July 9, 2019 Tuesday

The First Day of My Remodeled Website

Permanent Resolutions for Stitchers

1.  Take all the pent-up anxiety about perfection and redirect that energy toward creativity. Open up your minds and think of creative  possibilities you can bring to your needlework, ways that will personalize it and make it distinctly yours.  Here are two ways to start:

Oops you made a mistake and you face a lot of ripping.

Ask yourself, is it really a mistake or a variation?

You do have to rip if you crossed most of your crosses in one direction and suddenly you started crossing them in the other direction, yep no way around that. Why? The real reason for good technique is that it allows all your attention to focus on your design (where it should be).

You don't have to rip if you made a leaf one row bigger than the design called for. This is obsessive behavior that needs redirecting.

You do need to rip if you make something so large it is out of scale with the rest of the design; you do not have to rip if it is barely noticeable.

You do not have to rip if you mixed up colors and the design is not exactly as the designer's model. For heaven's sake, if it looks OK, stop obsessing.

You do have to rip if a color or texture is not in harmony with the rest of the design.

You do not have to throw away a design if you run out of a dye lot.

If it looks like you are headed toward thread shortage, don't use the thread to the last strand, save at least 1/4 of it. Buy some more and decide where and how to introduce the new dyelot. I actually prefer to work with multiple dyelots. If you pay attention to lights and darks etc., they can bring an added depth to your design.

2. In memory of Audrey Francini, my generation's greatest needlewoman, slow down. Needlework is not a speed contest. Audrey was the slowest stitcher I have known. She was also the best. I have a couple of great stories about Audrey and her speed, I'll tell them in the next couple of mornings.

3. Forget about the Needlepoint Police. They don't exist except in their minds. You may meet people who think they know it all. Good for them, I applaude their confidence, but I don't buy into it.

I have probably told this story a dozen times but it is worth telling again and again. Years ago a friend wrote to me and asked, will this Kreinik braid look good with this silk?

I replied, beats me, try it and see.

Friend: whadaya mean you don't know, you're the teacher.

My reply: if the Immortal Artists Of The Western World don't know without trying, how would I, one mere mortal needlework teacher? (There's a bit more to thsi story too, I'll tell the rest another time).

All this goes to say once again, there is no real right and wrong, there are problems of course. The best way to find solutions is to think creatively.

Those are my New Year's Stitching Resolutions for 2021, still good for 2022, 2023 and for 2024.

Reminders for me as well as for all of you.

October 4, 2024 Friday

I had a super productive time all morning long yesterday.. I made great website progress.

But in the afternoon I crashed. I was so tired I couldn't hold my head up. Day 3 of aftermath from my Covid booster.

DH and I are such opposites: he feels no effects from vaccines. Me? It always takes me 3 or 4 days to get back to normal.

One more vaccine to go and we are good for the winter months.

I did make one bit of interesting progress: by accident I found the box with trailings of Maggie Smith's geometric. Now to find the actual kits....

October 3, 2024 Thursday

I've started the webwork! I thought I had taken all the photos but I have to shoot some more. Will try and do them today.

I had a bit of sad news: Carolyn broke her shoulder so she won't be able to send photos of her antique tools for Surprise Windows. It won't be the same, so I'm considering suspending Surprise Windows this year and just having one big sale, all my new things, some old and limited things as well.

I've always loved doing Surprise Windows but I know some of you find them tedious. If you have an opinion let me know.

Meantime: photos and I have all the written descriptions to do. And I have some personal Zooming today. I actually love to zoom, makes me feel like  I've seen company! I particularly like it when someone else sets up the Zoom and all I do is make two clicks.

October 2, 2024 Wednesday

Yesterday was productive till about noon, then DH and I had our Covid boosters. Vax's never bother DH but they always take their toll on me and by the afternoon my arm ached fiercely and I was exhausted. So did something sensible: knocked off work and napped, woke up and watched the politics.

So I lost time, but am still hanging in there. I have a long way to go but I also have 22 days till EWeek. My photos are finished, now I have to lay it all out.

On facebook people have been posting designs of mine they have stitched and it is a very good feeling to see all of them. Thank you to those of you who have posted your work. Cheers me up to see how well you do!

October 1, 2024 Tuesday

The first day of October and it is time to celebrate autumn on Queendom Website.

I decorate our fireplace mantle with seasonal stitchings each quarter and I always look forward to autumn when I  put up my Salem Witch Sampler. Witch stays up from September until Thanksgiving and is our favorite mantle decoration.

Behind the scenes: I was planning to take yesterday off, but the light was so good that I pulled out my trusty little camera and shot a bunch of photos.

Then I spent the balance of the day first in Apple's Photos which I've learned to use after all these years and then in PhotoShop. Apple's Photos gets me started and then I turn to PhotoShop for finishing and anything fancy.

Today I will start the webwork for the sale and it will take me a couple of weeks to mount the sale.

Busy day ahead but actually a welcome change from counting threads and beads.

September 30, 2024 Monday

The last day of September 2024 and I am happy to announce I have finished kits, stacked them on the diningroom table and am ready to move on.

Noted: I finished a day before my deadline.

Yes, ready to move on to webwork, but first a cleanup and organization day and maybe some photos, depending on the quality of the daylight today.

Tomorrow October arrives, one of my favorite months of the year, and with it webwork in earnest, for the countdown is on till EWeek 2024. October 24 will be here before we know it.

September 29, 2024 Sunday

I would like to leave my Maggie Smith designs on my home page a couple more days.

Behind the scenes, I have now finished seven of my new designs for EWeek, one more to go and with luck I will finish it today.

If so tomorrow I will start work on Surprise Windows. They always give me a chance to sort and clean up around here.

I had intended to sell Echoes earlier but time got away from me. As such, I will add both to the Surprise Windows. Here's a good thing: I know right where my kits are for both, so adding them will be easy.

Guess who's coming to Queendom Website....