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.

To Revisit my Wait List Sale click on EWEEK 2024 on yellow nav bar above

Apri1 20, 2025 Easter Sunday     

A special spring Sunday of renewal, I hope your Sunday is a nice one.

I have been so busy, I haven't picked up a needle in well over a month. I may do some work today but equally, I may take the day and do a bit of stitching, depends on how the day shapes up. It is still early on Easter morning. Happy spring.

Apri1 19, 2025 Saturday     

I took off a good part of the day yesterday. I had some personal chores that took up quite a bit of time and then I had a nap. An old fashioned nap in the afternoon.

Today more pick up as we prepare for the roofers and our new roof.  The roofers arrive in mid May, a relatively short time away: big question, do I start the beading on my queen now or do I wait till after the roof?

The alternative: I have nothing to stitch. I could fix up something and start. I have a whole pile of drawings to inspire me, just can't make up my mind.  I'll clean up today and maybe revisit a new design tomorrow.

Apri1 18, 2025 Good Friday     

Yesterday was a surprise: rather than do what I planned, I wrote. And wrote and wrote and wrote -- and then about 3:00 in the afternoon, I was finished with my mammoth set of instructions.

Well, not finished: I still have to go back through it all, standardize the terms, edit it and  put it all together. Once I have done that, I will tackle the next part: the miles of pearls, jewels, bows and beads, and then I have to write them too.

But I am celebrating today. How? Of course by doing all the chores I skipped yesterday. And yes, I sent a copy of it all down to my print shop. Soon I'll have a hardcopy.

Apri1 17, 2025 Thursday     

Yesterday was a lost day: I lost it to personal life taking precedent over work life, so I am a day behind where I would like to be. I was up super early this morning and I've written instructions all morning long. Now I will  transition to clean up in preparation for the roof people,

I decided to move everything into boxes with lids so I went to Staples an bought 30 more. I put together 15 of them the other day and by the time I folded the 15th, I had overused my poor right hand and I had a cramping mess on hand (literally).

I am terrible at Organization. I just didn't get that gene. I sure wish I had it. In my next life I'm going to be a poet who is great at organization, I'm not sure those two fit together but it is a nice thought on this Thursday morning.

I've got to get busy. My cleaning lady comes tomorrow and she is a tyrant, Wish me luck.

Apri1 16, 2025 Wednesday     

I've been so busy writing and sorting I didn't realize so much time had  passed and I've neglected Queendom Website. I apologize.

I've been working from the wee hours of every morning till I turn on the news and fall asleep in front of the television.

No, I have not picked up a needle in months now. It is writing and sorting, writing and sorting, and so it will be for another month. This too shall pass, I hope to finish my mammoth set of instructions and maybe the new roof installation will be event-free. One  can hope oon both accounts.

Apri1 11, 2025 Friday     

I hope you will take time to watch the very short video of Mary Beard commenting on the Armada Portraits of Elizabeth 1. The idea of Power and Women, namely the cost of ppower to a woman will by the time I finish, have claimed a year of my life.

It is the idea of what Mary Beard saw in the Armada Portrait that made up my mind. Power and the cost of power.

So how am I doing?  I finished the actual stitching on Feb 6. I then took out time to finish my promised Henry Wait List Sale, and I've been back at work writing the instructions. I've been writing them now for over a month (they own my life right now) and I have about a month to go.

I have been looking for and ordering pearls and beads, and soon as I finish writing the stitching part of the instructions I will do the pearls and jewels and beads and then write them.

Parts I and II of my Armada Experience. Yes, there is a Part III and one of these mornings I will write about it.

Apri1 9, 2025 Wednesday     

I bought some beads from a dealer I've known in China. He told me, place your order straightaway because the taxes of 104% start next week. I had to think hard because who knows when this will change.

I ordered my beads and even now  paid a tariff of $75 and some pennies, but nothing in comparison to what it will be.

It was expensive, the whole transaction. Sigh....

So onward and upward. I've got to oroder a couple of sets of instructions and pack packages again. Guess I have to add at this point: I am luck to have some business.

Apri1 6, 2025 Sunday     

This morning on my home page I posted a link to Mary Beard's video (about 2 minutes long) about the Armada Portraits and Women and Power. This video is the reason I decided to undertake the challenge. It was daunting, probably the most intricate piece I've ever stitched.

Yesterday I wrote and drew graphs for the entire day, with breaks to rest my hands from the computer graphics. It is a long long job, writing these instructions, but I'm glad I'm doing it.

Onward and upward for the day.

Apri1 5, 2025 Saturday     

I put in time yesterday morning, very early graphing and drawing for 2 hours, then regular life took over and by late afternoon, I kicked back and had an enjoyable conversation with an old friend. The afternoon morphed into the evening with nary a computer or my needle in sight. Whiling away time watching the news and chatting with DH.

Today I should pick up and pack but at least in the early hours I will graph and write, graph and write.

If I continue, I am guessing it will take me another month or more.

Day by day. DH says that's the only way to live life, one day at a time.

Apri1 4, 2025 Friday     

In the past year I have spent a considerable amount of time comparing the three Armada Portraits, then last July I took the  plunge and started stitching my own Armada Portrait.

I worked on it as steadily as I could, given the fact that I had a big sale in October and then spend a considerable amount of time recovering from Covid.

As I have written, I finished stitching my portrait on Feb. 6 and I have been working on a decision whether I will write the instructions.  I have to make up my mind before I sew on all the pearls, jewels and beads.

I have gotten this far: I will continue to work on the instructions for another month and then make up my mind. My inclination is to finish writing them but April will decide.

Apri1 3, 2025 Thursday     

A couple of personal days away from needlework in many ways. Our world is such a different place today because of technology. Do you share my opinion that the impact of the computer has changed our lives in so many ways.

To me the most interesting oof them alll is how much technology has changed our friendships: I have people I consider good friends and I've never met them. In some cases I have never seen  or talked to a person whom I consider a good friend now: I know a considerable amount about her and her looved ones but I would easily  pass her on the street without recognizing her.

It is both a strange and wonderful aspect of modern life.

More about this theme tomorrow. Today it is a massive cleanup day as my cleaning lady comes tomorrow and I have stuff strewn everywhere. Wish me luck.

Apri1 1, 2025 Tuesday     

Not an April Fool's commentary, this morning I posted the third of the surviving Armada portraits. Welcome to my favorite month of the year, I love April and plan to design up a storm this month.

In a bit of a rush this morning. More about the Armada Portraits tomorrow.

New from me. Two Hearts.

If my spring goes well, there will be more new hearts