Your Vote Counts

Keeping my message short and sweet, get out there and vote.

Fan Love

I was recently delighted to see that the number of likes on the Ink Circles Facebook page had grown to the 3000 mark. I decided that this deserved a big thank you.

About this time, I was sharing some photos of stitching on wood and a friend (waves at Julia) pointed out that Red Gate Stitchery's skinny bamboo blank looked perfect for a T.A.R.D.I.S.

Occasionally there is a minor kerfluffle to bring it into the light, but many stitchers do not realize that practically every chart they see that pays tribute to a movie, a TV series, a superhero, a band, a song, anything to do with an empire run by a mouse wearing pants, etc., needs to be properly licensed to be legal. The ferocity with which the trademark holders swoop down on you depends on a few factors: their own in-house legal budget, how prominent/obscure the violation is, how much they think the artist is going to make, and whether Mercury is in retrograde.  Licensing is extremely expensive and really inhibits the commercial level cross-stitch designers from getting in the game. Swarms of hobbyist designers play (or are) ignorant and put up infringing charts for sale on Etsy or their blog or wherever.

So, absolutely no TARDIS charts coming from me. I offer instead a complimentary chart of this generic substitute: Perfectly Ordinary British Police Box. ( I really did look it up to ensure that a generic version did exist and they weren't invented just for the show.) No trademark. No money changing hands. No problems.

Click here to download my PDF.

Celtic Needlebook - Freebies in Action

Marianne shows us here that a little ingenuity can lead to a great finish.  She used one of the complementary Celtic knot designs from my site, adapting it from a square to a rectangle to suit her needlebook application.  I had the chance to meet Marianne during a recent trip to visit the Northwest Sampler Guild in Seattle.  What a super friendly and talented group of ladies!  Her stitching (and knitting) was exquisite, as you can see in the pictures she shared below.  Thanks, Marianne for the inspiring photos.

Now, here is another of my freebie graphs that Cathy in Virgina has stitched. I love those colors on the black, and it's our friendly ubiquitous DMC (variations)!  What is your favorite way to finish up a square like this into a small?

A Tribute for James

Natalya won't have the chance to give her loving tribute to her fiance James. He had been battling leukemia since 2002.  After three rounds of fighting the cancer with courage and determination, he lost his battle to an infection that his weakened immune system just couldn't shake. When James passed away seven months before their planned wedding day, his body was cancer-free, a small consolation to them both.

Orange is the awareness ribbon color for leukemia and lymphoma.  Against the black fabric, these bright colors just ring with a vibrancy and energy that must have reflected their life together.  Natalya used the time working on this biscornu as a chance for her to reflect on what had happened and how she could continue on. James is now her own personal angel and we hope to use his example to continue the fight for a cure.

This chart is available for free here. I am honored to be connected in this small way to such stories of caring and strength. Thank you for sharing your story, Natalya.

Are you aware?

It's never easy to know what to say to a friend who has recently been diagnosed with cancer or some other major life-affecting problem.   I think everyone has heard of the pink ribbon used for breast cancer awareness, but were you aware how many other ribbon colors have been adopted by various cause support groups?  I've been unable to pull up a single website that is all encompassing in it's table, but a little Googling will lead you to the color for which you are looking.

Sometimes a stitched token is a perfect gesture of understanding and caring. Christine's cousin was recently diagnosed with lung cancer, which is represented by a "pearl" ribbon. Christine had already worked this chart with the pink ribbons in the original design and a second time with yellow ribbons, so she knew how perfectly it adapts to other ribbon colors. This chart is a freebie I posted a few years back - you can download it here.

She worked with her LNS owner (Gitta's) to come up with this knockout combination.  She stitched it 2 over 2 on 32 count Belfast linen (cobblestone) using Anchor variegated 1302 for the lacework, and Anchor 276 and Kreinik 032 #4 braid (1 'strand') for the ribbons. The ribbon borders were done in Mill Hill Petite Glass Beads #42027 (pink metallic) and 40123 (pearl).

Christine did a beautiful job on this most personal masterpiece that her cousin will cherish as a special treasure. Thanks for sharing the picture of your finish, Christine.  I send my wishes to your cousin for strength and recovery.

Love Is Blind

Here is a new freebie for you. It's more of a project for you to compose, as I am only providing the raw template and the information. You get to create whatever message you want, and then to use it in whatever format you like.  You can make a pillow or a sign, put your initials on something... use your imagination.  And share a picture with us if you make something cool.

Dowload the pattern here.  It includes the template plus the Braille alphabet.  Can you read what I wrote?

Four in the Hand

Mel shows us that "Four in the Bush" is now actually in the hand.  She stitched this chart I posted as a Halloween freebie using the Carrie's colors I recommended in silks. Beautiful!

And if you ask me exactly of what there are four, I will reply, "Owl-bats."

Mel Flashes Her Bloomers in Public!

The first two questions out of Mel's mouth when I show her a new design, are

1. What Carrie's Threads would you use?
2. What would it look like stitched on black?

Some designs end up looking quite awesome on black fabric.  This is her Bloomers in Carrie's Thread, on black - almost unrecognizable from the original pastels on brown that I had chosen.  Carrie's Threads includes a number of options that are really vibrant and make this piece "pop" on the black.  The colors that Mel used are not exactly the same placement as the list on the web I suggest because I was ditzy and forgot to write down what I sent her and floss-tossed it a second time.  Consider this Exhibit A to means there are MANY possibilties in any piece and you can relax and pick what colors YOU like. It'll be smashing! Be sure to send me a picture.

Now, that free chart that was posted a few days ago...after considerable playing around with colors, I decided it really didn't look great on black in the five color version.  As a monochrome, it looked neat in any of many colors.  Not wanting to squelch anyone's attempts, I would love to be proven wrong and be shown a super conversion on black.  Meanwhile, I'll just post the answer to Mel's first question.  The Carrie's threads I like for this are: Soot, Peach, Pina Colada, Dried Sage, and Garnet.  I like the slightly dusky palette on this piece and picked muted shades.  It could easily be pepped up to Raven (Black) and a full-on Rainbow for the highlights.  It could also be done as a monochrome using a variegated thread.  You decide.

Four in the Bush

Happy Halloween.  Trick or Treat?  If you picked treat, you may download this chart for free.  It's show in 5 colors, but it actually looks quite cool with just the darkest color stitched.  Darkest color requires 2 skeins.