INDEPENDENT NEEDLEWORK NEWS

Lots of designers have been asking what’s going on regarding the new venture proposed by Donna (of Stitch A Painting), Karen (of The Art of Stitching), and Rick (of Rick’s Chart’s), which I highlighted in my earlier post, Designers Wanted, while it was up very briefly on January 7, 2008. (That post is now back up — with some necessary corrections as required for truth in reporting/advertising — and as a point of reference for this post.)

Donna, Karen, and Rick, who will be referred to from here on in this post as DKR, opened this promising new venture which they intended to call “Designs on Demand” (but which they then briefly named “DesignsOnDemand.Org” before soon switching to its current title of “Designs On Demand.Org”), on January 15th, 2008. However, the designers involved with this venture or contemplating becoming a part of it may not be aware of the important behind-the-scenes events which have been the reason for those name changes — or, more importantly, that those name changes may continue.

Before I write any further, I want to make it clear I really do believe DKR’s new venture IS a VERY promising one — I am not using my words lightly here. They have many good ideas, and I believe this venture has a terrific chance to bring a large number of independent designers to the attention of stitchers worldwide — and that is a very good thing for both the stitchers and the designers (as well as the three masterminds behind this venture ). However, DKR have run into a very significant problem right at the start of their new venture. It is a problem which came to my attention shortly after I wrote “Designers Wanted“; it is a problem which could negatively impact any and all of the designers who are signed up with DKR’s venture; and it is a problem which DKR are, so far, either compounding, or attempting to ignore — or both.

I am still working on a more detailed post than this one (the one which you are reading right now, that is), but I would be negligent if I waited any longer to inform the designers who are already working with DKR, and any designers who are considering working with DKR, of the central issues in this situation.

DESIGNS ON DEMAND IS ALREADY TRADEMARKED BY SOMEONE ELSE!

The main problem is that DKR’s venture named “Designs on Demand” may not be in business all that long — or, I should clarify, not under that name, and possibly not at that dot-org website URL (http://designsondemand.org).

That’s because there is already another business named Designs on Demand — and THAT company has been in existence for nearly ten years. The LEGITIMATE Designs on Demand is a home-based, family-owned business whose focus is providing all kinds of promotional products (mugs, tote bags, calendars, ornaments, mouse pads, magnets, etc.), available in quantities from one to one thousand (or more!), with the artwork or photographs of their customers reproduced on those items for personal or advertising purposes.

One of their most popular products is the yellow ribbon magnet which includes a picture of an individual soldier. In fact, Designs on Demand customers have been followed by other people who wanted to learn where they could have their own personalized yellow ribbon magnets made!

Designs on Demand provides full-time employment for owners Margaret and Darrel Scheperle and supports both them and their four children, two of whom are in college. The Scheperles, who developed their business from the ground up, have not only filed US income taxes under this business name, but they have also filed for and received a certificate of organization for Designs on Demand from the state of Missouri. It is the Scheperles’ company who owns the PayPal name “Designs on Demand,” and the Scheperles have owned and used that PayPal account since 2000. Designs on Demand has been in business since 1998, and the Scheperles have held the dot-com website address http://designsondemand.com since 1999.

Even if the Scheperles were not already in the process of registering “Designs on Demand” as a registered US trademark (which no company HAS to do in order to still receive FULL legal protection under trademark laws; registration simply makes the results of that same legal protection easier to accomplish more quickly), they have certainly been around long enough that they definitely have more than adequate legal basis for “Designs on Demand” to be considered SOLELY their intellectual property as a COMMON LAW TRADEMARK — and all the applicable processes and laws to force DKR to choose another name are absolutely in favor of the Scheperles (which is only fair, of course — and isn’t it great that something in life is actually fair? ).

So, to sum it up, NO ONE ELSE can use the name, “Designs on Demand” at all — certainly not without a lot of legal wrangling — which takes a great deal of time and a whole lot more money, and it’s also obviously a tremendous hassle (which no new business owners in their right minds would want to undertake).

Oddly enough, though, DKR seem set on undertaking this hassle, perhaps because they don’t understand what a trademark actually is.

DEFINITION OF A TRADEMARK

The actual trademark is the NAME OF THE BUSINESS; in this case, that trademark IS “Designs on Demand.”

The trademark is NOT the URL website address, a point which confuses many people. The argument here is NOT simply over the fact that DKR registered http://designsondemand.ORG, but that DKR are trying to use as their own the trademarked name “Designs on Demand” — which I’ve already explained belongs solely to Margaret and Darrel Scheperle. Even now that DKR are using “DesignsOnDemand.org,” they are still using the trademarked “Designs on Demand” as the essential portion of their name, and what’s more important is that they are doing so illegally.

Wikipedia explains trademark issues very well. Basically, although these two companies are dealing mostly (see the next paragraph) in very different merchandise, the trademark issue exists simply because right now they are both using essentially the same name. The different merchandise they deal in is completely irrelevant to the issue of trademark.

(Although the products offered are entirely irrelevant to the trademark issue, there is actually some potential competitive overlap product-wise between DKR’s venture and the Scheperles’ Designs on Demand which is a tertiary concern to the Scheperles. Because the Scheperles offer personalized sew-on fabric patches which they specifically market in competition with similar products that are embroidered. This product has done so well the Scheperles have given it its own website at http://colorpatch.com. Please note the first words on that site say, “ColorPatch by Designs on Demand”; this is specifically to indicate the Scheperles are marketing their ColorPatch product under their already trademarked name, “Designs on Demand.” Unlike embroidered patches, the Scheperles’ patches are permanently dyed onto the fabric background — providing less chance — than with an embroidered patch — for a patch to catch on something and become damaged or torn. The potential problem relative to this product is that if DKR were ever to market cross stitch patterns for a designer who also markets machine embroidery patterns — even if those machine embroidery patterns are never marketed through DKR’s venture — DKR would still be marketing for a designer who is in direct competition with the Scheperles’ company. While DKR can guarantee none of their designers are currently machine embroidery designers, DKR cannot guarantee this situation won’t ever change. At any time, any one of its designers might start creating machine embroidery designs. DKR simply does not have and cannot demand this kind of control over anyone else.)

To help explain both the issue of trademark as well as the separate issue of website URLs further, let’s look at a company I used to work for myself: AT&T. AT&T is the abbreviation for American Telephone & Telegraph. AT&T, as we all know, is a registered trademark, as is American Telephone & Telegraph. Even though all three words (”American,” “Telephone,” and “Telegraph”) are — individually — common English words, when those words are used in that particular string of words — “American Telephone & Telegraph” — they are an extremely well-known registered trademark.

You could bet your last penny that if I tried to call a new company “American Telephone & Telegraph,” or “AT&T,” I’d have AT&T lawyers on my butt faster than I can say, “Oops! Sorry!” You can also bet absolutely everything you hold dear that I’d be saying, “Sorry!” repeatedly and backing down immediately — but I wouldn’t be doing so just because AT&T has a whole bunch of money and could break me financially … I would be doing so because it would be the RIGHT thing to do … because stealing someone else’s trademarked name is just plain WRONG … because stealing someone else’s trademarked name is just that: STEALING.

The trademark — the NAME OF THE BUSINESS — is a very different concept than the URL website address. AT&T owns the dot-com website http://att.com as well as the dot-net website http://att.net. However, AT&T peacefully coexists with the dot-org website http://att.org, which is owned by a Jewish organization called the Associated Talmud Torahs of Chicago. The reason AT&T allows the Associated Talmud Torahs of Chicago to use http://att.org is because the Associated Talmud Torahs of Chicago is not in any way attempting to infringe upon AT&T’s trademark, i.e., nowhere on their site does the Associated Talmud Torahs of Chicago claim to be the phone company or in any way to have any link to the AT&T we all recognize as one of the most famous brand names in existence.

Another reason AT&T allows the Associated Talmud Torahs of Chicago to use http://att.org is because it is next to impossible for ANY company — no matter how large or how prosperous — to purchase and own every conceivable URL address which might resemble their trademarked name. Asking a small business owner — whose financial resources are much more limited — to buy every single URL address which might ever be used to refer to her trademarked business name is something the courts have already agreed is an unreasonable and ludicrous proposition. It’s that simple.

POTENTIAL LEGAL IMPLICATIONS

I am not a lawyer, so I don’t know all of the legalities of this situation. However, I do have a B.A. and an M.S. in criminal justice, as well as eight years of experience doing investigations, which included working closely with lawyers on a variety of legal issues. Because of all that experience, I DO know that if DKR has not informed its current designers in some detail about this trademark infringement case heading their way, and if they aren’t informing any of the designers signing up with them AS they sign up, then DKR may be guilty of something known as failure to disclose. (In fact, the failure to disclose issue is one reason I am publishing this article — because I have knowledge about this case which I am obligated to disclose!)

If this case actually goes forward to court, or even just to the point of a letter of demand (the first step in almost any legal proceeding, and the step at which many legal proceedings end because the recipient will often comply with the letter of demand upon receiving it — realizing at that point that the sending party is absolutely serious about the issue at hand), all those contracts will be deemed null and void if DKR didn’t inform the designers about this situation already and/or upfront. It’s kind of like trying to sell a house that’s got something really major wrong with it and not disclosing that information to potential buyers. The buyers have the right to know what they’re getting into BEFORE they get into it, so when a seller doesn’t tell potential buyers about a known problem, that seller can get into heaps of trouble.

So because of the initial — and illegal — failure to disclose, any deals which resulted from it are not considered valid. Any deals which extend further out from there are also not considered valid, such as if a current designer talks two more into signing up with DKR’s venture; not only would the initial designer’s contract be invalid, but so would those other two designers’ contracts. That’s fruit of the poisonous tree sort of stuff.

And you designers actually WANT your contracts to be invalid in this case. The reason for that is because, should this situation actually go as far as a courtroom, you can be certain the Scheperles’ attorney will most likely name every single designer participating in DKR’s venture as being complicit in the trademark infringement case — and none of you want to be in that position, do you? None of you want the hassle, the expense, or the effect it could have on your reputation — even though you had no idea any of this was going on … It wouldn’t be at all fair to you, would it? So that’s why your contracts would be considered null and void — because DKR didn’t inform you, and therefore, you couldn’t make an informed decision about doing business with them before they got this matter straightened out.

But, now that I’ve posted THIS article (the one you’re reading now, titled, “ATTN: All Designers Who Were Interested in ‘Designers Wanted,’ ” that is), and now that I’ve emailed you and advised you to read this article, each of you designers has another issue to think about: Now YOU know about the trademark infringement situation, which means now you ARE informed. So you have to decide if you can continue doing business with DKR while they are still using the name Designs On Demand.Org. That’s your decision, of course, but the Scheperles ARE scheduling a meeting with an attorney (they’ve already consulted with two others, and this third one is the one they have chosen to handle the case for them). That attorney will be starting the legal process, as usual, with a letter of demand. When the chips start to fall, where do you want to be?

I would certainly think you’d not only want to protect yourself, but that you’d also want to stand with the Scheperles because trademark infringement is very similar to copyright infringement. In fact, this is actually what surprises me most about this entire situation: designers, shop owners, and anyone trying to keep a business going in the needlework world is usually so vocal about the importance of respecting copyright issues that I really have a hard time understanding why DKR aren’t respecting the Scheperles’ trademark. If the tables were turned, I’m certain DKR would be just as angry as the Scheperles are — maybe even more so. In any event, I am hoping that you designers will beseech DKR to remedy their error in this situation immediately — for your sake, for their sake, and for the Scheperles’ sake … and simply because it’s the right thing to do!

AGAIN, DKR’S IDEA IS A GOOD ONE!

As I’ve heard from my designer connections who made inquiries with DKR, there are some very good reasons, some of which I already mentioned in “Designers Wanted,” to market your designs through a company like this, and perhaps even through this particular company. For instance, I’ve learned the percentage of profits a designer will receive for the sales on his or her own designs if marketed through DKR’s venture is 80%, which I understand is significantly higher than anywhere else with a similar marketing plan — and keeping more of your own profits is always good thing, especially for an individual designer.

WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

All this means DKR are still in need of a name — and perhaps a corresponding URL for their website address, of course.

I’m hoping DKR read this and come to their senses, whether from reading this article or through any other means because, aside from their problems coming up with a business name they can legally use, they have some terrific ideas and plans for their new venture. Literally, every problem I’ve listed above completely disappears as soon as DKR chooses a business name they can legally trademark for themselves. I love the idea that the designers who sign up to market their designs through them will keep 80% of their own profits — and I’m sure the designers will love the idea, too. With an offer like that, more and more designers will sign up with them, and they’ll stick around, too. (Who knows … maybe it will even encourage some people who’ve been teetering on the edge to try designing! ) We stitchers will find it easier to obtain those wonderfully imaginative, but hard-to-find patterns by the new, independent designers — and we DO love the thrill of discovering a new designer! And, of course, DKR stand to make decent money themselves, so it’s a win-win-win … Almost all of the work (minus a few minor corrections here and there, such as correcting the email link for the support address on this page, updating everything which needs updating with new logos in connection with a new company name, and so on) is already done — and done well, too … They just need a name — a great one they will be proud to trademark for themselves.

Maybe “Design Emergency Room”? No, I don’t think so; clearly, I’ve been spending too much time in hospitals lately. How about “On Call Designers”? Hmmm. Still too medicinal, and perhaps too provocative. “The Pattern Palette”? Oh, I LIKE that one! But, although the URL is available no matter what extension is chosen, a Google search comes up with 15,500 hits for “The Pattern Palette,” so a significant amount of research would need to be done to confirm this isn’t already someone else’s trademarked name — and since it’s not my business venture, I’m going to stop now …

However, you can feel free to post here suggesting names for DKR’s venture; I assure you, they’re reading!

Technorati Tags: Cross Stitch Expo, Stitch A Painting, Rick’s Charts, Rick Abbott, Art of Stitching, Deanna’s Designs, trademark, copyright, infringement, needlework, cross stitch, intellectual property, Margaret Scheperle, Darrel Scheperle, Designs on Demand, DesignsOnDemand.org, Designs On Demand.org, common law trademark, TM

In 1818, eight-year-old Louise Justine Atalie Matthy stitched what was later to become famously known as Le marquoir de Justine. This very highly sought after reproduction sampler chart has been available at times, and then extremely difficult to obtain at others. But it is NOW AVAILABLE at the bargain price of 20 euros through the very reliable Violarium!

This chart is actually a book which includes a photo of Justine’s original sampler, as well as much information on the sampler’s and Justine’s history. Unfortunately for many of us non-dual-language Americans, the book is in French … but the love of needlework — and the reproduction chart for Le marquoir de Justine cross all language boundaries, of course!

Technorati Tags: Le marquoir de Justine, Louise Justine Atalie Matthy, Violarium, reproduction sampler

Kim Ritchie has developed a wonderful product she calls QSnap Huggers (Blogroll). What’s a QSnap Hugger? Well, I’m thrilled to tell you! I’ve been hugging my QSnaps for about a month now, and our relationship is better than ever. It’s true what they say — if you just reach out and give a hug, you start getting hugs back. Sometimes when you least expect them. Oh, sorry, wait … that’s from something I’ve been working on with my nephew.

On the other hand, I think it still applies; otherwise, I would have just deleted it outright. Or maybe not — you all know by now that I like to try being a little funny. Sometimes I fail. Sometimes I really fail. Anyway.

QSnap Huggers have several purposes. One is to help keep the edges of your stitching fabric from getting soiled, and as each QSnap Hugger is fully machine washable, it’s easy to make sure you always have a clean QSnap Hugger to use for your latest project!

Another reason to use a QSnap Hugger is because if you hold your QSnap in hand, they may make it easier for you to grip the QSnap itself — whether because the fabric is softer, warmer, or doesn’t move as easily as the QSnap “snap.” Here’s the hug part — my hands feel like my QSnaps are hugging me back when I use my QSnap Huggers! Okay, maybe I’m pushing the humor a little, but they do help my hands feel better … and that means I can stitch longer — and THAT is worth what quite a few hugs feel like, no kidding around this time.

QSnap Huggers are also a great way to manage that extra 3 inches (more or less, as the case may be ) of fabric around our stitching; you just tuck all of that into your QSnap Hugger, which keeps it nicely neat and out of the way. No more accidentally stitching through any of that extra fabric (oh, come on, I can’t be the only one who still did that, even after over thirty years of stitching, until I learned my QSnaps like to be hugged just as much as I do?), no more constantly losing a thread from your fabric edge (or stitching it to the back of your project, which I also used to do frequently before I learned to hug my QSnaps), and no more of your favorite pets sitting on your lap or beside you thinking they ought to be able to use that piece of fabric sticking out in their direction for batting practice, as a chew toy, or even, as much as we’d love them to really give it a go, to practice stitching on themselves (funny how when you give them their own piece of fabric, their interest completely wanes once you are no longer seemingly attached to it). Can you tell that this is my favorite reason for QSnap Huggers?

Finally, of course, we decorate all of our other stitching accouterments — our scissors get fobs, our tape measures get stitched cases, our needles get oodles and oodles of lovely stitched needlebooks … heck, some of us actually started justified starting started our scissor collections so we’d have a way to display our scissor fob collection. So why wouldn’t we also want to decorate our QSnaps?

They come in a variety of attractive fabrics depending on what Kim has available at the time — you might want an entire set which matches, as I did (and I plan to stitch pretty little labels for them so I can easily tell which size they’re for … although I’ll probably end up waiting until several designers have released patterns for just that before I manage to get around to it, knowing me!) or perhaps you’ll want different fabrics for each size of Hugger to help you tell them apart. Or, if you have some fabric of your own that you really like, Kim will work with you to have you mail her the fabric and give you individualized pricing.

Kim’s prices on her QSnap Huggers (using fabric she provides) are exceedingly reasonable:

6″ X 6″ - $5.00
6″ X 8″ - $5.50
6″ X 11″ - $5.75
8” X 8” - $5.75
8” X 11” - $6.00
11” X 11” - $6.75
11” X 17” - $7.50
17” X 17” - $8.50

For orders above $50, Kim also offers free shipping! Otherwise, her US shipping costs are just $1.50 for the first QSnap Hugger and $.50 for each one thereafter. International buyers are welcome and should contact Kim directly for more information on shipping costs. Kim accepts PayPal (sorry, no credit or debit cards), personal checks, money orders, or concealed cash as payment.

Additionally, because October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, Kim has picked out eleven pretty fabrics with some kind of pink goodness in them and promised to donate 20% of the price of every QSnap Hugger made in one of those gorgeous fabrics to Breast Cancer Charities. Isn’t that fantastic! Look at this cute pattern with the pink ribbons hidden among pretty flowers:

The only problem is, we are already 86% of the way through the month of October, yet only $1.15 — yes, you read that right: one dollar and fifteen cents — has been raised toward Breast Cancer Charities.

Okay, actually, it’s just a little more than that because I just sent Kim a small order myself, but it’s for an odd size, so I’ll have to wait for a quote rather than being able to tell you exactly what the amount is that she’s raised toward Breast Cancer Charities. But I know we can do better than this.

Dear readers, I’m not making any money off of Independent Needlework News yet (I’m working on some ideas for that, including getting Google Ads up here, but first I want a different template … anyway, I digress [hi, Dennis, leave me a note if you get this ] … back to the point —>), or I would offer to match the total amount Kim raises to help the cause. Especially because it’s a bit more personal to me than any of us EVER want it to be, and I still can’t get any real answers around here (it’s those flunkie doctors in this state). Next year, I hope to be able to do some type of fundraiser myself, and in fact, I am already working on the plans for it. I believe when we cure breast cancer, we will also have found the cures for — or at least made huge strides toward finding the cures for our other swift and sure footed killers — ovarian cancer, uterine cancer, and cervical cancer, as well as all of those other horribly painful female conditions, (several of which I have lived with myself for many, many years) like endometriosis, adenomyosis, fibrocystic breasts, and uterine fibroid tumors that are considered “benign,” but which I know from experience certainly don’t feel anything like “kind.” In fact, at least some days, they feel as malignant and painful as any of those terrible female cancers — and that is one of the many reasons we have got to find the cure for breast cancer.

So please, don’t just think about hugging your QSnaps today … Do it, and help at the same time to make it possible for all women to hug our great grandmothers, our grandmothers, our mothers, our daughters, our sisters, our aunts, our cousins, our daughters, our friends, and all of the men in our lives who love us so much and who have sat by and watched too many of us suffer, struggle, fight, and even die.

Please, buy at least one pink fabric QSnap Hugger this month — just one. Get one in your most often used size QSnap, and if you don’t like it as a QSnap Hugger, perhaps you can find some alternate uses for it — it might work as a decorative casserole dish wrap, for example. But I’m certain you’ll like it as a QSnap Hugger, I think your QSnaps deserve a hug, and I KNOW YOU deserve a cure for breast cancer. Someday, we will find that cure, we will win, and it could be the QSnap Hugger YOU buy that puts us across the finish line. Imagine that.

“Giving your QSnap a hug never looked & felt so good.” (copyright 2007, Kim Ritchie, along with all pictures in this article)

Technorati Tags: QSnap Huggers, October, Kim Ritchie, breast cancer awareness month, breast cancer

The Online Needlework Show is now open! This is probably my favorite time of the year … and it comes around twice!

I am a very firm believer that this is the stitcher’s opportunity to take a look — from the comfort of our own homes, in our pajamas or whatever else we’d like to wear (or not — your choice ), and at whatever time of day is convenient for you — at all the different items available on the market to needlework shops and distributors from manufacturers and designers. We don’t usually get this kind of direct access but this is our chance to have an inside peek, and it is our obligation to take a look at what is there, make a list of what we like and would purchase, and then let our shops know. Too many shops today think the needlework industry isn’t doing well — this is your chance to let them know that the industry is doing just fine, but that the problem is that the shops haven’t been bringing home the items YOU want to stitch, or the tools you want to use.

So go take a look at all the wonderful offerings from this half of the year’s Online Needlework Show, make your list (and maybe even check it twice). Along your way, don’t forget to watch out for door prizes and other contests which may be offered by individual vendors! Then when you’re done, you just let your local needlework shop know what you want so they can order it for you! Simple!

Unless, of course, they’re not signed up to be buyers at the show, in which case you need to let them know how important this show in particular is for the current success and future growth of the needlework industry by putting them in touch with Cindy Ward (or have them read this article first if you think it will help ) … and make sure you show them the nice long list of items you’ll be ordering through another shop on the list who is signed up as a buyer.

We’ve all got to work together to help bring all our local shops into 2007 — there are actually a lot of them who don’t even have an online presence yet, or who don’t monitor what’s going on in the needlework world through any online resources. Those shops are missing out on SO MUCH, and it makes me really sad to say that my local shop is one of them. I’m going to take some time to look through the online show, make my shopping list, and then go visit her with it because she has repeatedly said to me, “Cross stitch just isn’t doing very well,” and even, “Cross stitch is dying.” I completely disagree. She just isn’t paying any attention to what stitchers want to stitch right now, and so her customers have gone elsewhere for the products they want — especially since she’s turned her store primarily into a yarn store in order to stay in business. Obviously, I can’t force her to drink … but I can sure try by leading her to the water … Just look at all the fabulous designers who will be hosting booths in this Online Needlework Show (in the tags section)! Who would want to miss this? Not me … See you there!

Technorati Tags: Online Needlework Show, Kitty Kats Original, Always Time to Stitch, Angelic Crafts, Annie Beez Samplings, AppleCross Designs, Art-Stitch, Aunt Susie’s House, Barrani Design Studios, Bask Designs, Beardie Designs, Brenda E. Kocher Designs, Brooke’s Books Publishing, Brunnerhaus, Butterfly Stitches, Camus International, Carousel Charts, Carriage House Samplings, Cats Whiskers Design Studio, Cedar Hill Designs, Charlette’s Collectibles, Cherished Stitches, Cindy Valentine Designs, Cinnamon Cat Designs, Country Bumpkin Publications, Country Garden Stitchery, Creations Annie Cicatelli, Creative Cross Stitch, Cross Eyed Kat, Cross Stitch and More, Cross Stitch Wonders, Cross-Stitch-Art, Dames of the Needle, DebBee’s Designs, Debbie Draper Designs, Designing Dogs, Designs by Lisa, Designs From Pamela, Dessins DHC, Dette Designs, Dinky-Dyes, DMC Corporation, Dutch Treat Designs, Enchanting Lair, Erica Michaels Designs, European Crosstitch, Fern Ridge Collection, Follow The Leader Designs, Forever in My Heart, French Needle, Full Circle Designs, Funk & Weber Designs, Gift of Stitching Magazine, Haberdashery Designs & Needlework, Handblessings, Harbour Light Designs, Heartfelt Designs, Heart’s Content, Historic Stitches, Imaginating, In Good Company, In the Company of Friends, Indigo Rose, Ink Circles, J. Designs, Jackie’s NeedleARTS MANIA, JAR Designs, JBW Designs, Jeanette Ardern Designs, Kelmscott Designs, Keslyns, Kooler Design Studio, KRIF, LGK Crafts and Supplies International, Lilipoints - Sarl, Linen Flowers Designs, Living Stitches, Liz Turner Diehl, Lizzie*Kate, Magic Needle, Marilynn & Jackie’s Antiques & Collectibles, Marking Samplar, MarNic Designs, Milady’s Needle, Moonflower Designs, My Big Toe Designs, My Mark, Myrtle Grace Motifs, Naald en Draad, Needle & Frame, Needle Arts Mystery Retreat, Needleboxes, Etc./Charted Imagery, Needle’s Notion, Needlework Designs By CJ, NeedleXpress, Needlizations, Night Owl Needlepoint, Northern Pine Designs, Olde Willow Stitchery Threads, Olive Hope Design, Original Designs By Christine, Over the Moon Designs, Periwinkle Promises, Pine Glen Designs, Princess and Me, Punchneedle Marketplace, R & S Designs, Reflets de Soie, Rishfeld Designs, Sandy Grossman-Morris Designs, Scarlet Quince, Scholehouse for the Needle, Sekas, Silver Lining, Simple Stitches, Spring Valley Stitchery, Stitch A Gift, Stitch Niche, Stitching Pretty Presents, Stitching Studio, Stitchin’spiration, Stoney Creek Collection, Sue Hillis Designs, Summer House Stitche Workes, Sweet Pea Designs, Sweetheart Tree, SzuLet Creations, Tasselart, Thread Gatherer, Threaded Needle Designs, Threads of Gold, Twisted Oaks Designs, Valdani Threads, Whispered by the Wind, Wild-Heart Designs, X’s & Oh’s, needlework, cross stitch, hardanger

Sage Stitchworks (Blogroll) is a discovery I have been wanting to share with you for months. In fact, I’ve had this post all prepared … but the WordPress software didn’t seem to like it. It just would NOT let me use the Publish button. I have no idea why. Until today, when I was looking at it again, about to give up and try copying and pasting it to a new post, and I heard my DH griping out loud to himself about consumerism and the over-commercialization of everything because of some ad he ran across that mentioned, “There are only so many shopping days until … !” My heart skipped a beat because usually my shopping is all done by the end of October, and I haven’t even thought about it this year. My finger twitched, meaning I hit that lefthand mouse button while the cursor was poised over “Publish” again, and suddenly, there it is. Add a dash of panic, and the Publish button suddenly worked! Then I had to go back in to add this paragraph … So I guess this Publish button was also a Panic button!

Sage Stitchworks creates needlework motto kits today using the same types of materials — perforated paper, variegated floss, and gold foil — which were used to make them in the Victorian era.

Enjoy exploring their website and you’ll find a wealth of information both on stitched mottoes from the past and on recreating them today, and I think you’ll also find your fingers itching to get started stitching one by the time you are done!

I was so excited about Sage Stitchworks that I called them the next day (it was the wee hours of the morning when I found their site the first time!) and spoke with Jennifer, who pretty much does everything as far as the business is concerned. I didn’t think to ask if she ever solicited any help from her family or anyone else as far as preparing kits or otherwise running the business, but it was wonderful to talk with someone who knew so much about how these kits were and are made, who was so willing to share information with me, and who seemed almost as excited to talk with me as I was to talk with her.

Below is a picture of what Jennifer would include in a typical kit for you: the pattern pre-printed on perforated paper, a Stitching Guide, plenty of variegated floss, gold foil backing, and a needle.

Stitchers who are already very familiar with stitching and have their own stash of variegated floss they would like to use may easily do so. Sage Stitchworks offers every standard kit they make in a “Pattern Only” option for $20 less than the full kit would cost. With the Pattern Only Option, you receive only the pattern pre-printed on perforated paper. However, you’ll always have access to the directions, which Sage Stitchworks calls their Stitching Guide, online from the comfort of your own home.

The Pattern Only option may also be preferred by stitchers who enjoy changing a design’s colors, which is a much easier undertaking when stitching a motto than when stitching a cross stitch pattern. Sage Stitchworks’ mottoes do not come with detailed directions for each particular design; rather, you rely on the Stitching Guide, the picture of the finished design if you want it to look like it does with those colors, and your own wishes with regard to how you want it to look. As Jennifer remarked, she could very easily stitch the same motto twice in a row with the same colors and have tiny variations in her stitching — the stitching of mottoes isn’t as … persnickety … as much cross stitching, although the outcome is just as lovely.

The only item you may have some difficulty finding if you choose the Pattern Only option is the gold foil. However, Jennifer said this hasn’t seemed to be a problem for any of her customers. She recommended checking the gift-wrapping sections of various craft stores, especially around holiday time. I am positive I’ve seen gold foil gift wrap pretty much year round in certain stores which are known for carrying “high quality” (maybe it’s just expensive?) gift-wrap — such as Hallmark stores. That would be a bit on the pricey side, but it would give you your gold foil if that’s what you were looking for and still be well under the $20 you saved by choosing the Pattern Only option. Aluminum foil is another option — and it’s an inexpensive and readily available one, too — if you prefer the silver look over gold, which several of Sage Stitchworks’ customers do. Silver foil is also an authentically Victorian choice, so there is nothing historically inaccurate about it. And then Jennifer says since she doesn’t get asked about the foil very often that she thinks a lot of her customers just don’t bother with it, perhaps for the same reason she skips it herself: she often feels it steals attention from the stitching.

This Stitching Guide from Sage Stitchworks is one of the best guides I have ever seen, by the way, for explaining how to use long and short stitches in the technique specifically used to stitch mottoes on perforated paper — with a fantastic close-up picture that just brings it all together, especially if you are a visual learner as I am. This technique also works on evenweave or linen, and mottoes can be stitched on those materials, although I think the technique is most easily mastered on perforated paper first — and certainly it is much more difficult to keep those long stitches nice and straight on evenweave or linen … and then a good framing job becomes imperative to keep them in place. But for those who wish to do it, it can be done.

Of course, once an experienced stitcher sees the above picture, something becomes really clear. Stitching a motto from Sage Stitchworks is an opportunity to have a happy dance in just a few days! It’s just a hop, a skip, and a jump from there to realizing these make FANTASTIC gifts, too, because they look like so much more work than they actually are … Of course, we stitchers have all mastered the art of saying, “Oh really, it didn’t take that long,” while everyone else who doesn’t stitch is thinking we are staying up until 3:00 and 4:00 a.m. every morning trying to get all our stitched gifts done for everyone. (Nevermind that in some cases we are; that’s because, in those cases, we’re having a darned good time! )

Sage Stitchworks also has taken the time to write up some of the history of mottoes I think you will enjoy reading.

You can also have special mottoes created for you. This option is shown specifically for a family last name, although the page mentions also having done first names in the past. Please keep in mind that the high price on this one is due to the individual typesetting required. I did ask Jennifer if it would be possible to order these in the Pattern Only option, and she said that is possible; however, the price would be reduced by $20 (just like with any of the other Pattern Only options) to $48.99, and again, this is to cover the typesetting required.

In fact, all you stitching grandparents out there might want to consider giving each of your grandchildren a kit with his or her name on it. These kits are actually advertised by Sage Stitchworks as being easy, satisfying, and addictive because they require absolutely no counting! What better way to get a child started loving needlework?

One of the things I talked with Jennifer about was the possibility of adding a new line of mottoes to the current product line she already has — something with a more modern feel. I don’t know for certain how well it would go over, but perhaps you all can make comments on this post to let Jennifer and me know what you think of the idea. It will be a bit of market research, although done rather haphazardly. Anyway, my thought was to have mottoes that say more modern things, but that are still designed with the textual look and feel of these recreated mottoes from yesteryear. I would just love to have something like, “Martha Who?” in a motto format, for instance. Or how about, “So it’s not Home Sweet Home; deal with it”? Jennifer and I had a few giggles coming up with other ideas of a similar nature, too, so if you have any suggestions along these lines, please feel free to add them as well. If you would prefer to contact Jennifer directly with your thoughts, she can be contacted through her website or emailed directly.

If you place an order or contact Jennifer with your thoughts, please be sure to mention that you heard about Sage Stitchworks through Independent Needlework News!

Oh … just in case you also look through the Gallery on Sage Stitchworks’ website like I did, and just in case you notice some of the gorgeous mottoes stitched on black perforated paper like I did, and just in case you think you’d like to order any of those like I did, they have all unfortunately been retired. It seems that most stitchers found them difficult to stitch on such that Jennifer was receiving more complaints than praise about them … So she decided to discontinue those lines. I specifically asked about the pineapple Welcome design, and it is definitely out of print.

Technorati Tags: Sage Stitchworks, motto, mottos, mottoes, Victorian, fancywork, sampler, door texts, embroidery on paper, perforated paper, punched paper

I had hoped to get a very explicit, accurate, and detailed retraction about the Needle Necessities/ThreadworX situation posted already. Unfortunately, life has gotten in the way (those details will be covered later, too; right now I am simply drowning).

However, this post is immediately necessary in order to correct errors I made earlier regarding Dragonfly Dreams.

Earlier, I implied Dragonfly Dreams was not an authorized Needle Necessities supplier, I was wrong, WRONG, W-R-O-N-G.

Here is how that mistake happened: I went by the information listed on Needle Necessities’ website. They listed one Australian distributor, and just two Australian shops who carried their threads. I took that to mean no other shops carried their products. While this assumption would generally be true if I had been making it about Needle Necessities’ US listings, it would not generally true regarding shops in Australia for a variety of reasons — only I didn’t learn that last bit of information, nor would it have ever crossed my mind to ask about it prior to this situation. I very incorrectly assumed shops from different countries were all treated the same by Needle Necessities.

You’ve probably heard the “joke” about why you should not assume? Because you might make an ass out of U and me? Well, I certainly made an ass out of myself this time.

A surprising result (at least to me) of this situation is that a good number of people (who have come to trust me when I mention copyright) found themselves even more disturbed than I was by the possible copyright infringement which I speculated might have been occurring. They actually wanted to do something about it and took it upon themselves to start contacting Karen Kirk, owner of Dragonfly Dreams, to ask why she stocks, “counterfeit threads”!

The thing is, some investigation was required first in order to determine whether or not any copyright infringement had indeed occurred (much less whether or not there was an issue of counterfeit threads … which is laughable — except when it is directed at you). Karen wrote to me [emphasis mine]:

The thread image you displayed on your site was loaded when we were told that they were the same company, and I forgot to change the image when I was told two months later that they were not. I have since corrected this, as I correct all honest mistakes when they are brought to my attention.

Therefore, copyright infringement is also NOT an issue in this case.

In other words, to those individuals who are calling Karen at Dragonfly Dreams, it is time to STOP. I was WRONG. Karen did nothing wrong.

I am new to doing this specific kind of business (the journalism part of what I am doing now, that is) and so this is an educational process for me; it is from my readers that I learn and become more accurate in my journalistic efforts. In fact, Bernadette Huysing of the Needlework Boutique (a competitor of Dragonfly Dreams; Blogroll) was kind enough to contact me — not only in Karen’s and Dragonfly Dream’s defense, but also to explain to me some of the inner workings of the distributing of threads in Australia about which I was entirely unaware. Because of my lack of knowledge on that matter, my report was very inaccurate and contained some unintended but still negative reflection on Dragonfly Dreams.

I certainly did not intend to “condemn” any business or to direct any malice toward any business in any way . However, there is a LOT of information to get out to the public, so the upcoming article retracting my statements is taking some time to write.

I have twice called Karen Kirk, owner of Dragonfly Dreams, on the telephone in response to emails from her because I felt this situation was important enough to call her about rather than just send email back and forth. She deserved to hear my voice, and the sincerity in it. I have also received email or comments from some of her most loyal customers. Please accept my heartfelt apology to all of you as well.

Note to Bre: Both of your comments will be published, and in fact, I am utilizing your first comment to make sure my more extensive retraction post is correct and properly detailed. I am also cross-checking points 2 and 4 of your first comment with ThreadworX. Also, having talked by phone directly with Karen and with Travis Richmond, I am quite sure we are all in agreement that we don’t wish to incite any further argument; therefore, as soon as my full retraction is written, approved in advance by Karen Kirk of Dragonfly Dreams and Travis Richmond of ThreadworX, and posted here on Independent Needlework News, I will post your comments at that time.

Technorati Tags: Dragonfly Dreams, Karen Kirk, copyright

I have just received a lengthy email from a Travis Richmond, President of ThreadworX, which answers many of the questions I had personally raised as well as those I had read in various other forums or been contacted with by a number of readers.

As soon as I receive permission to post his email and/or a document intended specifically for public consumption, I will do so. Please consider it sufficient at this point that I DO consider ThreadworX to be a legitimate company located in Garden Grove, California. As a new company, ThreadworX is still working on its website and online storefront (a factor I can certainly understand, as mine is nowhere near where I would like it to be either ); however, they expect to have these up and running soon.

Mr. Richmond states ThreadworX is an independent company which is not affiliated with Needle Necessities in any way. It is not yet clear to me why ThreadworX is duplicating at least some Needle Necessities colors; however, from some of the comments (especially two very enlightening comments made by Dale Rollerson and Rob — thanks so much to you both!) made to my earlier post, as well as some of Travis Richmond’s points, it seems there were some type of contract arrangements made (of which Debbie BuSteed was never made aware) between Needle Necessities and ThreadworX since ThreadworX is filling Needle Necessities’ overdue orders.

I hope to speak with Mr. Richmond soon to get more information and clarification on some of these matters, and of course, I will pass on to you whatever I learn. Please do keep in mind that the specifics of any contract issues between Needle Necessities and ThreadworX really are private issues, so anything Mr. Richmond may choose to share with me would be at his discretion.

My main interest along those lines is trying to get some answers regarding the color lines ThreadworX will have as compared to those we all were familiar with and loved from Needle Necessities, answers about when outstanding Needle Necessities orders are expected to ship to stores, and what the plan is going forward as far as keeping or dropping any specific colors from the Needle Necessities color line. I think these are some of the questions that are at the top of stitchers’ and shop owners’ lists, which is why I want to focus on those.

Please feel free to leave comments or email me with any specific questions you would like answered, and I’ll try to work them in to the conversation if time allows, and if Mr. Richmond isn’t too angry with me for my previously rather negative article.

Technorati Tags: ThreadworX, Needle Necessities, Travis Richmond, needlework

I apologize for disappearing, or seeming to, for a while here recently. I had actually gone up to Michigan for what should be routine medical care (pain management) but isn’t because no Illinois doctors have been willing to provide it — which I know because I’ve been trying to obtain it for over five years while becoming exceedingly worse in the meantime. In fact, only six physicians in the entire state of Illinois are apparently ever willing to provide it, and that includes not just for patients with missing limbs, chronic pain, and so on, but also for those dying from cancer or AIDS. Unfortunately, my friend Creel’s mother never encountered one of those six before dying of two different types of cancer.

I swear, Illinois is the state where all the doctors who just barely manage NOT to flunk out of medical school come to practice. Well, they have to go somewhere, you know! You don’t think they paid all that money to just barely get medical degrees and then aren’t using them, do you? Yes, of course, the students who only graduated to MDs and ODs because of a curve — and barely made it through medical school that way — are out there practicing on people like you and me! How else can they pay off their massive school loans?

One of the reasons this situation is so awfully horrible is because there are only two reasons a doctor can lose his or her license. One is to kill a patient. The other is to over-prescribe narcotics. The really pathetic thing is that most doctors are so far under-prescribing narcotics that they are killing patients by way of suicide instead … but society hasn’t figured out a good way to prove that type of case yet. I believe we WILL figure it out; we just aren’t there yet.

Anyway, infuriated with extremely good reason, depressed by the situation but NOT chemically depressed (as insisted upon by so many doctors, and even by quite a few of my friends — quite incorrectly … and I DO know what the difference is, having been severely chemically AND situationally depressed back in 2000), in pretty close to absolute desperation, frustrated into giving up on Illinois but unwilling to give up on myself, and still FAR from suicidal because I have way too much left to stitch, I chose to go to Michigan to a real state-of-the-art hospital and medical organization to see the doctor of a friend with some of the same health issues I have whose doctor readily prescribes REAL pain relievers for her as needed.

By “REAL pain relievers,” yes, I do mean narcotics — those wonderful pills which are so much less damaging to your liver than Tylenol, and so much less damaging to your digestive system than Ibuprofen. My liver is half again as big as it should be from Tylenol abuse because doctors here won’t prescribe — and Tylenol was barely working anyway. I was going through the 250 pill bottle every week at one point just to take the edge off! The Ibuprofen was just as bad for me — and just as ineffective.

Did you know the addictive potential of narcotics is almost exclusive to healthy individuals who have no pain to start with, while people who take narcotics for pain never experience a “high” from them because the medication simply relieves their pain (which is all the “high” a person who lives in chronic pain seeks)?

Anyway, I was gone just over ten days and my time while away in Michigan wasn’t too spotty as far as keeping up with Independent Needlework News was concerned. It was extremely frustrating, however, and not quite up to my own wishes or standards because I was fighting with a 24K dial-up (even though she has a 56K modem, she doesn’t think there’s any reason to call her ISP and have them check the situation out, and no amount of trying to explain to her why she should be getting better service would change her bullheaded mind) at the house of the friend I was staying with while in Michigan.

You’d think it would have been really great to get home, but while I was away, my dear father-in-law unfortunately had to be admitted to the hospital, where he later became a victim of medical malpractice, dying senselessly, needlessly, and quite unexpectedly while at one of the most well-known hospitals in this area of the country.

So perhaps you can imagine my frustration at receiving the following comment at this particular time from reader Amy Frost:

To whom it my [sic] concern,

I heard about 6 months ago that my favorite thread company Needle Necessities [sic] is going out of business. I have been trying to get some answers on this for months. The place I normally buy my thread told me that she has been waiting for her back-orders for about 10 months now. I have been online looking for the Floss and Pearls that I normally use for my class that I have been teaching for 10 years. I cannot understand why no one has what I’m looking for! I have tried other brands but nothing looks as nice as the Needle Necessities brand.

Today I finaly [sic] called Needle Necessities myself for the 1st time and spoke with the manager, Debbie. She told me that they are no longer in business. I cannot believe this! What makes me upset is that on your website it reads the following information “Needle Necessities NOT, Repeat NOT, Going Out of Business”. [sic] Who do you think you are? your [sic] readers are relying on you for accurate information. This is so disappointing!!!!

Sincerely,
Amy Frost

When I wrote my first article titled Needle Necessities NOT, Repeat NOT, Going Out of Business at the behest of a reader who wished to remain anonymous, I also spoke with the front Office Manager, Debbie BuSteed, just as Amy did. At that time, on Tuesday, August 21, 2007, Debbie vehemently insisted Needle Necessities was NOT going out of business, and that if it were, she would know. Accordingly, that is what I reported.

Unfortunately, Needle Necessities has had some difficulties in the past year or so, including employee transitions which resulting in falling behind on numerous orders. Apparently, these difficulties eventually resulted in the owner of Needle Necessities making the decision to actually close the business. Debbie BuSteed, whom I spoke with again after receiving your comment, Amy, confirmed that the owner had informed her on Monday, September 10, 2007, that the business would be closing. She did not intentionally mislead or lie to me, nor did I intentionally mislead or lie to you. I trusted my source, who was the best source of information I could get at the time — and who still remained the best source of information even when you contacted her and then when I contacted her again. The only “problem” is that Debbie is perhaps a more optimistic person than she should have been in this particular situation — but with a company which had been in business as long as Needle Necessities has, I think I would have tended to err in the same direction myself.

Debbie’s priority since then has been on finding a new job, combined with finishing up the work which remains for her to complete at Needle Necessities (which sounds like quite a bit, actually, especially as there are only two remaining employees) which is one reason she did not inform me so that I could inform you instead of your informing me.

My priority has been on first my father-in-law, and then after his death on supporting my husband and the rest of his family, along with taking care of my own health instead of rushing to inform the rest of the public.

As for your wholly inappropriate and offensive question, “Who do you think you are?” I am the sole owner, investigative reporter, and writer of Independent Needlework News. So far, all the work I’ve done here at Independent Needlework News has been for FREE because I haven’t figured out how to place the ads onto the site, and the person who said she’d help out with that kind of technical support stuff has apparently not had time to work on any of those things. Just because my tag line says, “It’s like CNN, but all needlework news, all the time!” doesn’t mean I’m working 24-7-365 or that various individuals are working for me to cover things 24-7-365. Needlework is important, but not that important. What the tag line actually means is that you can come to Independent Needlework News 24-7-365 for needlework news … and I think pretty much everyone except you understood that prior to this; if not, they will now.

As for me, I still do not feel particularly up to regular blogging for Independent Needlework News or anywhere else. It seemed the doctor in Michigan had been a big help, but then Dad died and now nothing is working. I’m not really sleeping well or eating. I’m grieving and barely holding it together for my husband. This threw a financial wrench into things also that is making life extremely difficult, and I have another trip to Michigan in a couple of weeks that I don’t know how I’m going to manage … except I know it will cost more than the last one did for a shorter stay because I’ll need a hotel, rental car, and so on.

But getting back to work on Independent Needlework News is probably a good idea. That will help restore a sense of normalcy. Maybe I’ll feel like stitching, which always makes me feel good.

Perhaps some of you will let me know of big sales of Needle Necessities floss.

Technorati Tags: Needle Necessities, rumor, out of business, needlework, pain management, health care, medical malpractice, routine medical care, Illinois, narcotic, opioid

Distributor Norden Crafts has a very informative article called Copyrights and Copywrongs on their website.  It gives you the basics on copyright law as it pertains to the needlework industry.

This article is about as close as you can get to finding copyright information pertaining to the needlework industry “in a nutshell.” Even though I have been studying copyright law with regard to needlework for many years now, even I still find it confusing at times. 

In fact, that is one of the biggest problems with copyright law, in my opinion – that it is so confusing.  I focus on it often here on Independent Needlework News as a service  to you and to the industry I love because, most of the time, understanding is the key to compliance.  It is difficult to follow a law you don’t understand because you don’t know if what you are doing is correct or not.  However, ignorance is no excuse for breaking the law, and the penalties for copyright infringement are too high — this is DEFINITELY one law you do NOT want to break for a MULTITUDE of reasons.   

Norden Craft’s article helps answer some of the more confusing questions in a fairly clear way. I recommend it to you as something to read today, and then as something to review perhaps once every six months or so — just to keep these thoughts fresh in your own mind so that your actions are always clearly in line with copyright laws.

Bookmark this site, too, for those times when you have questions!

By the way, if you are wondering why a needlework distributor is interested in copyright law, it is because needlework distributors are affected by the illegal copying of needlework patterns, too.  Copyright infringement hurts the needlework industry AT EVERY SINGLE LEVEL.

Let’s say this distributor normally sells ten copies each of ten different patterns to each shop (100 patterns total). If one customer from each shop buys one copy of each of those ten different patterns and makes ten illegal copies of each of those patterns, which they then illegally give to ten different friends, then those friends do not need to buy the original patterns (which means the shop loses their business).  Now the other nine of each of those patterns waiting to be bought by customers are still sitting on the shop’s shelves …

And let’s not forget to do the math, either.  Suppose each of those ten different patterns retails for $10, which is getting to be a fairly average price nowadays.  Just one set of those ten patterns at retail value would be $100! With just one customer from each shop giving away ten copies of ten patterns to ten friends, the shop would lose $1000!  Nine more shops around the country would also lose $1000 each!

When the shops don’t sell the patterns they expect to sell, they don’t reorder as soon as they expected to and/or they don’t have the funds to place new orders for other products. This means the distributors are now not receiving orders like they used to — either they are receiving smaller orders, or their orders are coming in farther and farther apart.

It took a little while, but in the end, both the shop AND the distributor lost business, and that is why Norden Crafts has made this article available to you. They want you to understand that if you make a copy of a pattern for a friend or accept a copy of a pattern from a friend, it is hurting their business, too.

What’s more important, perhaps, at least to you, is that Norden Crafts wants you to understand that when you cause your shop to lose business in this way, then you give your shop two choices, neither of which is particularly appealing: raise their prices or go out of business. Which one do you prefer?

I prefer my shop stay in business AND be able to keep their prices lower, so I refuse to make or accept illegal copies of patterns. Please do the same.

JUST SAY NO TO COPYWRONGS !!!

Technorati Tags: Norden Crafts, copyrights, copywrongs, needlework, copyright, infringement

For some time now, I’ve admired crazy quilting from a distance. I even took a class back in October, 2001, in Romulus, Michigan with the legendary Carole Samples (why does this woman not have a website?), during which my grandmother passed away and I also learned I did not get a job I really wanted and had been fully led to expect to get. 

Unfortunately, the class organizers had done a very poor job of organizing anything (for instance, there was not enough food for all of the attendees to eat, even when it was served to us instead of buffet style).  On top of it all, when I had the “nerve to complain”  I was hungry and expected something to eat, especially since we were being hosted at a Hilton, the retreat organizers demanded I leave!  Somehow my stomach growling loudly and rather angrily sounding after missing two meals had upset a couple of people in the class sitting nowhere near me who had no idea what was going on, or what was making the noise.  I was deemed to be setting a bad example and ruining the retreat for others, and so I was ordered to leave without being allowed to explain “my side,” without being able to make any appeal, without being able to inform them of my grandmother’s death, and without even receiving any portion of my money back!  Oh, and I did not get my class kits either.    My one big regret is that I did not make my complaints known to Carole Samples, who, as far as I know, would have been appalled at the treatment I received from the organizers.  As a result of this experience, I  have had a bad taste in my mouth for crazy quilting that has lasted to this day.

However, I’m still very attracted to the idea of crazy quilting. Probably not to a lot of the crazy quilting that has come into fashion quite recently — I don’t see myself using pictures on crazy quilts, for example. I’m also not crazy about things that are Victorian style, so I would be doing things which reflect an entirely different decorating style and color palette. I also think that most of the time I would tend to go for the simpler look — although the style known as “encrusted crazy quilting” (which is a type of crazy quilting just smothered with beads and all sorts of sparkly doodads and whatnots until it seems there isn’t any more space to add another bit of sparkle to a piece) is extremely popular right now, it also is really not my particular style or interest.

It’s all yummy eye candy and terrific inspiration for sure, but what interests ME, as a needleworker, about crazy quilting is having a purpose to use all sorts of lovely fancy embroidery stitches in something other than a band sampler.

However, one of several things which has held me back from giving crazy quilting much of a try on my own — besides not having my class kit and supplies from the class I mentioned above — has been wondering how I’ll ever be able to make such nice, neat stitches as all the crazy quilters seem to do. Well, it turns out that at least some of the best crazy quilters out there, including Carole Samples herself, use a little help to make everything come out looking so nice and neat. Some of us might call it cheating; others of us would call it smart or a trick of the trade.

Personally, I’m just surprised because, still being outside the crazy quilting world myself, the thought that this wasn’t all done completely by hand — and that it’s actually OKAY to use a tool to help you get things just right — hadn’t even occurred to me. Suddenly, if I could get my hands on this tool (the shops I’ve found who carry it are currently out of stock, sigh … well, perhaps they know I’m broke!), I feel like maybe I could grasp crazy quilting by myself now.

Sharon Boggon reviewed Carole Samples’ Dream-a-Seam Templates in excellent detail, and from the point of view of how they can be useful to an experienced crazy quilter. The fact that one of the most well known crazy quilters in the stitching universe thinks so highly of the Dream-a-Seam Templates tells me they are a super tool.

But read all the comments on Sharon’s post, too. Carole Samples actually posted a comment on Sharon’s review (in response to a question from another commenter) that one of her intentions in creating the Dream-A-Seam Templates was to help crazy quilters get over a hurdle preventing them from even getting started creating a piece of crazy quilted artwork. That’s pretty much where I fall, so the Dream-A-Seam Templates should be helpful and a lot of fun for me — if I can just get my hands on them in the first place! :D  Then the hardest decision left to make will be which seam to use — and from Sharon’s review, that sounds like a decision which could confound me for months, LOL …

By the way, the commenter to whom Carole was responding, Sarah E., felt using Carole’s Dream-A-Seam tool might not be all that historically accurate with what crazy quilters in days long past used to do — and went on from there to make some very insightful remarks regarding crazy quilters today having a bit of a hangup about making things perfect.  I think Sarah’s thoughts apply to needleworkers of any kind and are relevant in several types of discussions, so I will likely be referring back to Sarah E.’s comments at some point in the future — as well as trying to locate her.  (If anyone can help me locate her, I would really appreciate it!)

Technorati Tags: Carole Samples, Dream-a-Seam, templates, encrusted, crazy quilt, Dream a seam, Sharon Boggon, Hilton