INDEPENDENT NEEDLEWORK NEWS

I am currently working on a darling design which was created by amateur designer Melanie Farrelbegg; I’ll post about my own progress soon on my personal blog, which has needed attention for some time now (sorry), but I’ll share a picture of what it should look like when finished with you here because I am so impressed with Melanie’s work.

I discovered Melanie’s design while perusing the selection of British magazines available at my local Barnes & Noble (where I went only because Borders, the store I prefer, at least locally, was already out of the majority of their non-US cross stitch magazines … I seem to be still running behind with just about everything these days … sorry again).

A side note: Why the heck haven’t any of the major bookstores realized importing the fabulous French magazines — and LOTS of them — would be a superb addition to their inventory?

For her design, Melanie won a contest called the “Design and Stitch Challenge” sponsored by UK magazine Cross Stitch Crazy, and so her design and its corresponding chart is published in the Christmas 2007 (Issue 105) volume of this magazine. Lucky us … and congratulations, Melanie!

However, the main reason for this post is because I am selfish. I have also fallen head over heels for the design created by the second runner-up, and I simply must find her and obtain the chart. Her name is Janet French, and her design, Frog Prince, would make a perfect Valentine’s Day gift for that special someone. Just look how cute he is!

The only problem is, I don’t know Janet or how to contact her, and a Google search proved unhelpful.

So I am turning to you, my audience of faithful readers and researchers, for help. I am quite sure there will be several among you who might also want to stitch this design, too, and I know with the amazing connections available to us on the Internet, Janet is only a hop, skip, and a jump of a contact away from me.

I am making an offer to publish Janet’s chart here, if she is willing to let me do so — or I will sell it here for her if she’d prefer to do that. I have no idea if she has signed away her copyright to her design for a time to Cross Stitch Crazy, but I have found no mention of her design being published in a forthcoming magazine and do not see it available through Cross Stitch Crazy’s website; therefore, I am making the following offer to Janet:

Assuming you still own the copyright to your design, I would like to help you market it here, through Independent Needlework News. Alternatively, if you wish to offer the design as a free chart, I would also be most happy to publish that chart here. And if you do NOT want it published on INN, that is also fine — it is completely your choice, of course — but I would at least like to let my readers know where they might obtain the chart.

So, Janet, if you are reading this, PLEASE contact me!

To anyone who may know Janet, please refer her to this post, and thank you in advance for your assistance.

Technorati Tags: Janet French, Frog Prince, Cross stitch Crazy, Melanie Farrelbegg

I just learned that Bernadette Huysing, who runs The Needlework Boutique, an online needlework shop located in Melbourne, Australia, is having a sale, too!

Everything which is in stock is 20% off to celebrate the New Year (so hurry … before it’s out of stock ). The sale runs through January 3rd. Just enter “SALE” in the coupon field to get your discount.

Again, many stitching customers will be happy to learn that The Needlework Boutique, where “… you will find a large selection of European and American materials which are often difficult to source in Australia,” accepts PayPal.

Happy Stashing!

Technorati Tags: Needlework Boutique, Bernadette Huysing, Australia, sale, cross stitch, New Year

Wasatch Needlecraft is scheduled to open at 12:01 a.m., Mountain Standard Time, January 1st, 2008. As Karen put it, “We figure that is a pretty good way to start the new year!” I think all of us needleworkers can certainly agree with that sentiment! When I kiss my husband at midnight, I’ll also be cheering Karen … and since I’m on central time, I will do that at least twice!

Wasatch Needlecraft will be an Internet only store run by Karen, herself a stitcher and model stitcher, out of Utah (so stitchers in Utah will see Utah taxes added to your bill ). Many stitchers will be thrilled to learn PayPal payments will be accepted!

To celebrate the Grand Opening, Karen is offering 20% off EVERYTHING — including special orders!!! — from January 1st through January 15th, 2008. For a special order, just send Karen an email (the contact information is also on the Wasatch Needlecraft site) to tell her what you want; she will email you back if she can get it, and with the price, of course.

In addition for all readers of Independent Needlework News, Karen will offer free shipping within the US and in Canada, and half the normal cost of shipping to all other locations until January 15th, 2008. You’ll need to let Karen know you read about Wasatch Needlecraft’s Grand Opening on INN to get this very special discount.

(According to my calculations, this should post at the same time Karen’s store opens. In any case, it is officially my first post this year! Happy New Year everyone, and may 2008 bring you joy, good health, and only good things!)

Technorati Tags: Wasatch Needlecraft, Karen Timothy, cross stitch, needlework, store, sale, opening, New Year, Happy New Year

… of the Stitching Jubilee website!

(I am out of town seeing medical specialists for a couple of days, and without the opportunity to check up on this link or make corrections, so if by chance that link doesn’t work, I apologize and please give it a try again later … and also try this one. They should both work very, very soon!! )

Lots there already to enjoy, so settle in with a glass or mug of your favorite beverage and start planning — or at least dreaming. You deserve it!

Technorati Tags: Stitching Jubilee, Marilyn Vredevelt, Stoney Creek, Valley Forge, King of Prussia

Most of us have seen this coming, as we watched the number of Stitching Festival shows around the country be cut back drastically over the last few years … until this year, when there was only one show in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and, of course, there was a great deal of chatter and speculation because it took a rather frighteningly long time for the Stitching Festival website to be updated with 2007’s class and other show information. However, it is still with a very heavy needle that I write of this stitching tragedy: Liz Turner Diehl (Blogroll) and Stoney Creek’s (Blogroll) Marilyn Vredevelt have announced that the Stitching Festivals, previously called the Creative Arts and Teaching Show (CATS), previously called the Creative Arts and Textiles Show (also CATS), have officially closed their doors.

In my opinion, the name changes hurt their business, as did the fact that they never had a location which served midwestern US stitchers well (a very surprising thing, since Stoney Creek, who was one of the main sponsors and coordinators of the show for its entire run, is located in a beautiful midwestern city itself — Grand Rapids, Michigan) — Des Moines was and is just too out of the way and too small to fit the bill. What about St. Louis or Chicago — both cities with huge, dynamic, international airports (and at least halfway decent public transportation, too)? Too expensive? Then go to a suburb of one of those cities instead; just going 15 to 30 minutes from the airport would reduce costs dramatically for both event organizers and event attendees. Too busy and confusing traffic-wise? (What? Compared to New York City or Atlanta? LOL … ) Then what about a city like Indianapolis? It’s got a slightly smaller but still very functional international airport, though it does not have the halfway decent public transportation Chicago and St. Louis do (of course, if you leave the downtown area of either of those cities, public transportation is a crapshoot or non-existent anyway). And there are easily dozens of midwestern cities I’ve never been to which would make great locations for a “traveling stitching festival” — cities YOU know and love because you live in, or have been to them for one reason or another. Please see below, because I want to hear about them.

The good news — at least for east coast stitchers (the thousands upon thousands of midwestern stitchers are still being left out, unfortunately), is Marilyn decided almost immediately that she couldn’t desert us completely. Therefore, she announced Stoney Creek will be organizing a new event called the Stitching Jubilee, which will begin next year. It will start off occurring in only one location: Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, from October 2 - 4, 2008. Marilyn is promising that the new website (Blogroll) will be up and running no later than January 15, 2008. (I’ll keep checking and will make a post to let you know when it IS up and running; right now, clicking on that link will give you an error.) In the meantime, you already can sign up for more information here (Blogroll). Further information will also be available, of course, in Stoney Creek Cross Stitch Collection magazine, which is one of my favorite subscriptions.

I don’t know if I’ll be able to swing a trip to Valley Forge myself (which is a location I personally preferred to the Hershey location. I got the chance to check them both out when I lived in New Jersey, at which time they were conveniently located for me, and I was constantly hungry in Hershey … must have been the smell of chocolate in the air because that’s all I wanted to eat, too! I think I gained twenty pounds every weekend I went there, LOL), but I’ll definitely try. I hope a lot of you will try, too, because if this venture doesn’t do well, clearly, it won’t continue.

Although it makes perfect business sense for Marilyn to select the east coast to begin her Stitching Jubilee venture, as the east coast is where the Stitching Festival was always most successful, I look forward to seeing the Stitching Jubilee grow — and I hope THIS venture will grow WELL into the midwest, too. With that in mind, I want to hear from you, as mentioned above. Despite all my traveling, there are literally dozens of great midwestern cities I have never been to and thus know little to nothing about; I want to help Marilyn select the BEST and most viable choices for Stitching Jubilee locations, but I need your help to do it. So I hope stitchers from all over the midwest (and anywhere else, if you’d be willing to travel to the midwest) will comment on this post with their suggestions for a midwestern location you would find convenient to attend — wherever that may be. Please tell me not only the name of the city, but also the reasons it would make a great location for the Stitching Jubilee. If I get enough responses (at least one hundred) I’ll forward the answers to Marilyn myself — but only if those answers wouldn’t make it look like I’d sprayed buckshot all over the center of a US map! So please try to consider traveling instead of having it in your back yard (unless you’re already located in a really good location with a great airport ). The location needs to be within a four to six hour drive of most of the rest of the midwest to be “perfect,” and it must have a really good international airport. (Why international?  Because we want the Stitching Jubilee to be able to bring us designers from other countries to teach classes, too, and because there are always a good-sized number of stitchers from around the world who manage to travel to an event such as this if they are provided with the requiremed means to do so; we certainly don’t want to leave those stitchers out because if they can afford to travel to this event, then they can probably also afford to spend money on classes and in the market to help make it a rousing success! )  A good public transportation system is a huge plus, and having a train hub is also a significant plus, in my opinion.  (Personally, I’d far rather take a train than drive myself — OR fly.  If I were traveling with someone else and thus sharing gas costs and the driving, then driving becomes a bit more attractive … but not much, LOL, as I could be stitching all the way on a train!)  Also, please tell every stitcher you know about this post, so that we get enough comments to make this a worthwhile survey. . Here are the links to this post (just highlight, copy, and paste): http://independentneedleworknews.com/2007/12/16/stitching-jubilee/ or http://tinyurl.com/34v4jg

Please help me help Marilyn bring the Stitching Jubilee to ALL stitchers! After all, this is the season of giving … It’s time to give back to a designer who has given us a great deal over the years.

Technorati Tags: CATS, Creative Arts and Textiles Show, Creative Arts and Teaching Show, Stitching Festival, Stitching Jubilee, Marilyn Vredevelt, Liz Turner Diehl, Stoney Creek

Things change so fast in this online world of ours that making a comprehensive list of cross stitch related links and keeping it up to date is far from an easy task … but Marilyn’s Links has made a great start!

With all kinds of resources such as cross stitch freebies, bulletin boards, needlework shops, designers’ web pages, fabric and fiber manufacturers, frame sources, finishing ideas and tutorials, and stitchers’ blogs and photo albums, Marilyn’s Links has plenty to keep you busy for the rest of the year — even if you feel like hiding for the rest of the year and ignoring the holidays altogether like I do.

Marilyn’s Links also includes similar information for quilters and scrapbookers … and even has some great links dedicated to recipes, book lovers, and other such goodies.

So take some quiet time for yourself this holiday season and relax with your beverage of choice at Marilyn’s Links!

Technorati Tags: Marilyn’s Links, cross stitch, quilting, scrapbooking, links, recipes

Surprise!

Product review coming soon …

Technorati Tags: ThreadworX

One of my favorite things to do is read People magazine. I’ve loved it for well over twenty years and, in fact, you’re as likely to find me reading People as stitching.

It’s NOT that stitching and People are on an equal par in my life — don’t get me wrong there, LOL! But sometimes, I have to take off the magnifying glasses I now require to stitch so I can rest my eyes. Then, especially if I don’t want to get too involved, as I might with a really good book, it’s People I reach for and curl up with for a while. People and at least one cat, of course.

(Sadly, it seems the older I get, the fewer people in People I know. A couple of months ago, I did not know anyone who had crushes on either of the teenaged cover-persons. Heck, I did not even recognize either of their names! Fortunately, they weren’t the only people mentioned in that week’s issue. )

Anyway, to bring this discussion on topic, today I want to share with you the cross stitch news blog of one of my regular readers and commenters. Allura has been doing a fabulous job with her own Cross Stitch News (Blogroll) since she began it in May. It’s always a treat to see what she’s found worthy of her blog subtitle: “Stitching in the News and Around the Internet” (copyright Allura, 2007). The majority of Allura’s posts (unlike mine, LOL) are short and sweet — easily digested, well worth adding to your diet, AND delicious. Therefore, I am confident that fitting them into your already hectic schedule will not be too difficult, and will soon prove to be of merit.

Lately, I find myself turning first to the pages of Cross Stitch News rather than to People when I need those breaks from stitching. My DH has even teased me that I’ve started keeping People in the bathroom lately (where it was never allowed before), and asking what’s up with that because I used to be able to go to the bathroom alone. I’m not sure if my DH thinks I’m too addicted to stitching, or if I’m a workaholic who’s doing too much bringing my work home with me, but at the moment, I’ve answered him a bit defensively, “I’m just not quite ready to give up my People altogether, and the bathroom is about the only place in my life it fits, okay?”

So People is still one of my guilty pleasures … Cross Stitch News is something for Allura to be very proud of, though — and for me to feel not the least bit guilty about reading or recommending to you!

Technorati Tags: Cross Stitch News, CSNews, Stitching in the News and Around the Internet, Allura, People magazine, magazine

One of my favorite designers, Selina Merriman of LinaBear Creations, (Blogroll) is extending a very special treat to all INN readers:

~ 30% off on ALL your LinaBear Store purchases through 8:00 a.m. Paris/Berlin time on
December 27, 2007 ~

(For anyone who needs a bit of assistance determining the time in Paris compared with yours to make sure you place your order soon enough, the World Clock is a handy tool.)

Now, you can not only finish your holiday shopping for the stitchers — and even the knitters, stuffed animal lovers, and dog lovers on your list, who are all sure to love Spartacus as much as I do (although I’m still holding out to adopt a knitted LinaBear Creations kitten from Selina ) at a great price, but you

can also spend any holiday money you receive in your stocking to pick up something(s) you’ve really been lusting after from Selina’s line of designs!

To get the code you’ll need to use in the LinaBear Store to obtain your 30% discount, please email me with the URL of a website you think should be added to the Blogroll. I will reply within 24 hours with your discount code! To get your 30% discount, you’ll need to enter code INN7771.

I know you’re going to enjoy this sale because Selina has added so many fabulous designs to her line. For instance, how can any stitcher resist Blue Elegance - A Stitcher’s Toy Set, which includes a box, a biscornu-shaped scissor fob, a pin cushion, and a measuring tape cover?

In fact, I think the easiest thing to do with all these wonderful hoices is to NOT choose … Instead, collect them all!

Technorati Tags: LinaBear, Selina Merriman, INN, Independent Needlework News, gift, Christmas, Spartacus, knit, dog, Blue Elegance, Stitcher’s Toy Set, biscornu

Shepherd’s Bush (Blogroll) recently started a blog which no doubt will draw some interesting traffic considering its title: Bush Blog. Designer Tina Richards noted right off the bat in her first post that the title is subject to change.

Meanwhile, although INN’s focus isn’t politics, I am certainly not apolitical or afraid to speak my mind, as you have no doubt noticed. Having believed since he was sworn in that America needs to prune its shrubbery (and that by the time we got home from the market with our purchase, only to discover we’d been handed a different bush than the one we actually chose, but dang it, the receipt is nowhere to be found — yes, I’m one of THOSE people as well, ha ha), I’d really love to see how one of the most popular needlework designers (and shops) on the planet would handle some things. I think they’ve already got a good start on world peace!

Anyway, back to Bush Blog … Tina Richards has so far been the author, and her good intentions are not just to update Bush Blog (Blogroll) at least once a week, but also to do so at the beginning of the week. So far, she has made three timely posts, so you can easily catch up on the entire blog and, with good fortune, stay up to date with it.

Additionally, if you can manage to be in the neighborhood of Ogden, Utah where Shepherd’s Bush’s retail shop is located, today and/or Saturday, November 30th and December 1st, and if you are at all interested in learning needle felting, you could have the opportunity to learn it from Judy Bielec of Mosey ‘n Me (Blogroll). Just look at these amazing projects you’d get to begin creating.

Needle felting makes me wish I weren’t allergic to wool and even has me contemplating the idea of wearing rubber gloves to do an entire project.

Needle felting, at least the way Judy Bielec does it, is truly artwork — you end up with a piece reminiscent of sculptured clay, but instead of clay, the material is fiber. What could possibly be more fantastic?

Technorati Tags: Shepherd’s Bush, Tina Richards, Bush Blog, Shepherds Bush, needle felting, Mosey ‘n Me, Judy Bielec