As many of you know, this is a reorganization of the New Orleans Needlework meetup, as we are no longer able to contact our previous organizer. Our group has so much fun together, we didn't want our meetup to dissolve. Although I think our usual group would still have found a way to meet together, by using this venue, we can contact each other more easily and we can invite new people to join our gathering.

We usually meet at Ms. Georgia Ross' house, but she suffered a tragedy on Thanksgiving Day, in which her house had severe damage from a fire and she lost her cats. Her house is not able to be inhabited right now and may not be for several months. She is OK and living in an apartment near her home, but obviously is having a very hard time right now.

I will try to come up with a better location after the holidays for our meetings, but for the one coming up, I think it would be easier for us to meet at CC's Coffeehouse on Magazine/Jefferson. We've met there in the past and the lighting is OK and it does stay open until 10 p.m. Since it closes at 10, I thought we could start the meetup at 6 instead of 7 to give us a little more time. If anyone has suggestions for a better place to meet, please let me know!

We commonly bring a project to work on at the meeting and most of us bring in new yarns we've gotten in our stashes, new books we may have gotten and we generally share information and free patterns with each other. Feel free to bring in anything you want to show off, or anything you might need help with. I promise if we can't help you right then, one of us will find a way to help in the long run. Its really great to be able to visit with people who have similar interests in, and appreciation of, hand-made items.

If you have trouble with transportation, mention it on the board; it's possible someone may be passing your way and can help out. You never know unless you try.