A friend of Brenda's, needlepoint designer Waly Young, came to her after a weekend of hiking in the mountains near Prescott, Arizona and told her he had discovered some artwork in the Arts Prescott Gallery, in Prescott, Arizona, that she would absolutely fall in love with. He said he still couldn't get it out of his mind and was thinking of contacting the artist, Joanne Frerking, to ask if she would be willing to sell him the needlepoint reproduction rights to some of the pieces she had done.

He seemed so overwhelmed with what he had seen, Brenda decided she'd better see it as well. It was a good 3 hour drive from Tucson, but well worth it. When she arrived at the art gallery, she could hardly wait to get inside to see the pieces. There were 10 or 15 pieces, mostly Kimonos and Emperor's Coats, the majority of them collages, done in acrylics, hand made paper, gold leaf, and fabric. Brenda knew, when she saw the original artwork in the Arts Prescott Gallery, that she had to stitch the piece in needlepoint. It simply took her breath away.

They left with Waly's having purchased the reproduction rights, and Brenda's having purchased an original piece (approximately 34 x 36 inches). Within the next few days, Waly had done a line drawing of the Emperor's Coat and Brenda began stitching.

Sometimes she would ask him to paint a section for her in a particular color and sometimes she couldn't wait to for him do it, so would paint it herself. (She says she's definitely not a canvas painter!) The colors and stitches just kept coming to her. She was having so much fun stitching the piece she didn't want to put it down to go to bed. She'd never enjoyed stitching a piece quite as much as she did this one.

Brenda has asked Joanne to do another piece for her, which will be an oriental collage. It will not be a kimono or Emperor's Coat. Brenda says she doesn't know at this point if she will do it in needlepoint or not. She just knows that she's going to love seeing it hanging on her wall.