INDEPENDENT NEEDLEWORK NEWS

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

… not THE abyss, perhaps … but AN abyss, nevertheless.

At least this time I did not put my toe into the depths, as happened in the late nineties when I was thirty and my heart stopped for eleven seconds. I still have that flatline printout as a reminder that every moment is precious. Sometimes, I still forget.

First, an apology to my readers and a thank you to Jenna for updating you briefly.

This time, it was my turn to be in the hospital, DH hardly manageded to visit (due to his paying job), and I’m not entirely clear on many of the medical details of the situation because, basically, my body nearly shut down for good.

The scariest details would be that my blood pressure was 62/39 (barely conscious, so it really is more amazing I remember so MUCH of the situation, hazily or otherwise), I went into acute kidney failure, and I was so anemic it was the equivalent of missing two pints of blood. (I wonder whose I received back to keep me going? I wondered lots of things about each of you — Do you stitch? What might you have been reading, or did you perhaps nod off, while you donated your pint for me? — as I lay watching your blood run slowly down into my arm … )

Obviously, it is extremely important that my primary care doctor and the flunky Illinois doctors he has to work with determine WHERE I am losing all that blood, and that they do so fast, or … well. I mean unwell.

It is, as yet, unclear exactly what went awry first — the kidney failure or the anemia? Perhaps it doesn’t matter, but in my mind, it seems the anemia is now the more important issue. In the doctors’ minds, the kidney failure is currently primary, even though my kidneys are now functioning normally (minus the frequent kidney stones, of which I have suffered three just since returning home). I can understand that when the body’s organs fail in a certain order, as they do, it is important to restart certain things first and get them working normally. What I cannot understand is to continue focusing on only the worst symptom (in fact, death itself is only a symptom if you look at things a certain way), rather than on seeking the ultimate cause.

At the same time, I am tired. SO tired. It’s really, really hard to keep trying to fight for even your life when the doctors all just look at you as if you are being silly to do so, and I have pretty much run out of doctors in this area to consult — or to even be legally ALLOWED to consult. In addition, I am losing my ability to drive. My doctor has so far refused to take away that privilege, but the fact remains that I am less and less able to safely drive because of the terrible vertigo and the unpredictable blood pressure. Going to new doctors even further away is simply an impossibility for me at this point.

In any case, determining which things are causes and which are effects is befuddling to even the very few C student Illinois doctors, and so … my actually rather good A- doctor is trying to run the show without an awful lot of things he really could use in that black doctor’s bag of his.

With that, I must thank all of you for your many, many, MANY lovely emails, comments, and even telephone calls. So, too, for your prayers, warm thoughts, well wishes, or however you might choose to phrase such things, which most certainly must have been swirling around in Illinois’ November winds, protecting me from who knows what harm in my dizzy, oh-SO-dizzy, anemic, double-visioned haze. It will be weeks before I am able to respond in kind to everyone, unless I can determine some way to convince the cats they actually work for me, rather than the other way around …

Oh, wait … they ARE working for me, as there is no need whatsoever for an electric blanket in this house, even when my blood pressure IS far too low. Always, always, ALWAYS remember to give credit where credit is due!

I will very soon (starting Saturday, in fact, so look for another hiatus shortly … but I am trying very hard to complete outstanding issues first here on INN) be headed to Michigan for a consult with an A+ doctor in hopes of having her interface by phone with my primary care doctor here. Weather and wheels willing, I’ll be back again and trying to get more into the INN swing of things by late next Wednesday, November 21st, or possibly early the next morning.

This post has already grown much longer and more expansive than I intended. Further details will likely appear on my personal blog for those who may be interested.

Technorati Tags: Heather Orn, Heather L Orn

Hi folks, this is Jenna Magee - Heather’s technical support person. I just received the following information in an email from Heather’s husband: “Heather is in the hospital right now, they are running tests to find out what is wrong. We don’t know much yet.”

I will post an update when I know more.

My husband is having tests, tests, and more tests … so far nothing is conclusive, the results are not back yet, and/or only time will give us answers (i.e., will the medication work to break up the clots). So far, he seems to be doing well, but he is a worrier and waiting on the unknown makes him quite anxious.

On the other hand, he is getting a much needed break which I have been trying to get him to take for many months, as I have seen it affecting his health negatively, so I am trying to perceive it from the viewpoint that perhaps the powers that be agreed with me and wanted him to sit down and take a load off already.

The kitties miss him very much, and Dumbledore, our deaf cat, is especially confused. He sees my husband’s car in the driveway so is certain he is hiding here somewhere. It is rather funny to watch him go from window to window looking for him in the back yard (the lawn does need to be mowed, and Dumbledore has let himself out of the house once before to go get my husband while he was mowing the lawn!) …

Anyway, I must run, but I hope you will go watch this wonderful video; it brightened my day big time.

Technorati Tags: Heather Orn, Heather L Orn, Paul, Britain’s Got Talent, mobile phone salesman, South Wales, opera, Britain’s Got T*lent

One of my good friends and regular readers (thank you!!) has discovered this conversion list from Needle Necessities to ThreadworX, which I know many will find helpful and a relief. I am not sure who put this conversion list together (I would call Fireside Stitchery to ask, but as you’ll see from the next paragraph, I have more important concerns at the moment), but please remember that your mileage is likely to vary. As with any hand-dyed threads, no two are ever exactly the same — but that is also the essence of their exquisite charm.

Independent Needlework News may be sporadic and/or very short over the next few days as my husband is in the hospital. He has been diagnosed with multiple pulmonary embolisms (PE) in both lungs, so this is extremely serious, but we are told to have peace of mind that this was found and is now being treated with anti-coagulant medication. Now the main goal is to try to determine the cause, as he is not sedentary, often working seven days a week, and therefore does not fit the profile of a typical PE patient.

Technorati Tags: Needle Necessities, ThreadworX, conversion list, hand-dyed threads, Independent Needlework News, Heather Orn, Heather L Orn

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

You may recall that not all that long ago, I wrote about Meg Thompson Shinall’s (Blogroll) latest design called Life’s A Hoot …

Imagine my surprise to find Hedwig’s younger second cousin of a slightly different, but still closely related, species of owl, Ozzie, who is a scissor keeper and needle minder also starring the Putford scissors in a design called What a Hoot! from Janie Hubble of The Cat’s Whiskers (Blogroll).

Orders are already being taken for Ozzie, a chart available for $5.

Hedwig is already here at my home with his darling baby owls and attracting lots of attention from my kitties, so I am holding off on Ozzie myself for just a bit … Not long because I am a diehard eighties Cardinals baseball fan who will always love the dearly retired #1 but long enough for … well, I’ll get to that.

Hedwig and Ozzie are definitely examples of a great bit of marketing by Kelmscott Designs’ Paula Sibbald … and if you don’t like the darker color of the Putford scissors, then perhaps you can switch out for a pair of the new Seaton scissors being released at the Online Needlework Show running right now! Think of them as the brunette and the blonde scissors … Janie Hubble even has a picture showing on her site with Ozzie in the new Seatons so you can decide which you like better before you buy the scissors.

And that’s what I’m waiting for — because I don’t really need two pairs of the same scissors, and I really think this little Ozzie looks cuter as a blonde! 

Technorati Tags: Kelmscott, Putford, Ozzie, What A Hoot, Cat’s Whiskers, Janie, Meg Thompson Shinall, Life’s a Hoot, Paula Sibbald, Seaton, Online Needlework Show, Hedwig, Harry Potter, Ginnie Thompson, Flower Thread

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 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

Judy Odell (Just a Thought) has announced she will have three online classes ready to begin near the first of next year.

One will be her beautiful, but extremely limited, class for My Treasures Workstation. It is so limited, in fact, that on her website, it says this particular class is completely SOLD OUT … But Judy happens to have a very limited supply of the wooden bases needed for finishing this gorgeous project. However, due to its limited status, this class will be strictly reserved for members of her JAT Message Board — so be sure to join NOW to make sure you don’t miss this class!

I adored stitching My Treasures Workstation during the first run of the class and really cannot recommend it or Judy’s teaching of finishing skills highly enough; you will be amazed at what you can accomplish under her tutelage, and it will be actually easy (or, at least, almost easy) — I promise.

The second online class will be yet another new needle book class project! Judy just keeps cranking them out; she is so talented!

The third will be her Woodland Lace Box, originally designed for the Northwest Sampler Guild, redesigned as a class project.

It will be fun to see exactly what is meant by “redesigned,” as it could be anything from the stitched design to part of the finishing of the box itself …

No matter what, with one of Judy O’Dell’s designs, you know you can count on it to be beautiful when finished!

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