July 9, 2019 Tuesday

The First Day of My Remodeled Website

Permanent Resolutions for Stitchers

1.  Take all the pent-up anxiety about perfection and redirect that energy toward creativity. Open up your minds and think of creative  possibilities you can bring to your needlework, ways that will personalize it and make it distinctly yours.  Here are two ways to start:

Oops you made a mistake and you face a lot of ripping.

Ask yourself, is it really a mistake or a variation?

You do have to rip if you crossed most of your crosses in one direction and suddenly you started crossing them in the other direction, yep no way around that. Why? The real reason for good technique is that it allows all your attention to focus on your design (where it should be).

You don't have to rip if you made a leaf one row bigger than the design called for. This is obsessive behavior that needs redirecting.

You do need to rip if you make something so large it is out of scale with the rest of the design; you do not have to rip if it is barely noticeable.

You do not have to rip if you mixed up colors and the design is not exactly as the designer's model. For heaven's sake, if it looks OK, stop obsessing.

You do have to rip if a color or texture is not in harmony with the rest of the design.

You do not have to throw away a design if you run out of a dye lot.

If it looks like you are headed toward thread shortage, don't use the thread to the last strand, save at least 1/4 of it. Buy some more and decide where and how to introduce the new dyelot. I actually prefer to work with multiple dyelots. If you pay attention to lights and darks etc., they can bring an added depth to your design.

2. In memory of Audrey Francini, my generation's greatest needlewoman, slow down. Needlework is not a speed contest. Audrey was the slowest stitcher I have known. She was also the best. I have a couple of great stories about Audrey and her speed, I'll tell them in the next couple of mornings.

3. Forget about the Needlepoint Police. They don't exist except in their minds. You may meet people who think they know it all. Good for them, I applaude their confidence, but I don't buy into it.

I have probably told this story a dozen times but it is worth telling again and again. Years ago a friend wrote to me and asked, will this Kreinik braid look good with this silk?

I replied, beats me, try it and see.

Friend: whadaya mean you don't know, you're the teacher.

My reply: if the Immortal Artists Of The Western World don't know without trying, how would I, one mere mortal needlework teacher? (There's a bit more to thsi story too, I'll tell the rest another time).

All this goes to say once again, there is no real right and wrong, there are problems of course. The best way to find solutions is to think creatively.

Those are my New Year's Stitching Resolutions for 2021, still good for 2022

Reminders for me as well as for all of you.

May 1, 2024, Wednesday               

Welcome to May on Queendom Website, and on this May Day I have posted my final Patriotica Project, this a tribute to American Silver Thimbles.  In my cleanup I discovered a small cache of the kits for the sampler and now seems like a good time to sell them.

In addition Carolyn has a handful of thimbles from which I adapted the bands and she willl offer them for sale too.

You have to look carefully at the sampler to see that I adapted each band from the decoration on an American thimble. In the next couple of mornings I will post the thimbles, the most pronounced the decorative band from an American scene on a Simons thimble.

These little scenes on the bands of thimbles are a unique contribution by American thimble makers and each of the well known thimblemakers made them. The Simons thimble from which I adapated the band is one of the most common and therefore happily not a big ticket item. I am guessing Carolyn will have a couple of them.

I am transitioning today to starting to choose the designs I will sell in my sale. A month and 20 days to go. I'd best apply myself today and start choosing.  I hope you will help me.

April 30, 2024, Tuesday               

On this, the last day of a favorite month, I have posted my Popularity Path Question.

Next to Elizabeth and her Heart, I am guessing that my Anthem Hearts are the next in line on the popularity path. It is just a guess. My question is this:

It has been a while since I last sold them. Should I bring them back in my Patriotica Sale this year? Or did I sell so many that there's nobody left with an interest in them?

FYI, I changed the wording. I am tired of 'his' always being the pronoun of choice in describing both 'his' and 'her.'

O beautiful for spacious skies

For amber waves of grain

For purple mountain majesties

Above the fruited plain!

America! America! God shed Her grace on thee

And crown thy good with sisterhood

From sea to shining sea.

April 29, 2024, Monday               

My favorite day of the week has rolled around again and I am celebrating: about 3:00 yesterday afternoon, I finished my new pieces for proofing. In a day or two I will pick up the copies from the print shop and send them off.

The time has come today to put away EWeek for October and turn my attention to my Patriotica Sale.

Yes, I have to start deciding what to bring back to my sale. I have a few kits, a couple of Betsys and a couple of her sewing cases. You have requested I make a few more of both and I will if I have the supplies or they are available in a short time.

I will decide which Hearts to include very shortly, as soon as I feature four more.

And I have my Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony Sampler. I would like to include it because of the timing this year. How important is it that we women have the vote and can have a voice.

So today I will pick up and start making decisions. I won't finalize them for a couple more days as I have a few more designs to post.

And I would certainly welcome your choices and suggestions.