping their petals, lilacs and lily of the valley were sweetening air already throbbing with the call of robins. Betsy would have left the door of Crewel World open if her shop manager, Godwin, had been there.

Uncharacteristically, he was late, so she had to keep it closed so its Bing! would warn her of a customers entranceshe was busily rearranging the back of the shop. The idea came from Susan Greening Davis, whose newsletter had become Betsys Great Guide. The layout of a shop should be changed at intervals of, say, six months, suggested Ms. Davis. Regular customers typically went to the same spot to look at familiar stock, and moving merchandise to a new spot would make them hunt around, and perhaps discover a new designer or even a new skill. One of the happiest things a shop owner can hear is a customer crying, I didnt know you had these!

Interestingly, rearranging the layout would often bring a similar cry from an employeeoccasionally even a shop owner. Of course, if something has been on a shelf so long even the owner has forgotten it, it should go into the deep-discount basket by the cash register forthwith.

On the other hand, there is, or should be, a pattern to a shop layout, a way of drawing the customer in, teasing with a spinner rack of cute and inexpensive charts, then another one of new flosses, and yet another of the familiar and popular, and so on, building desire, until the customer finds herself standing before a display of expensive kits, the hunger to buy at a peak.

Or so Betsy hoped. She was standing on a little ladder, reaching to rearrange one of the track lights so it shone on the lovely new Kreinik silks when she heard, Betsy? Betsy, are you in here?

The voice came as something of a shock, because she hadnt heard the door make its annoying Bing!

Betsy jumped down and hurried out between the two stacks of box shelves that divided the needlepoint-knitting area from the counted cross-stitch area. Here I am! Oh, hello, Mrs. Wells. HowI mean, when did you come in? I didnt hear the door.

Mrs. Wells, a regular customer, turned to look at it. You know, I didnt either. Do you suppose... ? She went to the door, opened and closed it again. It did not emit its harsh ring. How about that? she said, then, Im here to pick up my Spectrum canvas.

Oh, wait til you see it, it looks wonderful!

Mrs. Wells had recently finished stitching a needlepoint canvas using a chart rather than stitching over a canvas with the pattern already painted on it. Painted canvases cost hundreds of dollars, while the chart was a mere twenty-five dollars. Plus materials, of course. Betsy had seen an ad for the Amybear chart in an issue of Needlework Retailer and ordered it on spec. Mrs. Wellss glad cry on seeing it on Betsys shelf prompted Betsy to order two more.

Now, Betsy went behind the big desk that was her checkout counter and picked up a fourteen-inch square wrapped in brown paper. She carefully picked the tape away from one end of the package to disclose a framed circle of twelve segments, each segment a different color done in squares and rectangles of different stitches. Like a proper color wheel, the colors ranged from cool purple and blue to hot red and orange.

It was the stretching, matting, and framing Mrs. Wells was here to pay for today; she had selected an antique gold frame that was a perfect choice.

Wow! said Mrs. Wells, reaching for her checkbook.

You did a great job, agreed Betsy. And so did Heidi. Heidi was Betsys finisher.

Wheres Godwin this morning? asked Mrs. Wells a few minutes later, as she stood at the door looking around, the retaped needlepoint piece under one arm.

Hes a bit late this morning, said Betsy. I expect him any minute. She tried to keep the concern out of her voice. Godwin was rarely more than a few minutes late, and then he always called to say what had happened and when hed be in. But today the shop had been open an hour with no sign or signal.

Mrs. Wells left, and Betsy went back to the track lighting.

Betsy! Again she was startled by the voice of someone in her shop without the warning Bing! But it was Godwins voice, and it sounded distraught.

Goddy? Betsy hurried out to the front of her shop to find her store manager leaning on the library table that stood in the middle of the floor. He was unshaven and wearing the same clothes hed had on yesterday, now badly rumpledand Godwin was a very fastidious dresser.

What on earths the matter? she said.

Its John. Hes thrown me out. John was Godwins lover.

Again? Betsy regretted the query the instant it came out of her mouth. Godwin was a good man, but very sensitive.

Still, John had thrown Godwin out on several other occasionsand they had always made up after a few days or a week.

Its different this time, this time he really means it, said Godwin in a low voice.

It was always different this time, but this time Betsy held her tongue.

He fell into a chair and rested his forehead in his hands. He wouldnt take two minutes to explain what the problem was, he wouldnt even let me take a change of clothes, just tossed me out on my ear. I drove around for awhile, then I went back home and thought Id park in front with the top down so hed look out the window and feel sorry for me. But he didnt, so I slept the whole night in my car.

Next page

1234567...51

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «Embroidered Truths»

Look at similar books to Embroidered Truths. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.

Tom Godwin

The Greater Thing

Pam Godwin

Deliver

Betsy Griffin

Out of the Woods: A tale of positivity, kindness and courage

John Godwin

Catullus: A Selection of Poems

Michael John Key

The House of Godwin: The Rise and Fall of an Anglo-Saxon Dynasty

Betsy Draine

The dead of Achill Island

William Godwin

Enquiry Concerning Political Justice

Clark John P.

Romantic rationalist: a William Godwin reader

Ferris

The Drowning Spool

Godwin

Publishing: a Writers Memoir

Peter Godwin

Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa

Betsy La Honta

The 3-in-1 Betsy Bag Pattern

Discussion, reviews of the book Embroidered Truths and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.