It was a dark and stormy night

It definitely looks to be shaping up to be a dark and stormy night. With the clouds rolling in and the Daylight Savings change, it is already pitch dark outside. Great for the Halloweeen mood, not so great for the trick or treaters. Guess that will probably mean lots of leftover candy to bring into the office tomorrow. The wind is starting to whip up the trees and I can hear the rain start to hit on the window. Thunder booms in the distance. Yay Thunder! Good thing my raincoat is still in the car since I have to run to the Post Office and the grocery store.

In stitching news, I think I'm suffering from inspiration overload. I have too many things I want to work on! I need a faster way to download them from my brain and get them out on paper. Of course, the translation from brain to paper could use some work, too, as things sometimes don't always come out the way I visualize. Ok, here's the plan (caution: Engineer at work): step 1) make sketches, so ideas are not lost 2) prioritize ideas (I'd like to have some small pieces for Nashville, then there's the time to fill for spring, then summer). 3) Work on bigger sketches of top priority pieces. 4) Don't forget to breathe in all the excitement. Whew. Ok, things can get done, we'll just forget about the laundy and buy new underwear when needed. Just kidding.

Actually I went this weekend into a (shh, don't tell anyone) scrapbooking store. Now, I admit, I do take time out from stitching to do scrapbooking on occasion, but it usually has to be an organized event - I don't just take my stuff out at home, unless I'm working on something special (Mental note to self - have just over one year for next special project). But after my trip to the quilt show, I was looking for cool, neat stuff that could cross from one craft industry to another. And I have some ideas that I hope to bring to fruition this summer. We'll see what happens. This is all very hush hush right now. I hope you understand.

I think I need to teach my cat to model stitch. After all, she just sits there on the couch while I'm working. Just think of the things that she could accomplish! I guess I should be thankful that she doesn't actually get into my stitching stuff.

Freebies are all the big broo-hah-hah right now in a couple of the designer groups. There are lots of differing opinions about freebies. One is that freebies on the web are bad in general, because some people just trade freebies and never buy designs, so having freebies just feeds that cycle. Another is that freebies devalue cross-stitch as an art form because the designer is giving it away and not charging for it. On the other hand, sometimes it seems that shop owners and consumers seem to expect designers to provide freebies (especially at trade shows). I think freebies can serve a purpose: they can expose stitchers to a designer's style, especially if that designer's style is outside the norm. I don't think that they devalue the art of cross-stitch by being free - I can go and look at art in some galleries or online for free, does that devalue the art of painting? I will probably continue to provide freebies through shops and the occasional online freebie (wait, that's complementary design). Especially since my design style is a bit different - lots of fractionals for the dragons, and a bit non-traditional subject matter with the fine art cats. Freebies do take time to design, stitch and develop, though, so there has to be a return on the investment. For now, for me, it is enough that they get people talking about my designs and mentioning my company name. Even if they often go looking for Cross Eyed Cat instead of Cross Eyed Kat. :)

Strictly Stitching

No more baseball - at least for another year.

I was lucky enough to spend all day yesterday at the International Quilt Festival here in Houston. I went with three other ladies and we spent the morning looking at all of the exhibit quilts and the afternoon shopping. The exhibit quilts are amazing and quite a few of them will challenge the traditional idea of a quilt (e.g. nine-patch pieced quilts). Many of them go into textile art. When we left the exhibition area, my mind was a-swirl with ideas of colors, textures, and embellishments. The question is, how to bring them into the more tradional area of cross-stitch? Next year may be a time of experimentation!

Then we spent the next six hours shopping! We did stop to eat, though. I bought a cool pattern to make a stuffed dragon, which I know I won't get around to making in the next 2 years, so I didn't buy any fabric for it. I did get some fabric to make a quilted Cross Eyed Kat banner, which I hope to have done for Nashville. Other than that, I mostly browsed and got a couple of nick-nacks for gifts. Don't say, "Aww, where's the big S.E.X. list?" - you should be saying, "Good designer! You know you don't have any time to do those pretty quilting things - keep working on all those nifty new cross-stitch designs!" And so I will be.

It is interesting to note where crafts cross sometimes. For instance, all of the specialty fabrics with different designs remind me of the different background papers in scrapbooking. There were also things for stamping on fabric to be used for outfits and quilts; there were also pens for journaling on quilts (scrapbooking again).

I'm in the process of wrapping up the "major" designs I want to have done for Nashville. Then I'll start to work on these new ideas, hopefully keeping the ball rolling for some spring releases and any small releases that can also be rolled out at Nashville. I've also got to kick DH into gear for his Nashville project!

Sooooo Tired....

Yes, I stayed up and watched the whole game. Then I had to wind down, then DH had to get home from said game, then the alarm clock went off much too early. I even read my "lucky book" for most of the 10-13th innings, the book that I was reading when the Astros managed to tie up game 2, but it didn't help them get a hit. I'd really like them to win at least one game of the series. Last night would have been best since DH and his brother were at the game, but I won't be choosy now. Ok, I guess I will be, I'd like them to at least win Game 4, since otherwise the Astros won't have another chance (until next year).

In other non-baseball news, I am going to the Quilt Festival tomorrow with some ladies from work. It should be fun. There were some gorgeous things at Market, and I think alot of the vendors will change for the Festival; and I didn't even start to look at the Quilts! I probably won't buy a whole bunch, but I've already got some new finishing ideas and color thoughts swirling in my head from Market!

Miscellany for the blog....

For those of you who blog, do you think about what you might write about in your blog during the day? I sometimes do. Usually when I'm washing my hair. Of course, that's rather early in the morning, and I tend to end up writing in the blog rather late in the day, so I'm not sure if what I intended to write about is what actually gets written about.

I'm very glad it is Friday. It has been one of those long, yet short weeks. Everyone here has been excited about the Astros, but we had to endure the disappointment of Monday night, then hang on until the Wednesday night game.

This weekend is going to be very busy. I'm going to see Chicago with a friend tomorrow afternoon. Then the first game of the World Series is in the evening. I'm going to Quilt Market on Sunday to see what trends are emerging in fabric and fibers, then we might go up to College Station to watch Game 2 with DBIL and his fiance.

I'm sure next week will be hectic as well with both the World Series and the Quilt Festival in town. DH and DBIL are going to Game 3, while I have dinner with business contacts. (What's up with that? :-) And I haven't decided whether to take a day off of work to go to the Quilt Festival with some ladies from work or to go next weekend.

Whew, plus there's still designing to be done! If these designs aren't finished soon, they can't be stitched in time for Nashville!

Time to go... and all that jazz.

A finish!

Ta Da! I'm finally done stitching all the different colorways! The pink one left of center it the cover model for my "Ribbons" design. The other ones are all of the other colorways that are printed on the chart. Once I have it washed (to get the incidental cat hair off the fabric) and then stretched, I'll put a better picture on my website, but I wanted to show off my finish for now. Each one was pretty fast to do - probably about a week from start to finish if I didn't have much else going on. The problem is, I usually have other things going on!

The online show went well, I thought. I think I picked up a bunch of new shops. At least one in Alaska! And some reorders from existing clients. A couple of odd orders, ones and twos, which I presume are special orders from stitchers looking at the show. Whatever works, you know.

RIght now, I feel like I'm trying to tackle two different stitching questions. One is how do I get (mostly) traditional shop-owners to buy my slightly non-traditional designs? The other is how do I help the industry expand the base of stitchers (i.e. how do we make cross-stitching as trendy as knitting is)? I'll puzzle on that one 'til my puzzler is sore.

Meanwhile, I've got a ravenous husband to feed and game 6 of the NLCS to watch.

Go Astros!

Ninth inning heartbreak

What a gut wrenching game! In case you're not a baseball fan - I'm talking about the NLCS game 5 between the Houston Astros and the St. Louis Cardinals. Baseball fever is on the verge of breaking out here in Houston because we can hardly believe that our hometown team just might make it to the World Series. They just have to win one more game. Last night, they almost did it - a big home run in fourth (or was it the fifth inning) put the Astros ahead (and scared the cat who was trying to sleep on the couch). They hung on to the lead until they just needed one more strike to win the game. Then what happens? Homerun from the Cardinals.

Well, now we have to wait until Wednesday night to see what's going to happen.

Oh, and juggling baseball and taking orders from the Online Needlework Show can make life very interesting.

I've been a bad, bad girl

First, there was the frozen pizza for dinner. And I ate the whole thing. And I liked the whole thing! I was going to be good for lunch. I was in a rush to make a meeting: had to take out the trash, hurry in to the office, update my WLAN settings, grab my notebook and then head out to the meeting room, but I still made my lunch. But where did I leave my lunch? Not in my car where I thought it was until 11:45. Apparently, it is sitting on the counter at home. So, I ran out and grabbed fast food at lunch (since I was already at the car). And I enjoyed it (if you're going to be bad, you might as well make the most of it). So tonight, I must be off to the gym after running a couple of errands. Sandwich tonight to makeup for all of my prior badness. We'll see if the scale has fixed itself or not later this week.

One of those days

It's been one of those days. Relatively speaking, it wasn't that bad, just alot of frustration built up that overflowed. It is dangerous when I let it all boil out like that, too, because I run the risk of getting a migraine headache. I did clean off my desk by shoving everything onto the flooor, though. That felt good. I'm going to leave it all there for a while, too! Tonight's a gym night, so that should help as well, and even though the scale was broken this morning (the reading went up mysteriously over the past couple of days), I may still have a frozen pizza for dinner. I'm not doing any kindof serious diet, just a general eat less, exercise more plan, so I don't have to worry about blowing it. I just haven't been doing the exercise part the past few days.

Other random thoughts: Sometimes people ask me if I have a Siamese cat. I guess because more Siamese cats are cross-eyed. I do have one cat, but she is a Tortiseshell and is not cross-eyed. The Cross in Cross Eyed Kat is meant to invoke Cross Stitching, since that is what I design.

The Astros did manage to beat the Braves (thus ending the family show-down, since my brother is a long-standing Braves fan), but how do you get through an 18 inning game? I've been to a game that went to 13 innnings, and they start shutting down all of the concessions in the 8th inning. It gets to the point where you want someone to win, anyone! We watched it at home. I have managed to make my playoff experience multi-media. I've caught games on the web, on the radio, and on TV. And we did see the next-to-last regular season game in person. Of course, seeing a game in person is great, but I can stitch at home!

In stitching news:
I'm finally making progress on the last ribbon! Yay! When I get it all stitched, I'll have to add the picture to the web site. I'm not sure everyone understands that the "Ribbons" chart has the flexibility to be stitched in eight different colors.
The Online Needlework Show starts tomorrow. Check it out at http://www.theneedleworkshow.com Stitchers can browse and then ask shops to order items that interest them (and of course, you'll be sure to check out the Cross Eyed Kat booth, right?).
I'm 40% done with the design of the second "Fortune Cookie" design. I really worked hard to get the lattice work background to look right, then when I put the "plate" portion in front of it, most of the background is hidden. Oh, well, at least I know it is right!

Well, off to the gym with me.

A decision has been made....

Regarding the fortune cookie, but you're going to have to wait until the design is released to see what the decision was! Although, I'm contemplating a companion piece, so I may end up using both cookies anyway! Or, I may make a new cookie entirely. I finished making sure all of the colors went together for the fortune cookie design last night (and got out the fortune cookie I had saved from a trip to Pei Wei to get the coloring right on the cookie). When I was done, I really wanted to start stitching on it. The background latticework is going to be done with Mandarin floss from Rainbow Gallary, which is actually made from bamboo! It was very fun to stitch with. I was good however, and put it aside. It would just make a model stitcher's job harder if he/she had to figure out what had already been done rather than just start from scratch.

Back to the designing board with me! More, more, more! The designs must come out of the brain or the brain may explode!

Ok, enough silliness.

Go Astros!

The way the cookie crumbles

My how time flies. I manage to get my newsletter updated on my website, but then I neglet the blog. Luckily, the newsletter is only once a month. Other than updating the website, I have been busy trying to finalize some new designs. I have one ready to go (almost) - it just needs an overdyed thread picked out for it. Then pack it up, and ship it to the model stitcher! Of course, when I get to this stage, and I'm testing colors for a new design, my fingers just itch to start stitching it myself! But then I'd have less time for designing!

Now I'm working on a new design, and it has several elements, one of which is a fortune cookie. I'm debating as to whether or not to show the cookie as broken or not. So I'm letting my intrepid readers (of which I know I have at least one) have a say - I'm not saying its the final say on whether the cookie will be crumbled, but I'm interested in opinions. So here's the whole cookie:

And here's the broken cookie:

Of course, you have to imagine the cookie as a small piece of a larger design with the fortune from the fortune cookie being a predominate element of the design.

So why the big press with all the new design discussion? Because the time it actually takes to get something into production once the design is done is actually 4-5 months. So everything I'm working on right now is targeted for the big tradeshow in Nashville. And any designs I don't wrap up soon, won't make it into Nashville. I'm still trying to get the hang of design to production times, and my creative juices seem to all come at once, so that I have a great glut of new designs. I hope to have a bunch for Nashville, then several follow-ons throughout the year next year. I'd also like to try submitting to several magazines next year, as long as I make time for that as well.

Ok, back to the drawing board with me! And don't forget to write a comment on which cookie you like!