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.

September 9, 2024 Monday

Yesterday I began the webwork for EWeek 2024. I got the pages in order and my colors chosen. I have one month and one day and I have a lot of work to do!

I am keeping up two hours soo far on my Queen, in fact I did a little over 2 hours in the very early morning. I am working on three areas of a repeat pattern, already decided, so it is just busywork now.

When I finish it, it will help me decide the next steps in the design  process.

I am humming along now, still a bit behind but I should be able to catch up in the next three days. Then it is up to the Needlework Goddesses whether I will have all the supplies I need for kits. That is out of my hands, I fear.

Happily I feel some confidence.

September 8, 2024 Sunday

Requisite 2 hours on Queen completed yesterday then with diligence I turned my attention to decisions, supplies and kits for EWeek, my fall sale in October. I have a month and two days to get it all together.

I am a little behind where I would like to be but I am working toward catching up.

I have had flurries of requests for my Geometric, Inspired by Elizabeth almost from the day my sale closed last October. As a result, I will likely include it this year, particularly with the theme of Tudor designs.

On with my Sunday. I have a couple of errands this morning, then home to dealing with needlework supplies. I had made an order for Kreinik braid but somehow I got dropped out of the extensive queue.

Crossed fingers my order comes through. I have a need for gold Kreinik braid in almost all of my new designs for this year.  Not all will be lost: I have a medium supply stashed but not nearly all I need.

Such are supplies for needlework. They've always been tough to get.

September 7, 2024 Saturday

I should have started work on EWeek, my big October Sale, a week ago, so today: 2 hours on my Queen this morning and then work all day on EWeek.

I begin this morning with thread inventory and cross my fingers that I either have it all already or can get it within a month's time. As many of you know, needlework supplies are not as easy to come by as they used to be.

Up this morning for consideration for Surprise Windows: my miniatures of Mary, Queen of Scots, and Bess of Hardwick.

Busy day today, actually I look forward to starting even if a week late.

September 6, 2024 Friday

Busy personal catch-up day today and then tomorrow in earnest I will start work on my October Sale. A little over a month to go -- I will indeed be very busy constructing it.

I don't know how many of you have followed the sale of Kreinik Braid. Doug Kreinik retired and sold the company to Fleur de Paris and Rainbow Gallery.

I found out an interesting tidbit yesterday from Fleur. I had to order supplies and my contact at Fleur told me this: Kreinik braid will be presented in two formats: Fleur de Paris will continue to sell Kreinik Braid on spools; Rainbow Gallery willl sell Kreinik Braid wrapped on cards.

I am happy that Fleur will continue to sell the spools for some threads wrapped on cards have 'kinks' where the thread doubles back against the edge of the card.

Only some threads do this and I don't know if Kreinik Braid is one, but I am delighted I will still be able to buy the thread on spools.

September 5, 2024 Thursday

I am happy to say I am catching up. Yes, I am still behind but not as much today. Yay!

This morning on Queendom Website's Home Page I will begin posting the designs for which I've had requests in the last months.  I need to decide which ones to include in this year's EWeek Sale.

I begin this morning with one from 2013, my needle book to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Pride and Prejudice. I brought it back again in 2023. Should I bring it back again?

I ask because I still receive monthly requests for it and there is a very nice Stitchalong Group on Facebook for all kinds of help.

Tomorrow I will add another design up for consideration.

September 4, 2024 Wednesday

I am behind, hope to catch up over the weekend ahead. I have to start work on EWeek but other things step in the way. I have to concentrate harder, that's all.

Does anybody else have trouble with emails on 'outlook'?  Sometimes my computers will send them, sometimes not.

If you have an outlook email and want to email me, try a different email?

Computer stuff. I can do only so much and then I run out of know how; my sister tells me I am the wrong generation. Somebody else told me my problem is, it is not my native language. How right that is!

I did my 2 hours of stitching this morning. It was an easy morning as I had done the graphing yesterday and it is a repeat of a pattern I worked out previously. So stitching this morning was both pleasant and easy.

Now on with the rigors of today. Hope you have a good one.

September 3, 2024 Tuesday

I will mail orders for Echoes in two days; I am ending the sale today as I have to start work on EWeek -- and I am hoping to keep up work on my Queen as well.

I am caught in a bind: PayPal insists I sell something each month which is a hardship for me. I am ekeing by selling requests, one or two each month, hence early September and Echoes Sale.

I'm trying to figure out a way to sell a minimum number of things (as few as two or three orders) to keep PayPal happy buut not spend my creative months packing and shipping.

I have had requests again for Pride and Prejudice Needle Book. I suspect I will sell one or two copies next time I have a month with no sale.

I haven't figured it out yet, but Echoes took care of September...

On with the day.  

September 2, 2024 Happy Labor Day

One more day to hear about Echoes and I am going to tuck the kits away for a while.  I dealt with Echoes yesterday; will finish today and then bright and early tomorrow morning I will start work on EWeek.

My plan is still to work in each early morning session, before the sun is up, on my Queen. Soon as I post this note I will pick up my needle again; I have already stitched for about 45 min.

So yes, I am making progress, although somewhat slowed down by stitching a while and then making sure I graph what I have stitched. Right now I am working on a yellow/gold sleeve pattern which is fun to stitch. A lot of Tent Stitch first but made more interesting because the direction of the Tent Stitch changes every 8 rows.

One more day on Echoes and then it will be time to take out EWeek plans. I have quite a bit of photography to do. My new projects. I look forward to seeing how they look in photos, always interesting.  On with the day.

September 1, 2024 Sunday

September 1 is here and I am for a very short time offering Echoes 1 and II kits as requested a year ago.

If you requested Echoes all that time ago and still wish a kit, now is the time to email me: see green button below right.

A few days open for Echoes, tight schedule because I have a month and 10 days to mount my annual FALL SALE called 'EWeek.'

For those of you new to EWEEK, I will write more about the sale in the coming days.

Time for Summer Stitching is over, time to return to work diligently. I have a lot to do!

August 31, 2024 Saturday

The last day of August; the last day of alll day summer stitching. How am I doing?

I am stitching the first layers of my elaborate  pattern into place. So far I've been stitching and ripping as I try to decide on colors. The colors are such a small shift in appearance but it is soo imporant. I think I have it now; the day will tell.

Summer is not my favorite season, so I am looking forward to tomorrow and the very early beginnings of fall. On September 1 I will take down ECS and Susan B. and replace them with my Salem Witch Sampler, the thimbles, the spoons et al and I willl leave them in place until mid November, maybe even until December 1.

So on with the day and my last reminder that Patriotic Annex corrections end at midnight tonight. Yay, I can  pack up Patriotica and transition to EWeek.

August 30, 2024 Friday

Yesterday I spent the whole day graphing. Tomorrow is my last day of All-Day Summer Stitching and I wanted to work out a pattern that would work well for 2-hour-a-day stitching throughout the fall.

It took me four different doodles to work out the pattern and the better part of yesterday and this early morning to graph it into place. A short while ago I started stitching it 'for  real' and it will take me a long time to fill in three large areas.

I am eager to stitch away, for when I finish a good chunk of the first of the three areas, I will have a much better idea of how I am doing.

It is taking shape, as I said yesterday, but still a stitch in of faith. As I have said all along: I am indeed filling my potholes, but I still have a number of them to go.