First I must start off with enormous apologies for the missing newsletters over the past two months! There is a reason for my lack of communication...

My business succeeded too well!

Not something you hear all that often, I guess?

But since I started this Web site, X-Calibre has grown and grown. Eventually it got to the stage where it had outgrown my spare bedroom. I was spending all my time making up kits and dispatching them and no time creating anything new!

Now I am not afraid of hard work, but it was time to make some big decisions.

X-Calibre has been running for over 14 years, and until the last two it was a small hobby business that I fitted into my spare time. Then I started building needlework-tips-and-techniques.com, not expecting any great changes to happen.

Well happen they did! With expert guidance from the site's host, (you can find them here) the visitor numbers exceeded my expectations. The number of you who subscribed to my newsletter also amazed me, with nearly 2,000 on the list now! And the orders started flooding in.

(Oh, by the way, if you have a hobby that you would like to make into a successful business, now might be the time to think about starting. For a little while longer, you can take advantage of buying one site at normal price and getting a second for just 100USD. Hey I made that much in just 5 days at the beginning of this month, just from the adverts on the site!)

Now don't panic, you are not about to hear any bad news. But things have changed in the last two months, hopefully for the better.

I searched, and found, a company who were delighted to take over the manufacture and distribution of the kits for me. It has taken a while to organize and implement the hand-over, but my kits can now be purchased from Classic Embroidery, a well known UK design company. Their phone number is 01529 461056 and they will be happy to help you.

Please keep in mind that they are in the middle of their show season, traveling the UK and visiting Paris to let people know about the new additions to their range. Mine! So please bear with them if you call and they are not available to answer straight away.

Now I'm not one to make excuses, but you can perhaps see why the newsletter was put on hold while the handover was executed? Hopefully I am back on track now. So on to other things...

A green doggy story

Skye, my Springer Spaniel cross, was two years old in October and is still quite mad! A few weeks ago we went for a walk through the woods, beside the lake. She has been there once before.

Well, the lake was covered in green algae (yuk) and looked just like fresh spring grass. You can probably guess what happened next?

Skye ran to the edge of the deep lake and tried to keep going! The look on her face when the ground disappeared from beneath her feet was priceless!

It took her a moment or two to realise that she could swim, and then she turned round and headed back to shore in a hurry.

She went in the lake, white with black patches, and came out a pretty (yucky) shade of light green.

By the time we got back to the car she had shaken and dried off a little, but my son said she stunk. "Just like dead things" he said. I am lucky, in that I don't have a sense of smell, so it didn't effect me.

When we got home guess who had to go in the bath? She gave me such a look, as if to say, "haven't I been in enough deep water today?"

She was soon all white and fluffy again and, according to my husband, smelled sweet again. Dogs, eh?

Band 4 of the Pulled Work sampler

I hope this band was worth waiting for. You will find the instructions and diagrams here...

Band 4

If you haven't seen the first three bands do not worry. You will find links to them on the above page.

Enjoy!

Site updates

I HAVE created a little blackwork bookmark which I intend to get up on there soon. (Now I've told you that in this newsletter, I will have to get it online before the next one, or I would have to apologize again won't I? There is method in my madness.)

One thing I did manage to get done was to add an audio file to the About Me page.

I was interviewed by AnnA Rushton, formerly of the BBC, and she kindly sent me the recording to share with you. I had to edit it a little to get rid of the silly giggles (I was nervous), but I think it is quite listenable (is that a word?) now.

In the interview I share some stories of how I get my inspiration for new designs, the design process and lots more. The recording lasts for about 16 minutes and may take a little while to download before it starts playing. Let me know what you think? Don't we all just hate the sound of our own voice?

Hopefully by the time the next issue of this newsletter goes out there will be more progress on the site to report.

Thank you for hanging on in there and I hope you have enjoyed this issue.

Thank you for subscribing

Lastly I would like to thank everyone of you for signing up for my newsletter. If you know anyone else that might like to receive it please let them know.

Regards,

Carol