Let's start with the question of the month: "What newer designers and product creators (fabric or floss dyeing, etc) out there have you discovered and recommend?"
Well, I have to say, I haven't really been looking at anything new this past year, be it designers, fabrics or colors. My last purchases were three needlepoint canvases/kits from Needle Delights Originals, just before I broke my wrist in October 2016. They were part of the "Destination" series and the three I bought were called "Tropic Seas", "Tahiti" and "Bora Bora". They reminded me of our cruise there a year earlier. I was also attracted to the variety of stitches used as well as the bright colors.
I suppose that I would recommend these kits --- or others (there were many in different series) --- for anyone interesting in upping their needlepoint game!
Now, as for what I did this month, or what there was of it when I haven't been sick.
I started sorting threads and putting them away. My first step was sorting speciality threads from various kits. They were a tangled mess, consisting of skeins, bobbins, and loose threads of various makers:
I need to do something similar for makers like WDW, GAST, Dinky Dues, By the Sea, Waterlilies and others, many of which have larger cards like these Rainbow Gallery cards. Luckily, they aren't in as much disarray as the Rainbow Gallery threads and so sorting should be easier, once I feel up to it again. At the moment, however, they reside in the lower of the two baskets you see in the photo above.
And once these are put away, it's the daunting DMC/Anchor mess that is left.
Did I stitch this month? No. Didn't even think of doing so. Sorry. I need to go take some cough meds now and get some rest.