July 10, 2007
This newsletter is late, I'm so sorry. It is really nice to know that you, my readers, enjoy and look forward to hearing from me. How do I know that? Well some of you have written to ask if they have somehow missed this overdue issue as they want to continue with their samplers and hear about my life in the English countryside. That means so much to me, I want to take this chance to say thank you.
The subscriber list grows each month and our little group now number over 400 needleworkers from all over the world. Wow! Quite a responsibility, wouldn't you say?
Country Life
On to that English countryside I mentioned. Life here has been difficult in the last 6 weeks. Why? Well, this little village that I live in and love is locally called "The Land Time Forgot". We do not have street lights, shops, regular buses, a school or gas. But soon we won't be able to include mains drainage in that list. Yes we are having a sewarage system installed in the village! Exciting, eh?You try walking down the country roads at night in the dark with holes deeper than I am tall dotted about. Frightening. And do not talk to me about traffic lights! When they were first installed the timing was wrong and we kept meeting vehicles head on with no way of getting out of their way. Not fun.
It will be great when its all done, although that isn't expected before Christmas!
Working too hard?
Just lately someone has been telling me, in no uncertain terms, that I have been working too hard.Who, did I hear you ask? Well young Skye, my pup, who is now nearly 9 months old.
When she thinks it is time to play she brings her ball into my office and drops it by my feet. If I ignore her she picks it up and drops it again. Eventually she decides that she needs to put it where I cannot ignore it. So she carefully picks up her ball and lifts her head so that she can deposit it on my printer paper tray. Not so good when it is in the middle of printing!
Of course I quickly move it from the printer and roll it along the floor for her to play with. Moments later she is back and the ball is positioned on my printer again! Oh and if the paper drawer is open the ball ends up in there too. Yucky.
In the end, of course, I give in and go out to play with the dogs. Well they do say you shouldn't sit at the computer for hours on end, don't they?
What's new on the site
Well since the last ezine I have added a new cross stitch freebie for you. A cute little mouse peeping out of a teacup.Then of course I added a pdf download of my needlework catalogue. Easier for you than writing to me and waiting for it to arrive in the post. And I can update it when there are new designs.
The instant download charts now include the best selling art nouveau figures Coral and Pearl and their gentleman friend Jasper. Also available are my original wildlife series of cross stitch designs, including families of badgers, deer and foxes. (Did I ever tell you the story of the badger?)
The observant amongst you will also have noticed the design it yourself section has grown to include a page where you can purchase Easy Cross, the design package by Colin Fulford of Fulford Software Solutions. Colin kindly agreed to letting me offer his program on the site as a service to my visitors (well actually I seem to get many more visitors to my site than he does :) ) and in return I make a little pocket money from selling it that will help pay for the site.
I will be adding a series of "how to design" articles to help you make use of this excellent program in the months to come.
New website
So what have I been busy working on that has made this newsletter late? I have just taken on my fourth website! Yes I am a glutton for punshment. The original site www.x-calibredesigns.co.uk is still busy and acts as the shop where all my kits and charts are available. The newer www.needlework-tips-and-techniques.com (where you signed up for this newsletter) is going from strength to strength. Instant downloads of some of my designs are gradually being added here. The third site isn't needlework related but is my way of giving back knowledge gleaned from living many, many years on a gluten free diet ( www.the-gluten-free-chef.com).So what is the new site about? The name gives it away: www.handmade-craft-ideas.com a place where I can share all my other hobbies that don't necessarily use a needle. Of course the site is hosted by SBI as I wouldn't consider writing a website without it now! Check my Crafty Success page for more about SBI if you are thinking of, or know someone else who is thinking about, writing a web site.
The site is very new and I am frantically building it, hopefully into a treasure box of all sorts of crafts. Do get in touch if you would like to see anything covered that is missing at the moment.
Blackwork band sampler
I know this is the bit you have all been waiting for. We have reached the penultimate band which this time round is the easiest in the whole sampler. Last time we stitched the waterlilies sitting on top of the water. So now we need to fill the pond!This band is just a simple repeating fill pattern. You will find the chart here. I have included the very bottom of our waterlillies so that you can position the row correctly. As for the other sections of the sampler you will need the free download of adobe acrobat reader in order to read the chart.
The diagram below shows the simple back and forth journey plan that makes up this band. Just follow one colour across and then the other colour back again. Simple.
I do hope you are enjoying stitching this blackwork sampler along with me?
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Regards,
Carol