Hey I’m on time this month! It is a special day today as its my birthday, so I wanted to write and wish any other birthday girls or boys a great day.

And as a birthday gift from me to you, just until the end of this week (that’s Sunday 13th July 2008, at midnight British time) I would like to offer a free Little Ones cross stitch kit for every three ordered off the site. This offer is only available to subscribers and won’t be advertised on the site. Just place your order then drop me a line telling me which kits you would like as your free ones.

OK on to business. Not many new pages in the last month but I have been busy writing. I am creating a new ebook all about starting your own needlework business and selling your patterns. It is growing fast and the people who have reviewed what I have written so far have given me extremely favourable comments.

A publisher friend of mine in the USA said this:

“A great topic, well organized, written in a “me to you” style, addresses the “what’s in it for me” question and is well written. I really like it and have a new appreciation for you as a writer.”

Nice!

When the ebook is completed I will let you all know and you may even be able to twist my arm into a pre-launch discount copy (smile).

So what’s new on the site?

I had to write a page to share a story that I received by email. This lady learned blackwork by stitching along with our blackwork sampler here in the ezine last year and has now gone on to create beautiful designs of her own. See her fantastic angel on this page and share your own story of inspiration.

I have added a page in the cross stitch section for my cross stitch baby pattern This is a case of the designer listening to the stitcher, by the way. I first designed this as white stitching on dark fabric but kept being asked for pink, blue or lilac thread on white. I did as I was asked and re-worked it. Of course you all knew better than me and it is now selling extremely well. Thanks for the input, we do listen J

I have also rewritten my about me page page and added more photos of yours truly (yuk!)

And of course you have helped build the site by using the forms on the interactive pages, thanks for that.

The page you have all been waiting for, of course, is band two in our current white work sampler. This time I will introduce you to drawn thread work with a simple band using ladder hemstitching. You will find band 2 here. Enjoy. Remember just shout if you have any questions.