WIP Progress & Life

This is what my Blackwork Winter Sampler by Tam's Creations looks like now. I would have been further along but I had a visit from the damn frog yesterday and had to pull out two motifs from the right side and re-stitch them. However, I am really pleased with it. I almost have the entire center done which will put me onto the area with mittens and hats real soon. I plan on changing the colors for the mittens, hats, snowballs, shovels, ice skates and skis that are in the outer bands of this sampler to give it a bit more color. I'm not one for changing colors much, but I figure it can't hurt to try on this one and if I don't like it I can always rip it out.

Today I go see my pain management doctor to get poked and prodded. Oh yay, fun fun fun..NOT! My toe still doesn't like shoes, but this is not an appointment that I can put off so its just going to have to deal with the shoes. lol I'm going to hit the post office on my way to the doctor and mail that package overnight to Julia.

Exchanges and A Present!

Sonya (sonictomb) took a picture of the seasonal exchange peice I sent her so I downloaded it. I really appreciate her taking the picture because I totally forgot. I was in such a rush to get it in the mail as it was 1 day late that taking a picture never crossed my mind until it was too late. LOL I am so glad she liked it :)

This is my package for the Freebie Exchange on the WOCS yahoo group. This is being sent to Julia. I really hope she likes it. She loves angels so I chose a Teresa Wentlzer freebie called Jeanne Love's Angel. I included both aida fabric and 28ct hand-dyed jobelen. As this chart does not have any over 1 sections and very few half stitches it will work on Aida fabric but I included the 28ct jobelen in case Julia would like to try over 2 stitching. It is late due to my stupid broken toes but I hope Julia likes it when she gets it.


This is the lovely package I received from Barb on the WOCS yahoo group's Freebie Exchange. This is a Count Your Blessings, Inc design called "Love Begins At Home #5". She included a wonderful card, aida fabric, DMC floss and needles. I am really looking forward to stitching this. Thank you so much Barb, I love it!

A few weeks ago I notified The Silver Lining (among about 10 other companies) when I came accross a web site that was violating copyright by posting full charts. Marc Saastad was very grateful and wanted to send me a free chart to show his appreciation. I was hesitant to accept it because I did not do it in the hopes of getting free items. this is the chart that Mr. Saastad sent me. It has the most gorgeous purple colors in it and I am looking forward to stitching it. Thank you very much for your generosity Mr. Saastad, I do appreciate it!

I notified the designers because, as a writer, I know a lot of work goes into creating anything and I believe that creating a cross stitch chart has to take time, effort and a great deal of creativity. I believe that the creator should be compensated for their work through people purchasing the charts that the creator offers for sale. I do not agree with copyright infringement. That is why I notified as many of the companies as I could find when I came accross the site that had literaly hundreds of designs posted in violation of copyright laws. It really bothered me to see a site that had designs posted that came from so many different companies. I did not hear back from every designer that I contacted, but I did hear back from some of them. They were all grateful to be informed of the copyright infringement and I am glad that I could help them in this way. I did get a few emails from some of the people that contributed to that site (it was a posting board in a different language where members could post charts) who were very angry with me. I explained to them that they should think of it this way: "Stitching an item takes a great deal of time and effort on the part of the stitcher. We put a lot of work, emotion, and good thoughts into every stitch. The same amount of effort, emotion, thought and time goes into the creation of the chart by the designer as goes into the stitching of the finished project by the stitcher. Just as a stitcher would not appreciate having their stitching presented as someone else's work (basically a lie), a designer would not appreciate having all their effort stolen. The more people who ignore copyright laws and undermine a designer's work in this manner, the more they harm the needlework industry as a whole. Eventually designers will be unable to create and offer new charts as they can't support their families by doing so. The more copyright infringement that occurs, the fewer more design companies will lose money resulting in fewer design companies at all." I was not surprised that many of those who contacted me refused to understand the concept, but I was surprised that one of them realized their error and said that they had not thought of it that way before and appreciated my taking the time to explain it in that manner. Whether or not she meant it, I do not know, but the idea that I may have helped one person to see how copyright infringement undermines the designer (and the entire needlework industry) and thus change their mind/opinion about engaging in infringement makes me feel good.

Sharing Motherhood on Blogs

I was going through my blog links today and came accross this entry in Dooce's blog.

http://www.dooce.com/2008/05/02/newsletter-month-fifty-and-fifty-one

Read it! It moved me a great deal. I've been reading her blog for months now and never once thought she was exploiting her child. To me it is understood that not every little experience in a person's day makes it onto their blogs, so it was obvious to me that Dooce was not sharing everything about her life, family, and child. Yet, she has received accusations stemming from exploitation to child abuse because she writes about her daughter on her blog and includes pictures of her. I was astounded to hear that any one would say her writings are abusive to her child. Dooce has a very sarcastic sense of humor, but it is obvious from the words she chooses that she loves her daughter very much and is presenting some of their experiences for the right reasons (either was a sweet warm fuzzy moment, or really funny, or made her think etc.). As part of women bloggers and BlogHer (I think that's what it is called) Dooce is part of a group of women who blog to give a voice to mothers everywhere and in part to help other mothers realize they are not alone and to help people to realize that being a parent is not an easy job. Even in this day and age too many people seem to think that raising a child is easy and that is sad since we should know better.

I think back to when my DD was a toddler and I wish blogs like Dooce's (and others) were available then because it would have made so many things easier for me; the biggest one being that I was not alone. My DD was a wonderful toddler, but she was difficult as well. She has always been very independent, stubborn, creative, amusing, sweet, cranky etc etc (all the various emotional states that human beings have). During those times where she was having a bad day or was overwhelmed, reading someone else's experience with similar behaviors would have been so very helpful.

Maybe I am wrong, but I agree with Dooce and I applaud her and other blogging mothers for what they are doing! Keep it up ladies!

SBQ, WIP

I have done a little bit more stitching on Blackwork Winter by Tam's Creations. Only one more motif from my last update, but I plan on stitching some more before I have to raid tonight on World Of Warcraft.

My broken toe is still swollen and lumpy and I am beginning to think the furniture in my house will not be satisfied until the toe falls off! I keep smacking it on things and making it worse. *sigh* Of course the doctor won't do anything but tape my toes together which is no protection at all so I'm not going to bother to go back unless the swelling has not improved by Monday. The damn toe has kept me from doing many of the things I wanted and needed to get done this week as I can't wear my shoes and I can't put pressure on my left foot which has pretty much kept me home. I'm hoping my DH can put a package in the mail for me tomorrow morning, preferably overnight delivery (or 2 day delivery) as it is an exchange that is late.

My back is feeling better though. The doctor redid the radio frequency procedure and the results are just as good as the first time I had it done. My pain level which had returned to an 8-10 on a daily basis has once again dropped to a 2-3 upon waking and no higher than a 5 even after I do housework. I am so very happy to have the pain back under control again. I have put a reminder in my MS Outlook calendar to let me know that it is time to redo the procedure in August before it wears off completely and I have to spend 2 to 4 weeks in extreme pain every single day. What I like besides the lower pain level is that this procedure does not use steroids or narcotic pain killers to control the pain. I can't help but feel that the fewer medications I put in my body now the better it will be for me as I get older. Sadly I can not go without any pain medication at all, but this procedure should make it possible for me to go a very long time before raising my dose becomes necessary again.

SBQ for April 30, 2008:

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

Yes. I would like the Teresa Wentzler peices to be passed down as they were difficult peices to do. I would also like any peices that I did specifically for my children to be passed down as well. If I ever get the Sistine Chapel done I am hoping that also will be one that is passed down as it is a very large project that will take a great deal of time and effort.

My DD is putting together a book of her poems on lulu.com. Due to her back she is unable to work right now and she wanted some way to earn some income. I think her poetry and prose is very good so I encouraged her to put them together in a book format and sell the book through lulu.com. I can't wait until she has it completed so I can purchase the first copy! I am so proud of her! Here is one of her poems which she wrote in Middle School.

Death is my demon lover
Author: Samantha ******** 3/6/2001 ©

On silver and black wings,
Death flies with me,
Hand in hand,
We soar through the sky.
Welcome slices of his sickle
Slash my soft skin,
From each slice of flesh,
Sweet blood flows.
Each precious drop
Frees my heart to feel

No pain, nor grief,
No worries, or troubles.
Peace replaces these
At long last, my soul at rest.

Death,
A part of me
For ever and always,

My demon lover.