July 9, 2019 Tuesday

The First Day of My Remodeled Website

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

Reminders for me as well as for all of you.

December 6, 2023 Wednesday          

This morning I sent out Newsletters. If you did not receive yours and you have in the past, please check your spam files.

If you would like a copy, email me and I will send one.

Deadlines are approaching: ONE DAY MORE to report mistakes in EWeek orders. Yes, the deadline is midnight, December 7.

Our special little Christmas Sale, Carolyn's and mine, starts on Saturday morning at 8:00 a.m. California time and lasts until Sunday afternoon.  I hope you will stop by and see all of Carolyn's beautiful antique tools.  I counted this morning and there are 4 in the era of Jane Austen, all are more than 100 years old.

REMEMBER THIS: BIG DEADLINE Tomorow: last day to report EWeek mistakes from last October.

In short I am tired of the mess around my hous and wish to pick it up and decorate fr Christmas!

December 5, 2023 Tuesday          

This morning on Queendom Website's home page is a Practice Surprise Window for Saturday's Christmas Sale.

Click on the Surprise Window and you will travel to see one elegant antique that will be on sale on Saturday morning at 8:00 a.m. California time, December 8.

This is just one of 17 antiques that will be for sale on Saturday morning, along with a handful of Christmas-related designs of mine. In all there will be 8 Surprise Windows to open.

It is always nip and tuck to see if MacSoph and I will be ready and this time it looks like we will. Still, I have my fingers crossed it will go smoothly.

December 4, 2023 Monday          

MacSoph and I rounded the corner yesterday and hopefully smooth sailing now toward Saturday Morning when 8  Christmas Surprise Windows will be open.

Yesterday I was having trouble with a password. It went on and on and turned out it was all my fault. I was reading it wrong. In the end I didn't know whether to feel happy it was solved or simply uncompromisingly stupid. Maybe a measure of each.

In any event, everything is progressing nicely now. Tomorrow morning you will be able to click on one of the Surprise Windows for practice and you will have a peek at one of Carolyn's little treasures.  

Hint: for those of you working on Pride and Prejudice Needle Book, you might want to scurry to look for this treasure is mightily appropriate!

Till tomorrow: enjoy your day and know that MacSoph and I will both be working away here in Queendom Website.

December 3, 2023 Sunday          

MacSoph and I are chugging along, working at max on our sale of Carolyn's and my goodies and with luck (ie if MacSoph has no 'issues') we will open on Saturday morning, December 9. Whew! Looking good for us.

A REMINDER: the deadline for reporting shortages for EWeek 2023 is midnight on December 7, 2023. Please check everything carefully and let me know a.s.a.p.  

Then when all of this is finished, as soon as the New Year is here, I plan on Stitching Up a Storm and hope you will stitch along with me.

In the interest of finishing my work, I have neglected all of the Stitchalong Rooms as well as notes here on Queendom Website. All of that will change come the New Year. All that said, there is the sale to look forward to now....

December 2, 2023 Saturday          

I got it together and planned and started working on Carolyn's and my little Christmas Sale!

SAVE THE DATE: Saturday Dec. 9 at 8:00 a.m. California time, ALL the windows will open!

I've been working away posting Carolyn's beautiful tools! Oh my, some real treats!

Still making up my mind about my designs. I'll decide after I finish Carolyn's.

Always fun, this stage of planning....

December 1, 2023 Friday          

The last month of the year is here now. Today is the day I set aside Henry and all his instructions and beads and I make some decision about a small Christmas Sale. Tomorrow morning I will post the date or dates (one or two days?) of Carolyn's and my Sale.

Meanwhile Dressing Henry is on hiatus. I need him to go and relax in a drawer for a couple of weeks so that I bring fresh eyes to his instructions and can see if I understand what I have written.

Also on my mind: the DEADLINE FOR REPORTING mistakes in your EWeek packages. Today and six more days. Right now I have access to EWeek parts; on December 8, I will pack it and put it away and return to a somewhat civilized house.

And the time is coming when my busy season will end and I can pick up my needle again. I have a drawing sitting here beside me and it is begging for me to cut a piece of canvas and start. I see the time coming when I will be free to do that.

Not long.

Happy December.

21 days till the Winter Solstice and the days will start growing longer again, day by day, minute by minute.

November 30, 2023 Thursday          

The final day of November and a special birthday today. Happy Birthday, Jane Ellen, hope you have a lovely day!

My last day to work on Henry for a while and I'm happy to say, I am at a good stopping place.

Henry isn't difficult to stitch but he does have layer after layer after layer and I've had a trying time keeping it all straight.  I ended up with 53 pages of instructions and a whopping 16 Oversize Graphs.

In the midst of writing the pattern, Kate H., a wonderful bobbin lace afficiando, sent me the photo I posted on Queendom Webstie's home page. Please take a minute to look at it closely, for the lacemaker is dealing with 1500 bobbins! Imagine trying to keep those 1500 bobbins on their correct paths!

I love the photo for it put all of Henry's layers in perspective. In comparison to that lacemaker's task, keeping Henry's layers in order is a walk in a springtime park! All through the last stages of layering Henry's instructions, I would look at that photo and remind myself how much easier my life is.

One more day of Henry and then it is onward to our little Christmas Sale. Good bye, November, hello December!

November 29, 2023 Wednesday          

I have a new story to tell, but first I need to ask permission to post a photo.  I will ask today for sure.

I worked a long day yesterday and am happy to say that I am beginning to wind down Henry. Finished? No. But well on my way. Next stage: I have to get (yet again) hard copies of everything, sit down with red and blue pens and see if I can account for everything.

I know I have faith I will finish because last night I started looking for, marking and counting beads. This is not an inconsequential task as Henry has 10 little baggies of beads. 10, oh my.

I'm not far enough along to make a report but at least I have started. I have them stored in three places and this is where my system helps: it looks like a colossal mess of beads, but basically I know where they are. One good mark for me.

Back to work. I have two more full days alotted just to Henry. I'd like to make the most of those days.

Click on Snow Maiden to revisit EWeek. The descriptions in EWeek will help you check everything as your package/s arrive.

DEADLINE For Reporting Mistakes: December 7, 2023.

Click on the Surprise Window above to see a beautiful antique from Carolyn Meacham.

The antique will be for sale on Saturday morning at 8:00 a.m.California time.

Look for 8 Surprise Windows on Queendom Website's Home Page.