Enemy of Entropy

And another Stitching Blogger Question of the week, which should leave me all caught up:

Do you have any pieces that you would liked passed on to future
generations as family heirlooms?

At one time, I thought so. My mother has a Tigerlily piece I did for her, and my father has a big Marine Corps Emblem that hangs in his office. Unfortunately, the first piece I ever framed and gave to them suffered smoke damage, and I haven’t been able to get it completely clean yet. They haven’t expressed any interest in having it back, either. Mom stuck another piece I did and gave to her in a drawer, and forgot that I’d done it at all.

Some of the pieces I did for my first husband’s family, like a baby sampler and a nice serving tray, may get passed on. Maybe. They may have gotten rid of them because of the association with an ex-spouse. Who knows?

And another Stitching Blogger Question:

How do you handle blended threads? Do you kit the blends up before you
start a piece, or do you grab what colors you need and blend when the
need arises? If you kit up the blends beforehand, how do you store
them? Do you have another option for blends to share?

I can’t remember the last time I did a piece that used blended threads. Obviously, I haven’t gotten around to stitching anything by Teresa Wentzler

When I’ve had to use them, I just blend them as the need arises. I keep most of my threads (DMC, definitely) on plastic bobbins, so when I start a project I gather all the colors required and put them on a metal ring. As I cut a length, I wind whatever I didn’t use back on the bobbin for later use, to avoid waste.

There are times when being graphic-impaired really does annoy me.

I’m finally moving forward with porting the Heartsong Handicrafts site to WordPress. It shouldn’t be a big deal. I’ve done the same many times before with other sites.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a logo. I mean, I have a simple logo, but it isn’t very good. It doesn’t sing, that’s for sure. I just want a nice, simple logo that isn’t terribly busy, but that doesn’t look (like the first attempt) as if I made it from clip-art and standard fonts. My utter and complete lack of drawing ability is a serious handicap in this endeavor.

I did sorta customize a WP theme to match the crappy logo, but that part is easy. The harder part is having something to give the site visual interest, and that doesn’t exist right now.

On the other hand, the cross-stitch patterns themselves involve graphics, so I don’t want things to get too busy. It’s a balancing act.

I may have to throw myself on Katie’s mercy, or something. She’s pretty busy, though, and prefers to draw whatever she feels like drawing rather than creating something to suit a particular theme.

Yay! Another Stitching Bloggers’ Question:

What items do you consider essential to your needlework that you keep
in your stitching bag

The pattern, fabric and ring of floss cards for my current project, the scroll bars or QSnaps or hoop or whatever I’m using (I seldom stitch in hand), and a long silver chain on which I wear my scissors and needle case. If I’m working with metallics, I also keep—whoops, what’s the name of it? That tiny blue cube of stuff that makes metallics so much more manageable? I’m not using metallics at the moment, so there’s none in my bag, but I guess I should go look up the name of it.

I did keep a seam ripper in the bag, but I don’t have a safe case for my current ripper, so I’m afraid to do that.

Lately, I also keep a small magnifier/light that hangs around my neck in the bag. It doesn’t work so well, though, so I should probably just take it out.

I really need to replace my bag. It’s falling apart, and the zipper is stubborn. It’s been incredibly good for a freebie bag, though! It lasted about ten years.

I’ve lusted after a nice standing or lap frame for years—one of the good, sturdy ones, with attachments for a lamp and a magnifier and chart holder and a place to put your fibers and such. Some even come with cup holders! The nice ones are trés expensive, though. I don’t want to bother with the flimsy ones, as I think they’d be more frustrating than helpful.

First, I’ll answer this week’s SBQ:

What do you do with your charts once you’ve stitched them? Do you keep them or dispose of them? If you keep them, do you organize them in a way that is different from the way you keep your unstitched charts?

I keep them. ALL of them. In fact, Sam has pointed out that collecting charts should be considered a hobby in and of itself, separate from the actual stitching. If I could display my lovely patterns somehow, I would.

Next, I must Squee! For I’ve been asked for an original cross-stitch design for a book that’ll be published this coming year. I’m so tickled! I’m not telling more than that, but it’s all professional and everything.

And finally, that was the impetus for another change. I’ll announce it in the next week. It’s a surprise for now