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

Remember when I introduced you to Lucie Heaton’s charming designs?

Well, all Lucie’s designs are on sale for 20% off through Saturday, January 19th, if you enter JAN08 during checkout — and you thought your holiday shopping for yourself was done! (Ha! Don’t worry — your faithful editor here at INN will make certain your shopping is never finished — at least, not unless you want it to be! )

Here is one of her latest releases (from October), called Winter Robins, to encourage you to put your coat back on and go back out in the cold for some shopping to get your fingers tapping on that keyboard again :

So have a wonderful time wandering around LucieHeaton.com Cross Stitch Designs, where you can fill your cart and it never gets any heavier — and hardly costs you much more either … especially during this sale!

Technorati Tags: Lucie Heaton, LucieHeaton.com Cross Stitch Designs, Winter Robins, sale, cross stitch

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

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

Having seen this issue mentioned in many places — such as blogs, bulletin boards, and mailing lists — and as someone who is promoting both shows, I am reposting the following, with permission (because to do otherwise would be a copyright violation, and you already know how I feel about those — and why ), so more people have access to the official thinking on the matter. Besides, it is far better written than I could do! It was originally posted to the Stitching Jubilee Yahoo Group, which is THE place to stay up to the second on news about the Stitching Jubilee.

Fellow Stitchers,

In 2006, the Hershey Festival was held very close the Louisville show. In 2007, the same thing happened. In 2008, we plan to hold the Jubilee one week before the Louisville show. I have been asked why this is.

Many times, in planning these events and shows, organizers are quite limited to dates because of venues. We want to place the events and shows at large enough locations, with good access to extras like shopping and food options. Sometimes these venues are very limited to when they can host particular events.

Marilyn knows that many of you are concerned about the proximity of the Jubilee and the Louisville show. She understands that it can be a time crunch.

All this to say why we scheduled the Jubilee when we did. I thank everyone for their concern on this matter. It’s questions like this that the Moderators are here. We want you to understand the Jubilee. We want you to attend if you can. It’s about the stitching and the fun.

Regards,
Megan Andres
Webmaster
http://www.stitchingjubilee.com

By the way, check out who’s already scheduled to teach at the Stitching Jubilee! I guess Lorri Birmingham isn’t completely retired — yey!

Technorati Tags: Stitching Jubilee, Marilyn Vredevelt, Stoney Creek, Valley Forge, King of Prussia, Catherine Jordan, Lorri Birmingham, Patricia Hartman, Pat Hartman

… to make your selections in Linabear Creation’s 30% off sale that’s just for INN readers!

For the remainder of the sale, the sale code to use in order to receive the 30% off discount in the LinaBear Store is INN7771.

Technorati Tags: LinaBear, Selina Merriman, INN, Independent Needlework News, sale, cross stitch

… 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

Through Sunday, December 16th, Snowy River Quilts is having a sale … All regularly priced books, fabrics, and patterns will be discounted 20% (you won’t see the discount on the website, but it will be processed manually).

And for all the stitchers, this is a great time to stock up on these fabrics from the Nell’s Flower Shop line:

~ Multi-color Sampler on Cream ~

~ Ginger Sampler ~

~ Rhubarb Sampler ~

~ Green Sampler ~

~ Multi-color Sampler on Cream (another view) ~

Or perhaps you’ll like the Madeira line better?

~ Aqua ~

~ Willow ~

~ Rose ~

~ Aqua on Cream ~

~ Willow on Cream ~

~ Rose on Cream ~

~ Brown on Cream ~

~ Sampler on Cream ~

Or maybe the Chelsea Boutique line instead?

~ Coffee on Willow ~

~ Coffee on Sage ~

~ Rose on Parchment ~

~ Willow on Parchment ~

~ Tonal Parchment ~

~ Sage on Parchment ~

It’s a really tough decision, isn’t it? I couldn’t decide myself, so I did what any good stitcher would do: I collected them all! I’m going to make a great big crazy quilt out of them! And yes, I am actually going to crazy quilt over the seams. I’d love for this to be the quilt for my bed, but I’m not sure that crazy quilting the seams would be such a good idea when I have anywhere from one to eight cats sleeping with me at a time. So perhaps I’ll end up hanging it on a wall, or maybe making curtains — but I AM going to crazy quilt all of these wonderful different fabrics together!

Technorati Tags: Snowy River Quilts, sale, quilt, fabric, crazy quilt, Nell’s Flower Shop, ginger sampler, multi, multi-color, sampler, rhubarb sampler, green sampler, Madeira, Chelsea Boutique, cross stitch,