TSV's Gotten Social

The Stitchers' Village has added a social scene for the Villagers. http://stitchersvillage.ning.com is the new social area for members to get acquainted. As of this post, there are 397 members signed up there! This will allow us to more easily share photos and projects and get to the Forum for discussions. There will be fun events like the chat with Cheryl Granda of Glendon Place that was held on Sat., Oct 30.

The Ornament Issue is posted and may be accessed either through sign in at the newspaper office on TSV or through the Event link in the social area. Several people had trouble signing in, so I decided to make it more simple for members to access.

Halloween Stitch Along

The Halloween stitch along for The Stitchers' Village got under way on Friday with the kick-off chat. The chart is "Witch Parking Only". Saturday afternoon, Cheryl from Glendon Place, who so generously designed and donated the chart, hosted a chat and it was fun.

The social side of The Stitchers' Village has now become very interactive! The old forum has not officially ended, but is expected to very soon. The new module for socializing with fellow Villagers is http://stitchersvillage.ning.com/. it is very similar to other social network platforms and will allow posting of WIP's, finishes, etc. You will also want to make certain that you have signed in for membership on The Stitchers Village main site so that you receive the newsletter, etc. http://stitchersvillage.com/member.html You must be a member of TSV to join the social side.

Graphics Design

I am slowly learning my graphics design program. My arm is currently in pain, but I have changed the Stitchers' Village to Autumn!! http://stitchersvillage.com All it takes is calm, patient attention and I am learning. The main problem is that I am trying to learn several new programs at once. I know that the results can be amazing, but the learning process is torture. I have tried to work with the pen tablet, but I should have gotten the largest size to make it easier for my hand-eye coordination to convert. I'll work on that when I recover from changing the season in the Village.

I am stitching the Moonflower Designs ornament for the Stitchers Village ornament issue. The fabric is actually one of 2011 new colors from Picture This "Diva". Look for the ornament issue in November available to Stitchers' Village members only!! There are ornments from several designers.

Scavenger Hunt

I finally finished the newsletter for TSV (http://stitchersvillage.org/Voice/Current_Issue.pdf) It was no easy task!!! I had to choose some of the questions myself (rather than the shops providing the questions for their sites). I think I will try something a little different next year. That was a big challenge! The good news is the entries that were in the inbox this morning. I hope that doesn't mean it was too easy, but at least it lets me know it was doable.

The other upcoming event is the Halloween Stitch Along with the Glendon Place design. I hope we have a good turn out. I already had a number of replies on that, also. Cheryl, the designer, has very kindly offered to host a chat on Saturday of Halloween weekend. This will be the official launch for the chat room. Hopefully all will go well.

I have been working on this year's Caritas design. I have had to re-start the stitching three times. I did not like the way it looked on the fabric color I chose (twice) and have now gone to legacy. My studio now looks like a total disaster area. I will be straightening on stitch breaks for the next few days. I still do not have everything back in place from the TNNA show last weekend. Too busy re-stitching the top couple of rows on this design and finalizing the October "Voice"! Then returning to the fabric drawer, and instead of a floss toss, it looks like I did a fabric toss in here. Tossing it all over the room. I felt like one of those cartoon characters furiously flinging the fabric over my head and behind me.

St Charles Show

My husband accompanied me to St Charles this past wekend to attend the wholesale needlework show. I had a booth for Moonflower Designs. I also intended to get a list of all the new designs released at the show to include in Stitchers Village news. How naive of me. I needed every minute to get around to all of the designers rooms and did not have it due to my obligation to be in my room. Note to self - just attend the show next time, don't exhibit!

Here's my idea for my art project (when I get around to that!). I want to do portraits of how I picture people to look. You know, people I have never actually seen, but have either dealt with on the phone or by email or whatever. There is a woman here in Topeka who I have heard of through the Mulvane Art Museum and met at a gathering recently. Her name and activities had developed a persona in my mind and when I met her, she was nothing like I imagined. This is the same for one of the designers at the TNNA show. Tracy from Ink Circles. I had a very nice visit with her one evening, but kept thinking that she doesn't look as I had imagined her. Then she told me that she is an Engineer and it completely threw off my mental picture of her. Oh, well, file that idea for later!!

I am trying to finish the October newsletter for The Stitchers Village. My problem is that I need to finalize the plan for the village stitch-along. Cheryl from Glendon Place is providing a free Halloween design and has agreed to host a Village chat Halloween weekend. I can't decide how to coordinate it. So, I had better get back to work!!

Watch Out!

I learned recently that it is best to watch where you are walking. I was walking back from getting the mail across the street and happened to look down at the sidewalk in front of the house. There was a snake and I almost stepped on it or it almost ran across my foot. Either way, I have been looking around when outside now. One near miss is enough to keep me more alert!

It is now under two weeks to go until the TNNA wholesale show in St Charles, MO. I will make a final list tonight of everything needed. I've been stitching and printing and planning and just trying to keep on track. I'm a little nervous, but that is to be expected since this will be my first TNNA show as an exhibitor.

Great Customer Service Day

The award for best customer service goes to ATT!!! My daughter wanted an Iphone. She went to the apple store rather than ATT and was given misinformation regarding the portability of her phone number. I called ATT this morning anticipating that I would spend the morning trying to straighten it all out and - SURPRISE - it is the first time I have ever spoken with 3 customer service representatives, each one anticipated the upcoming activity, had the information transferred to the next step's department representative, and fixed it with as little hassle as possible!! Great job! I am so happy that I have all my services bundled together with this excellent company!!! Yeah for me!!

I also received a random email from someone and it looks like it, also, is a good thing I followed up. www.positiveyarn.com/wp/ You just never know how a day will go!! Wake up and expect good things.