INDEPENDENT NEEDLEWORK NEWS

If you’re wondering what happened to The Gift of Stitching’s website, here is the official answer from editor Kirsten Edwards (initially posted on The Gift of Stitching Magazine Yahoo Group on February 24, 2008):

Hello everyone,

Well… this is very embarrassing and I’ve been up since 4am trying to fix the problem. Basically our domain thegiftofstitching.com has expired, we didn’t know it was going to and now we have to negotiate and buy it back from a parking domain business that likes to profit out of people wanting their expired domains back. OK, lesson learnt the hard way. Buy this domain back is going to take sometime - up to 2 weeks.

In the meantime we have bought www.thegiftofstitching.com.au and are currently working with the hosting company to get it attached to our account so we can get the website up and running again. This will take up to 72 hours to travel around the world and update all the servers. Hopefully most will see it in the next 48 hours. Keep coming back and press refresh to see if it has started to work.

Once the domain is working for me, I will be sending out extensive emails so all subscribers/retailers/designers so they know what is going on.

Thanks for your patience, I am really sorry this has happened. We are working as quick as possible to get this fixed.

Kind regards,
Kirsten

–
Kirsten Edwards
Editor
The Gift of Stitching
www.thegiftofstitching.com

In my opinion, this kind of thing should be illegal. It’s stealing, pure and simple — and stealing someone else’s name is about as low as one can go.

Let’s all hope The Gift of Stitching is soon back up and running — on both the old and the new websites. (The new website is already working for me, though I’ll have to re-figure out how to get my sidebar buttons, which seem to have disappeared with the WordPress upgrade, working again. However, the TGOSM button disappeared altogether from my personal blog, too … so that one needs redoing completely, I guess.)

Also, I would like to ask a personal favor of everyone who can spare a moment to say a prayer, send good thoughts or positive energy my way, or whatever you may call your form of hoping someone or some animal does well …

I mentioned in my last post that I’ve had a terrible cold, and it turns out I passed it on to five of our eight cats. Three are recovering nicely with the help of antibiotics, but two really need some extra assistance beyond that. Magic is probably going to be just fine, but we are extremely worried about Dumbledore. It is extra devastating for us that he is so sick because since he is deaf, he is very hard to comfort. We can only communicate with him through touch and vision, but he’s not really interested in looking at much right now, or in being cuddled. To make it even worse, it seems every time we do touch him, it makes him sneeze (which may actually be helpful in getting the crap out of his nose, but it makes us feel terrible … ).

We’re doing all we can, but we’re also supposed to head to Michigan first thing tomorrow (Monday) where I have a doctor’s appointment, and right now, we dread leaving him. I may try driving alone (even though my husband took two days off specifically to drive me because I’ve been having so much difficulty staying awake while driving — something which started after the kidney failure in November), or we may board Dumbledore (and maybe Magic) with the vet while we’re gone.

I can’t cancel the appointment because I have to maintain a good relationship with this Michigan doctor (and who knows how she’d feel about my not showing because of a sick cat), especially after having been terminated by my primary care doctor here (the one I thought was so good but it turns out he nearly killed me — yes, that’s right, he caused the kidney failure … and then he terminated me because he’s scared of making another major mistake) and being as yet unable to find a new primary care doctor (because every one I’ve seen so far looks at a 38-year-old woman who has had kidney failure — and has significant signs of permanent kidney damage as a result — as a malpractice case waiting to happen), but I must admit I’m very torn.

Leaving Dumbledore with the vet may be the worst thing for him, as he might feel we’ve given up on him. Right now, he is at least in comfortable, familiar surroundings with the other cats he knows and loves.

I really am not sure what to do. All positive thoughts are very much appreciated right now …

Here are pictures of Dumbledore and Magic at their best:

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

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

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

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

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

Surprise!

Product review coming soon …

Technorati Tags: ThreadworX

Sadly for the rest of us, Kim Ritchie has decided to stop making Qsnap Huggers, at least temporarily. Family issues must take precedence for her, just as they must for all of us at times. I hope she will be back soon.

Until such time as Kim is able to return with her fantastic product, I will certainly enjoy hugging my QSnaps on a regular basis … and INN will continue to offer QSnap Huggers as contest prizes for a short while — until I run out of the current stash Kim so generously donated her time making for me, that is. So if you wanted a QSnap Hugger and didn’t get a chance to order one for whatever reason, please be sure to watch INN for upcoming contests … and don’t forget to participate in the current contest, too!

Also, be sure to stay tuned to INN for future announcements because you can be certain that if and when Kim is able to return to manufacturing Qsnap Huggers, I will very happily announce it here, and Kim will always receive my full support in her endeavors.

Please join me in wishing Kim and her family all the best at this time and in the future.

Technorati Tags: QSnap Huggers, Kim Ritchie

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

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