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.

Reminders for me as well as for all of you.

Monday, September 26, 2022

I made it over the hump today! Carolyn Meacham sent me her Surprise Windows today and I started laying them out.

Each item was a surprise to me and I had so much fun opening them!

I will tell you more about them as the time grows closer, plus I have to teach newbies about Surprise Windows and give a refresher to EWeek Veterans.  All in  the next couple of weeks, as the time grows closer to the sale.

Finally! Things are under control! Finally! I will have a sale!

There are still Black Holes on Queendom Website: I made a decision to leave them until EWeek is over.

I still have kits to make -- but I feel more in control now, YAY! I am excited about Carolyn's goodies, I'm now finally looking forward to the sale!

Sunday, September 25, 2022

On with kitting today. Actually, I look forward to making kits today as I will cut up my beautiful skeins of Overdyed Ribbon.

I am making a very limited number of Treasured Remembrance Kits today. Why am I bringing it back? Numerous requests. I've particularly tried this year to include designs that people have requested.  Yes, Elizabeth is here, as is Eleanor, etc.

In my EWeek Sale this year I have a wide variety of designs, probably the widest variety I've offered in a long time, but a very small number of each design.

Partly the number is small because I couldn't get the supplies in a timely fashion, partly the reality that shipping can easily overwhelm me and I need to keep control of the number of packages I send.

Saturday, September 24, 2022

I have a tech day today and then, whatever isn't solved in my tech world will be behind me for a while, as I head into making the final kits for my Sale. EWeek is now 19 days away and I have to use my time wisely.

This morning I have posted on Queendom Website's home page some beautful ribbon dyed very recently for me by CeCe Stricklin, The Thread Gatherer.  I have been waiting for it and now I can make the last of my kits for my sale.

The ribbon belongs to a long-time favorite project of mine, and I will make a few kits for the sale. But the vast amount of it will belong to a future project.  I remembered all over again how much I love these colors.

With all I have to do, still time for daydreaming about future projects.

Friday, September 23, 2022

Today I continue to repair Queendom Website from my mishap two days ago. I will reconstruct what I can and then I will return to work on EWeek, my sale beginning on October 13.

Tech! It is so much a part of life today. Someone told me a long time ago: I am an immigrant into this world, go stop some 10 year old on the street, as he or she is native born.

How true.

Soldiering on. I know I owe some people packages. I will send them on Monday or Tuesday. Thanks for patience: over the weekend I have help coming to install a new printer that should make my life faster and easier.  I hope so.

The day will come when I can stop all this tech nonsense and return to stitching. Not too far off, I hope.

Thursday, September 22, 2022

Well, yesterday was not my best day: in the early a.m. I had a website catastrophe and lost about a third of my photos.

Sprinkled throughout Queendom Website were large black holes where the photos used to be. I guess MacSoph decided Queendom Website should look like the universe's big black holes (is there one big black hole or more? DH isn't up yet for the day, so I can't ask him yet) and was well on her way to producing this effect.

The sad part of my personal genetic makeup is my lack of the organization gene, so when I started to repair the big black holes I struggled to find the photos among MacSoph's vast files. Reconstruction is slowwww.....

So if you go trolling through Queendom Website and you find large black holes, you will know I am searching for the photos that belong there.

For a long time I've said I am coming back in my next life as an accountant with an accountant's sense of  organization. Yesterday simply doubled my resolve about my next life.

Wednesday, September 21, 2022

This morning I posted on Queendom Website's Home Page two ornaments and more Mysteries in progress. Tomorrow: three finished Mysteries. I am taking these from Gary Parr's Support Group for Mystery in a Corner on facebook.

I have been waiting for ribbon in a color I have used throughout the years and yesterday two large skeins arrived, a beautiful dyelot indeed.  Usually the color is solely cameo shell colors but this has a distinct thread of light teal running through it.  CeCe Stricklin certainly has a way with color.

Today I am caught up in web stuff; tomorow I will decide what to do with the beautiful ribbon. Time to decide about my cameo projects.

Along those lines, a friend has offered me six cameos she would like to sell.  She is sending them to me and I am eager to audition them on my various cameo samplers and see if there are good combinations. Fun time ahead.

Tuesday, September 20, 2022

An early start yesterday morning: I turned on the television and watched Queen Elizabeth's funeral. Leave it to the Brits to excel at pageantry; they did it in spades.

For those of you interested:

Act 5, Scene 2 of Hamlet, 'Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

Gary Parr has started a Facebook Support Group for Mystery in St. Tropez and people who have joined are working away and doing some wonderful work.  Just this morning I posted a few Mysteries from the room on Queendom Website's Home Page in hopes of enticing more people to come and work on the Mystery.  I have had a great time watching progress -- it's been quite inspiring.

Up early this monring as I have a session to learn a feature about my website software that has eluded me. It will certainly help!

A whiff of autumn is in the air. Can't say I am sorry to see summer fade, certainly not after our heat wave here.  Cool autumn air in the early mornings for a couple of the last days has been delightful.

Monday, September 19, 2022

A final Farewell to Queen Elizabeth this morning. It seems so odd because most of us don't remember a time when she wasn't Queen.

I hope to watch a recording of the funeral in the late afternoon.

A different world ahead.

Sunday, September 18, 2022

Early this a.m. I was tied up with tech issues, so I didn't write in News&Views yesterday.

Happy to report progress, so all is better now. I have one more web software issue and then I will begin moving the sale into place.  Hopefully more tech progress in the week to come.

Once I have kits finished and once I have solved tech issues, I will start posting information about EWeek, including Practice for Surprise Windows.

Hopefully I will turn the corner in the two weeks ahead.

I will leave my Elizabeth Crown up through Queen Elizabeth's Funeral tomorrow, then it will reappear in EWeek's Surprise Windows.  The littke kits are finished and they are officially on our dining room table.  

Friday, September 16, 2022

The first day of the second half of September, 2022 and less than a month now till my EWeek Sale.

So how am I doing?  Some hours I think, gosh I am right on schedule,  other hours I ask myself, will I actually finish in time? So how I am faring depends on the hour you ask me.

What I am noticing as my supplies arrive:

WOW, prices are going up! I was shocked till I stopped and thought, well, duh, prices in the society are leaping up, that's what is in the news, so how do I expect supplies for needlework to be any different.

Now I have learned that shipping is going up on October 1. Sigh....

This year as I wrote before, my sale will be different: between the General Sale and two days of Surprise Windows, I have a wide variety of offerings, but the number of kits or patterns for each design is small. Two reaons: in many cases, I simply couldn't get the quantity of supplies I needed to make a big number of kits.

There is a second reason: I lost my help in packing and shipping and as there is no possibility of finding any other help, I have to do it myself. As a result, I plan to keep an eye on the number of packages I will ship. More about this as the sale grows closer.

Thursday, September 15, 2022

Half way through September today and now slightly less than a month till EWeek, my big fall sale.

So how am I doing? I am close to finished with kitting everything. I am waiting for the last of the supplies and once it all arrives, I should finish in two or three days.

For the most part now I am working on Queendom Website. This year's sale is different, so I have some practice pages as well as preparation for the sale. Although I have a lot of webwork still to do, I am happily right on schedule.

This year's sale is different and much the result of my general house clean up. I have a wide variety of designs in the sale but not many of any one pattern or kit. More about this as we get closer to the sale.

My Imperial State Crown remains on Queendom Website's home page for a few more days as we head toward Queen Elizabeth's funeral.

Wednesday, September 14, 2022

VERY fast service from Rainbow Gallery: my Petite Treasure Braid arrived yesterday afternoon: that's one day after I ordered it. In today's world unreal!

Today I am taking the day to stitch a bit more on a heart and then, if I still have a good feeling about Petite Treasure Braid, I will begin kitting with it.

Will I begin using Petite Treasue Braid in place of Kreinik braid #4? No. I think I will stock both of them. Right now I have no silver Kreinik braid #4, so if I am to finish my kits before my sale, I will have to use the Petite Treasue Braid.

So far I haven't had problems with it at all.

I have left my stitched crown on Queendom Website's Home Page and I plan to leave it there through Queen Elizabeth's Funeral.

Gary Parr and Co are stitching Mystery in St. Tropez on Fiber Talk's Wednesday podcasts

May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.