Whew! Getting my taxes done by the end of January was a mammoth task but all is now finished for another year thank goodness. Sorry the newsletter was a bit delayed but the tax man insisted on coming first!

Thank you

Needlework tips and techniques keeps growing both in pages and visitor numbers. Nearly 900 of you know subscribe to this newsletter and the number gets bigger each week, so I wanted to say a personal thank you for reading it each month (or so). I am also loving the little messages you send telling me why you decided to sign up, so thanks for taking the time to do that as well.

Feeding the birds

Here in the UK it is pretty cold at the moment. Each morning there is frost on the ground making everywhere look really magical. The cold weather, of course, is not kind to the garden birds so I have set up a feeding station outside my lounge window. A seed feeder, peanuts and “fat balls” give the birds some needed sustenance.

Except that is when Skye tries to help! She is so proud of herself when she races in from the garden having retrieved the bird’s food for me, that I mistakenly left stuck in the tree. Her tail wags as she drops it at my feet and jumps up and down in excitement for doing her job well. The poor dog can’t understand it when I stupidly put it back where it was, only higher.

Panto rehearsals

When I’m not watching the birds, making up orders, or adding information to my websites I am busy at pantomime rehearsals. As prompt I have to keep my wits about me and watch for any sign that an actor has forgotten what to say next. Actually they are all doing great and this looks like it will be the best panto of the last 14 years of performances. Two weeks ago I took my camera along and snapped the proceedings both in still pictures and video. I thought you might like to get an insider’s view on the goings on, but don’t tell the stars!

The video below shows Mother Hubbard and her sister Hettie (in their nighties) trying to seduce the Dogcatcher (who has captured Mother Hubbard’s poor little dog) to the tune of “You can keep your hat on” from the Full Monte. The lady in brown is Rosalie, our producer and director.

click here to watch the video

New pages on the site

I haven’t spent all my time doing accounts or at panto rehearsal. I HAVE added some pages to the site as well.

The Little Ones beginner cross stitch range is growing and four new pages of kits have been added, covering pets, transport, teddy bears and British wildlife.

The needlework questions interactive pages are increasing by the week. Thanks for everyone who has joined in and made this a popular section of the site. If you haven’t asked a question or helped answer someone else’s yet pop over to this page to see if you can help or be helped.

If you live in the USA you will find some useful links from the embroidery supplies page to products that you can buy from JoAnne’s to assist you with your needlework.

I recently answered the question “What do you want from your website”, and thought I would share my response with you.

1. I love needlework of all kinds (surprise, surprise!) and enjoy teaching in “the flesh” so to speak. But when I haven’t got a group of students with me I can still pass on my love of the craft via writing for the website.

2. It is a great feeling when someone decides that a design I have agonised over is the one for them, and they purchase it, either online or by phoning me (on 01832 293581) and of course it helps the finances a bit too.

3. I love to receive letters and emails from happy visitors and customers who have found my work useful and informative.

Just the other day I received a letter from another Carol, who told me she had stitched my baby sampler 15 times! Each one was slightly adapted from the original to make it unique and of course the babies details were added. She sent me two photos which I will scan and add to the site soon. When you find out that this time last year Carol had a stroke but still continues her stitching it shows how important our hobbies are too us.

4. I like to make friends with stitchers around the world. When I am writing these newsletters I don’t actually sit down at the keyboard to prepare them. I talk to the computer, with the help of speech recognition software, and chat with you, my friends, and the computer types it for me. I want to thank Julie, who rang me the other day to place her order and comment on how personal the site and newsletters were. You really made my day, young lady!

Now its your turn!

I want to know what you would like to see on the website. I have set up a poll where you can tick the boxes for each needlework technique you enjoy. There is also space to tell me which you would like to try and see featured on the site. It will only take a minute to take part and the results will help me see where I need to concentrate my attentions. I would like to thank you in advance for taking the time to visit the page and join in.

Site sold

“I am so honoured to have a site that you worked on. You are one of my all time favourite SBI’ers and I admire your work so much. I looooove the craft site. As a matter of fact your voice is so close to mine in many ways that even the about me page sounded like me. Its eerie. I haven’t experienced the pain in my life that you have, but that only makes me admire you more. Thanks for everything, your’e awesome!”

Wow! Thanks Wendy. I am sure you will take the site to heights that I can only imagine.

Well I guess I’ve rambled for long enough this time around, I would hate to keep you from your needlework for too long. Thanks for reading and speak to you again next month.

Regards,

Carol