Questions and Answers -- December 8, 2009

Hello!

It's been a while since I've done this so I thought I would take a moment and answer some of the questions that I've received via comments and email.

If you've sent me an email please don't be offended if I haven't answered your email yet. I got a tad (okay a lot) behind and I'm slowly catching up!

Helen,

Yes, Lee of Lee's Needle Arts has retired. Though I've heard that someone(s) may be buying her line and that they may be offered to us again soon. If I hear anything definite, I'll post the information on my blog. Has anyone out there heard if the line has been bought and if so, how soon will it be offered again?

As far as I know, Lee's Needle Arts designed painted canvases and did not offer charts of her designs. Helen you also asked if I knew of any shop in the UK who carries her designs. Unfortunately, I don't but you can ask any needlework shop in the US of A if they have the designs that you are looking for as I know that many will ship internationally. If you would like to know who I have ordered from in the past, please leave an email where I can reach you on a comment and I'll respond as soon as I can. :-)

Ort Containers

I've loved reading everyones comments on my ort containers and that you have shared with us what you have named your ort containers.

Pam, I love the idea of a glass rolling pin which you have named the Ort Port! LOL!!! I was also grinning when I read that if you have some sparkly threads, you'll redistribute your orts in the Ort Port so that the sparklies are spread throughout the rolling pin. I was also glad to hear that you also carefully saves your orts until you have successfully completed a project before adding them to your ort container, The Ort Port, just like Moi (yes we heard the Muppets and John Denver 12 Days of Christmas. Love that one!). Nope, I don't think that's a bit obsessive Pam! LOL!!! Especially since I am also one who carefully saves all of her orts, and nothing else, for each project until it has been successfully completed and then carefully puts my orts into Ortessa! :-)

Beth, glad to hear that you like the idea of saving all of the orts for one project in case you need a little bit at the end. Glad to help out and hopefully share some helpful hints so someone else doesn't need to learn this the ahem... hard way as we (the royal we) did! Sigh...

Yoyo, yes our daughter does have her own ort container or rather she acquired one of mine! :-)

Right now she isn't stitching as she's back in school but she is EAGERLY looking forward to finishing exams and coming home for a few weeks and plans on doing some stitching then. That is after she has slept in late for, oh a bunch of days, visited with everyone, caught up on all of the news with her friends, and eaten a lot of different foods that she can't get at school! LOL!

Oh, I should add that the food at school is really, really, good (her words) but they don't make a pot roast as well as she does and she can't get a good grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup at school. What do I make for her? Reservations! Hee, hee, hee... :-)

Yoyo, I should add that our daughter may not be "officially" participating in the Christmas SAL on a monthly basis but she will have lot's of monthly projects to stitch as she has last years canvas/ornament of the month club from our LNS in her stash and I'll be buying next year's (2010) for her also. I'll post about this soon so everyone will know what Yoyo and I are talking about. Or go visit Yoyo's blog now to read about the Christmas SAL.

Beth,

No I haven't started on Heart of the Cabin (she mutters...). I have the canvas and some of the threads but not all. Yes, I am doing it in the original colors. That is unless I change my mind between now and when I start. ;-)

I'm hoping, really hoping that I will be able to start/continue on one or more large projects after the Holidays. Just too much going on now and not enough stitching time. Smaller projects are working for me right now. Hopefully after the first of the year I should have more time. Especially if we get the snowy/icy winter that everyone, including the woolly bear caterpillars and the almanacs, say we should get this year! Though I'm not sure if that is a good or not so good thing! LOL!!!

I am very thankful that you stop by and read about my stitching adventures!

Cynthia

Windy Meadow

“Questions & Answers” -- June 10, 2008

I’ve had several questions on the comments that I would like to answer as I do appreciate those of you who have commented. If you have visited my blog, please feel free to post a comment or drop me an email. I’d love to hear from you and then visit your blog or just hear from you and then I’ll encourage you to start a blog! We need more needlework blogs!!!

Hi Kathryn, pick another month for a “Fifteen Minute Stitching Challenge” which works for you and I’ll see if I can join in. Just not December she pleads! LOL!

Hi Helen, thank you for visiting from over the pond! I enjoy reading your blog and seeing what you are working on. Also, American English isn’t like other countries English so it’s fun to read English blogs from around the world. Plus I like seeing the materials that are available to you there in England. I was surprised to learn that many of the stitchers in other countries are ordering their supplies from US shops. We are spoiled with needlework goodies here aren’t we?!

Hi Ruth, yes I do like tacks better than staples. First of all, I’m dangerous with a stapler! :-)

I find that tacks are easier to use to attach a canvas to the stretcher bars. When I slid the point of the tack into the wood, I do so at an angle. As I push the tack in, I straighten it up which helps nudge the canvas in the direction away from the angle that I started the tack at. In other words, the tack will be tilted into the center of the canvas. As I’m pushing the tack in, I’m straightening it up so it is now centered over the stretcher bar which helps pull the canvas a little bit more towards the stretcher bars. I usually push the tacks in using my fingers but there are two dohickys (whose names escapes me right now – update we found the memory entry - one is a “EZ Tack-It” and the other option is a “Corjak Tack Kit” just google them) which you can use to help push the tack in. I have one of these and it is helpful to reduce the wear and tear on the fingers but usually I just push the tacks in myself.

I must admit I love to stitch basketweave. It’s very rhythmic and relaxing and is great to do while watching TV as you don’t need to concentrate on the stitch. Ruth, why don’t you add one of your basketweave projects to your rotation and stitch on that project while watching TV or your movies? If you break up the stitching, you’ll be surprised how quickly each project will be completed and you won’t be so frustrated/bored. Especially since basketweave is one half of a cross stitch. See, it’s quicker than what you are already stitching! LOL!!!

Ruth you need to update your blog with your needlepoint progress. I want to seeeeeee…. ;-)

Janet, you do need to stitch every day for yourself otherwise this will become too much like a job! We need to see what you are stitching just for you and your loved ones. Please share on your blog or create a simple blog just for those pieces. For those who might not know, Janet writes needlepoint books and designs stitch guides. She has a job that most of us want but she the challenge is as part of her “work” she is constantly stitching to deadlines. And yes Janet, I’m working on the Bargello Challenge which I’ll share with everyone soon as we planned! :-)

Hi Nancy, Janet of “A Collection of Designs” has lots of cookies for many different themes. Check them out here;

http://www.acollectionofdesigns.com/

Right now “The Stitching Post” in Catonsville, Maryland has Janet’s trunk show until this Saturday, June 14, 2008;

http://www.the-stitching-post.com/

Hi Terry, maybe you can join us for the next Fifteen-Minute-Stitching-Challenge. And believe me, I understand about those days getting shorter and shorter. Unless you are on a deadline and then you are in a panic as you are running out of time! Funny how that works she says with a puzzled look on her face. :-)

Hi Pat, ah man, you can stitch for a minimum of one hour per day?! Okay, I’m officially jealous! Actually I used to be able to stitch for several hours each day. Of course, that was before husband and children who I wouldn’t trade for anything. I’m at the busy time of life which I’ll look back on with fondness and wonder how the heck I got everything done!

Okay Ruth, it’s going… Picture me as a duck, serene on the surface of the water but those feet are really moving! :-)

Hi Jeanne, I posted on your blog the question about Gay Ann’s “Mystery in a Corner” and I meant the comment to be humorous. Okay, that one fell flat on the floor. Sigh… I do have Gay Ann’s “Mystery in a Corner” and I do know that she hasn’t mailed the next section yet. If I was as far along as you, I’d be watching the mail box every day and lurking for the mail carrier. Thank goodness she hasn’t mailed the next section yet, as I haven’t even purchased my supplies and I don’t know when I’ll get to this project with everything else going on. I didn’t need another project, of course, but I couldn’t resist, of course! LOL!

I’m hoping to do a little gift stitching this week as DS will be going, as we say around here, “Downy Ocean” for the rest of the week with a friend and his family.

I’ve also taken pictures of my projects as of Sunday night which I hope to share with everyone. That is, if our Internet is available tonight (she says while crossing her fingers which is hard to do while typing… Okay, I crossed my toes instead).

Thank you for visiting my little piece of the blog-o-sphere!

Cynthia
Windy Meadow