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Embroidered Lies and Alibis
(An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery)
by Lois Winston
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About Embroidered Lies and Alibis
Embroidered Lies and Alibis (An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery)
Cozy Mystery 15th in Series Setting - New Jersey
Independently Published Publication date : February 10, 2026
Print length : 199 pages Digital ISBN-13 : 978-1940795812
ASIN : B0FZDBKCJD
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A Stitch in Time Could Save a Life…
When Anastasia’s mother Flora is offered a free spa vacation from Jeremy Dugan, a man connected to her distant past, Anastasia and husband Zack suspect ulterior motives. After all, too-good-to-be-true often spells trouble. Their suspicions are confirmed when the FBI swoops in to apprehend Dugan. However, Dugan isn’t who he claimed to be, and his arrest raises more questions than answers.
The Feds link Dugan to a string of cons targeting elderly single women across the country, but his seemingly airtight alibi leaves investigators stumped. Then, shortly after his release on bail, he’s kidnapped. A certain segment of New Jersey’s population is known for delivering deadly messages, and the FBI believes Dugan received one of them.
Meanwhile, bodies begin showing up in the newly created public garden across the street from Anastasia and Zack’s home. With two baffling crimes, no clear suspects, scant evidence, and every possible motive unraveling, both the FBI and local law enforcement are once again picking Anastasia’s brain. This time, though, her involvement is far from reluctant. Will she stitch together enough clues before she or someone she loves becomes the killer’s next victim?
Craft project included.
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Crafts with Anastasia
by Author Lois Winston
Anastasia Pollack, the reluctant amateur sleuth of my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries, is a women’s magazine crafts editor. When she’s not tripping over dead bodies and getting dragged into murder investigations, she spends her days designing quick and easy craft projects for budget-conscious crafters.
I drew upon my own experiences in the crafts industry to create Anastasia. Like her, I went to art school. We both decided early on that we didn’t possess the teaching gene. She went to work for the magazine, and I worked as a freelance designer for craft book publishers, magazines, and kit manufacturers.
One of the reasons I chose to make Anastasia a crafts editor for a magazine was that it enabled me to focus on a different type of craft for each book in my series. To date, with the recent release of Embroidered Lies and Alibis, there are fifteen novels and three novellas in the series. All the novels include craft projects.
Today, I’d like to share with the readers of Reading, Writing & Stich-Metic the directions for Woven Felt Pillows. You can find other craft projects and ideas on the crafts page of my website.
Woven Felt Pillow
Materials:
(Note: Material amounts will vary depending on size of finished pillow, but 1/2-yd. of felt is sufficient for a pillow up to 16” x 16” for the one color also used for the backing. Less felt is required for the three other strip colors.)
Four colors of felt, non-woven iron-on interfacing, pillow form or fiberfill, basic sewing supplies, DMC #5 Perle Cotton in contrasting color, embroidery needle.
1. Determine the size of the pillow you want. Cut a piece of iron-on interfacing two inches larger than the finished pillow. (Example: if you want to make a 12” x 12” pillow, cut the interfacing 14” x 14”.)
2. Cut a series of felt strips 1” wide by length of interfacing.
3. Place interfacing on flat surface with fusing side up. Alternating two of the felt colors, pin strips of felt to top of interfacing.
4. Beginning at top, weave alternating strips of remaining colors in and out across pinned strips.
5. Remove pins and carefully turn pillow top over on ironing board. Fuse interfacing to felt per manufacturer’s directions.
6. Trim edges even.
7. Cut backing felt the same size as pillow top.
8. With woven side of pillow top facing up, place top over backing felt. Using one strand of Perle Cotton, blanket stitch around pillow, leaving enough of an opening for stuffing fiberfill or inserting pillow form. Stuff with fiberfill or insert pillow form. Blanket stitch opening closed.
Is there a craft you haven’t seen featured in a crafting cozy mystery but would like to? Post a comment. I’d love to hear your suggestions.
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About Lois Winston
USA Today and Amazon bestselling author Lois Winston began her award-winning writing career with Talk Gertie to Me, a humorous fish-out-of-water novel about a small-town girl going off to the big city and the mother who had other ideas. That was followed by the romantic suspense Love, Lies and a Double Shot of Deception.
Then Lois’s writing segued unexpectedly into the world of humorous amateur sleuth mysteries, thanks to a conversation her agent had with an editor looking for craft-themed mysteries. In her day job Lois was an award-winning craft and needlework designer, and although she’d never written a mystery—or had even thought about writing a mystery—her agent decided she was the perfect person to pen a series for this editor. Thus, was born the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries, which Kirkus Reviews dubbed “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” The series now includes fifteen novels and three novellas. Lois also writes the Empty Nest Mysteries, currently at two novels, and one book so far in her Mom Squad Capers series.
To date, Lois has published twenty-four novels, five novellas, several short stories, one children’s chapter book, and one nonfiction book on writing, inspired by her twelve years working as an associate at a literary agency. To learn more about Lois and her books, visit her at www.loiswinston.com. Sign up for her newsletter to receive an Anastasia Pollack Mini-Mystery. She also blogs regularly at The Stiletto Gang and Booklover’s Bench.
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