Some updates :)

Well I'm stitching my little heart out on the piece for The Gift of Stitching magazine. I've got 3 more pages to go and then it'll be winging it's way down under. I figure I can tell you what the super secret project is now as Kirsten posted a peek on her blog!! I have to admit, I'm totally stoked about this! I can't give you too much information, given it's a mystery design, but I can tell you that it's a huge, colourful band sampler.

In other news... my model stitcher sent me a progress update on Tulip. This is another in the flower series, and I'm so pleased with it so far! This one is being stitched in Belle Soie silks, again on Magnolia fabric. Not the greatest pic, but it's done with a camera phone. lol

I have to admit something. It's incredibly weird seeing my stuff stitched for the first time by someone else! The is the first time I've not stitched the model personally, and even though it looks lovely, and I totally trust that my model stitcher will do a beautiful job, I'm having a hard time with it. Not sure how to describe the feeling. I'm a bit of a control freak, so I guess that gives you an idea of what I'm feeling.

Once I'm done stitching the model for TGOS, I'll be starting on another of the flower designs, probably Daffodil, since I already have all the materials for it. I'm getting together a rather large thread order for the rest of them though. In all, there will be nine designs. Yes, nine. I'll be a busy girl for a while I think. ;)

And I'm off now to make some dinner. Stuffed peppers tonight, been craving them for ages!

Online Needlework Show

The fall 2010 Online Needlework Show is now open!!

Forget Me Not and Hearts Entwined are featured on the European Crosstitch page, and there are lots of lovely new designs from many designers!! You WILL be enabled. :)

If you do see something you just have to have, take a look at the retail shops area to see what shops in your area are participating - pick your favourite shop and they can order anything you see featured in the show.

With Regard to Copyright

I've read a lot of brouhaha about this blog: http://needleworkcopyright.blogspot.com/

What I don't understand is, why?

No one is asking anyone to police the internet for us. We're asking that if you see an infringment in your travels, drop an email and tell us about it. You don't have to give your name, an anonymous email is fine. If you don't want to use your current email address, create a free account on gmail or yahoo to do it. That's fine too. We can't be everywhere all at once and see every site that this happens on. Point us in the right direction, or tell us about a site we didn't previously know about. That's literally all we're asking.

Please point out to me how it is a bad thing for needlework designers to want to protect their hard work? We put a lot of time, effort and money into designing, model stitching and producing a chart, so of course we're upset when we see people stealing what we've worked so hard to create.

If you were in a needlework shop and you saw someone stick a chart into their bag while they thought no one was looking, you'd tell the shop owner wouldn't you? How is this ANY different? Theft is theft. Period.

I've seen some things posted that made my brain hurt trying to work out how they'll help the problem. A centralized distributor? Sure it would make charts more widely available and from that standpoint it would be a great thing. But to stop copyright infringement it won't do a bit of good. Why? Because people will still take their freshly printed chart home, scan it into their computer and upload it, just like they do now. Going to encrypted electronic files? Again, what will change? Nothing. People might not be able to upload the pdf or pattern file directly, but there's nothing to stop them from printing it, blacking out anything they don't want anyone else to see, scanning it back in and uploading it anyway. Not to mention that selling only electronic files only is a sure way to put needlework shops out of business, and that is not something I'd want to see happen.

The best way I can think of to combat infringement is that all designers start selling print only charts, and that all charts are printed on copyproof paper. Yes it exists. It's watermarked and when scanned or photocopied the watermark shows up black, clear as day. This nullifies the ability to scan and upload any printed chart as the chart itself would become unreadable. Period. It also nullifies the ability to make a working copy, which would anger a lot of stitchers. Of course there are still work arounds, someone patient enough will re-chart the whole thing and upload that - happens all the time - but at least it would slow it down a bit. Infringing in this manner is a lot more time consuming. The downside of copyproof paper is that it would dramatically increase the cost of the printed chart. Some investigation into this technology shows it to be about 10 times the cost of plain paper. So is it really a feasible option. Probably not.

Other suggestions? I'd love to hear them.

What a relaxing week!!

So nice to not have to get up early!! Stay up as late as we want, sleep as late as we want... that said I'm still up by 7:30ish every day, but it's a far sight better than getting up at 4:30!! And I've noticed this past few days - no headache, no backache, no sore knees, no sore feet, shoulders don't hurt as badly... obviously it's all due to work. Concrete floors and flourescent lights and repetitive motion are bad. Relaxation is good. Not that I'm sitting about all day every day, we've been quite busy actually.

Had a quick visit at the LNS earlier in the week, would have like to stay longer, but I always feel guilty when I'm not alone and others have to wait for me. lol I did pick up a few things - the new Rosewood Manor charts from market - which are gorgeous btw - and some Kingston linen. Everyone thinks I'm nuts but I really CAN see it just fine!! I of course brought Forget Me Not with me to show off, though I stupidly forgot to bring the new one I'm working on. Will do so soon. I'd really like to be able to visit sort of once every couple weeks - even bring a piece in with me and work on it for a little while while I visit. Must start making time to do so. I also got to meet a couple more stitchers, though with it being such a quick pop in, I didn't get a chance to chat for long. :(

Also did a bit of shopping this week, and got new shoes!! Just have to post a pic cause they are sooooo cute. The great thing - also very dangerous to the bank account - about having a hubby who works in a shoe store is that I can get the latest and greatest of just about anything I want for basically wholesale price. :D Aren't these fun? I know my mother will roll her eyes and tell me I'm almost 40 and shouldn't be dressing like a teenager, but hey, it keeps me young! Gotta have fun in life right? Also picked up the new Doc Marten catalogue - the company was sold and they haven't been produced in a while, but they're finally making a comeback. Since my oxfords and boots were retired a year or so ago, I think I shall need to invest in some new ones. :)

I've also been working away at the new design and making wonderful progress. First two pages complete and I'm trying to use this holiday time to get in lots of stitching. Sort of one day to stitch, one day to wander about with the MIL. :) Today is my stitch like mad day, just thought I'd ramble a bit while I take a coffee break.

The Strawberry Sampler

It's been an interesting week. I was typing away at an email on Monday, and all of a sudden I hear this click and I saw something inside my computer case fall. I looked in and the heatsink had actually come away from the motherboard and landed on my graphics card!! Of course on seeing this, I immediately reached for the power button, but too late. Black screen everything shut off due to overheating.

Took it all apart, and it turns out that a little plastic lip on the bracket that holds the heatsink in place had snapped off. Seriously??? 15 year of tech support and I never, ever, saw anything like it. My biggest fear was that it had damaged the graphics card, the CPU had melted and/or shorted out the motherboard and damaged everything else.

Well after several hours of looking for the replacement part - which would have been easier if I had known what the bloody thing was called. It's a "heatsink retention bracket" and not a "plastic thingy that holds the heatsink on the CPU". Anyway, I found one, and Newegg, as usual, had it out and in my hands in less than 48 hours.

So last night Jon put it all back together - I let him do it, I was so frustrated I was afraid I might break the new one - and we fired it up. Obviously, since I'm typing this, it all works okay.

The good thing about having no computer - well no decent computer anyway - is that you can get an immense amount of stitching done when you're not surfing. lol

In stitching news, my fabric arrived for the new secret design, and so I shall be starting it momentarily. But I thought first I'd post a picture of what I've been working on in the meantime, Sampler Cove's The Strawberry Sampler.

I'm torn. I want to keep working on it!! It's so pretty! But I'm on a deadline for the new one, and I'm really excited about it. Specifics - using the called for 36ct Magnolia linen from Lakeside Linens, and most of the called for fibers except I changed the greens as previously mentioned.

And now off to start a new adventure!

Just some random ramblings :)

I started stitching my next design, but after some discussion with others, we figured it was better to do it on a lower count. It's got an awful lot of over one stitching in it, and we feared it might frighten people away on 36 ct. Soooo... after some urgent, immediate attention emails (lol) 32 ct fabric is ordered, and additional threads are on the way. :)

While that will leave me a bit pressed for time as far as getting the model done in time - not terribly, as I have holidays for two weeks starting in 7 days!!! excited!!! - but... it left me a few days to relax and just stitch for me.

I couldn't decide what to stitch! I was so excited at the prospect of a week or two of downtime that I was overwhelmed by my choices! I could have been a good girl and started on Daffodil, the next in the flower series, but hey, it was found time! Should I start Time Well Spent, which is kitted up and ready to go? Should I start Wallace/Robertson, also kitted up and ready to go? Turkish Delight? Growth Rings? Bramble and Rose? Spanish Blue? Again, all kitted, all ready to stitch. Or I could work on any one of my multitude of WIPs... but after all my hard work on Forget Me Not, I wanted a new start.

I decided I wanted to stitch something with red. Don't know why especially, but I was craving some red. And since I had this lovely piece of 36 ct Magnolia that was already out and was no longer going to get used, I decided to use it for it's original intended purpose - Sampler Cove's The Strawberry Sampler. I'm stitching this one almost the same as the model, except that I've changed the greens, because I had a whole bunch of greens from the Renaissance Green NPI range on hand. I really have to hand it to Diane. Her choice of colours is fantastic!!! If you like specialty stitches and band samplers, this one is a definite must have. No pictures today, I'm not that far in yet, but I'll post one when my materials for my model get here and I switch it out. :)

And in other news.... the reason for my holidays. My mother in law - well future mother in law - is coming to visit! I'm so excited. I miss her terribly, we haven't seen her in two years. We both always have good intentions of visiting more often, but it's not always easy to just hop on a plane and fly 3500 miles, is it? We're not planning on doing a whole lot. Maybe a day at the zoo because it's so pretty there and she'd enjoy that. And visiting with my parents and brother of course. Dinner out and some wandering around town maybe. But it's more just to get together and have some down time to relax and just see each other!! I've promised to teach her to stitch. :) I've had supplies here to send her for ages, but she wanted one on one lessons. lol

Not much else to report today, just a bit of rambling. :)

New Release - Forget Me Not

Yep, as promised in the last post, Forget Me Not is done! Have just sent the chart off to the distributor, so it will be available shortly. As always, it will be available directly through my distributor's website, European Cross Stitch, or through your favourite needlework shop. The model was stitched in Gloriana Silk floss on 40 ct Magnolia linen from Lakeside Linens. As always, I've included a DMC conversion. And for the first time - since this is my first piece that was cross stitch only - I've also included a stitch count for each colour, so that you can calculate how much floss you'll need, no matter what count you're using!! And another first - this is my first design that is suitable for any type of fabric - linen, plainweave OR aida. Hope you like it!

And now I'm off to start stitching on my new, "super secret" project. No sneak peeks of this one will be shown, everyone will have to wait until the new year to see it!