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Patterns Patch Cross Stitch Club: Cross Stitch Tips & NewsSaturday, March 15th 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||
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Subject: Patterns Patch Makes it to "The Final" ... ... the final of what? (more later)... Once more, welcome to all our readers, we hope the past two weeks have been kind to you and you enjoy reading this issue of your Cross Stitch Tips & News letter. *~~* If you do nothing else with this news letter... ** MAKE SURE YOU READ THIS ** It will take you about 45 seconds and might well save yours or a loved ones life some day (true!). This lifesaving tip is in the number 1 position in our Inspirations department, which is available to ALL readers. Take a little time to do your family and friends a BIG favor by passing this essential information on to them. *~~* Our First SAL... As many of you know, we held our first Stitch-ALong (SAL) last weekend. This was very much a trial run, both to check out the technology (which failed) and for most of us to learn what a SAL is, and how it functions. On the technology side we learned that running the SAL partly on FaceBook and partly on our Patterns Patch website could have been more satisfactory. We'll resolve any issues with this before the next SAL. We'd like to give a really big thank you to our stalwart organizer Sandye for her painstaking effors in cajoling and providing motivatation to her fellow stitchers who took part last weekend. Without Sandye's efforts the SAL wouldn't have taken place. What is a SAL? For anybody who wants to know what a SAL is, here's a recap from Sandye, "The first weekend of every month is our UFO SAL. You choose an UnFinished Object (UFO) you have that you want to try to get done". "You post which project you'll be working on and post a picture of what it looked like before the weekend. You stitch as much as you can on that particular project for the entire weekend (Friday morning to Sunday night). At the end of the weekend, we all post how much we've gotten done, post an updated pic so we can all see our own progress..." "Anytime you get frustrated with the project, or just need a little kick in the rearend to get started on it again, the rest of the people in the same SAL with you are there to keep you on track!" "It's been great! These SAL weekends really helped me stay motivated with my Kitties (a particularly large and difficult project) and now they're done!" "These SALs are really great for motivating you and keeping you going on those tougher projects, or even the ones where you have deadlines to meet that just loom over you!" In order to provide a more enjoyable experience we planned on using a chatroom so stitchers could discuss their progress, and whatever else they chose, while they stitched. So, it was a major disappointment for me when we failed to install the chat room software successfully, and so it wasn't available. Shortly after the SAL had ended, we finally got the Chat Room software working and it's now permanently available to all Standard and Associate members of Patterns Patch. To be able to chat, you need to first login and then click on Chat in the Community Forums category (left-hand nav panel on the Members home page). To enter the Chat Room you need only enter your Patterns Patch login name. Associate Membership One drawback of making a chatroom available to the general public is spammers will usually find it within a week or two, and when that happens we'll soon lose control of it (for at least part of the time anyway), something we definitely don't want to happen. Therefore, for that reason the chat room must remain limited to our closed membership only, which would have which excluded all subscribers who aren't signed-up members. As we told you last time, to overcome this restriction we've created an Associate Membership, which is fr*e, but limits access to just the chat rooms and our community forums (the Cross Stitch forum and General forum). Associate members will also qualify for a 20+% discount on some of the patterns in our Cross Stitch Store. (Note that only patterns that have been in our Cross Stitch Library for three months or more, will be offered for general sale in our store). If you want to join Patterns Patch as an Associate member and enjoy access to the chat rooms and community forums, please join here. The subscription form is easy to use and only asks for: your name, email address, login name and passw*rd (you choose these last two yourself). Should you have problems with any of this, please let me know here.*~~* Patterns Patch Battles Through to The Final About a month ago we submitted an entry into a competiton called the "Content Sharing Showdown", organized by the Stompernet corporation; ours was one of more than 440 entries. In order to whittle the entries down to a manageable 36 finalists, all entrants were asked to vote on their rivals' submissions. We were delighted when informed our entry "Why is Counted Cross-Stitch so Addicitive" featured strongly in the chosen 36. The final 36 entries are being judged over the next week by the people on a database of more than 100,000 names. If you're feeling generous and would like to help Patterns Patch, please go to our entry and leave a comment at the bottom of the page (and don't worry, you won't have to join anything). The link to our entry is right here: Why Is Counted Cross-Stitch So Addictive? Performing well in a contest like this spreads the Patterns Patch name across the web. Which in turn helps us in our ultimate goal of becoming a huge cross-stitch community with the necessary influence to arrange large discounts for our subscribers from all major cross stitch suppliers.We'll let you know in the next issue how we fared in the final. Thank you very much for any help you can give Patterns Patch with our entry. *~~* I Bet I Can Guess Your Number: The Winners Choices In the last issue we promised to let you know which reports our four prize winners chose. Both Agnes Benceagi and Betty Stabler expressed an interest in trying Blackwork, and so were delighted to receive Blackwork for Beginners an excellent step-by-step introduction to this beguiling cross stitch niche, which has steadily been growing in popularity since the mid 1990s. Miriam Rautenbach is keen to improve her Framing techniques and so chose Finishing The Project., which reveals a number of low-cost options to creating that professional finish for any craft project. Marie Claude Gagnon has yet to make her selection. And if you'd like to check out what this is about, here's the link to the puzzle/game again: *~~* Dirty Computer Screen? Incidentally, If the monitor on your computer could do with a clean, you just might find the solution here:http://cache.valleywag.com *~~* A Woman's Work is Never Done Next out from the wee book "A Woman's Work is Never Done" by Rowan B. Murphy: "If you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman." ~ The Right Honourable Margaret Thatcher.*~~*
Membership For Fr^e *~* Brandy Edge *~*
"Well done Brandy, you're nearly there! All you have to do is email us to Accept and Activate your prize!" Also well done for your perseverance too Brandy. We notice that many members enter this competition for 5 or 6 weeks and then stop. Brandy and a few others enter EVERY week and have built up a high 'credit' count over time, thereby increasing their chances of winning significantly. Commiserations to those who entered and didn't win this week. But hey, perseverance is a virtue; try again next time ~ it could be YOU! And for those of you who didn't enter, why not? Don't you want this valuable gift? (Please remember! Only one entry per person, per issue.). You've got to be in it TO WIN IT!
*~~* As always, you are encouraged to contact me with any questions or entries for future newsletters. You can do that here. | ||||||||||||||||||
This Issue's Tip:How To Choose the Right Fabric For Your Next Project ~ Part 2 (of 3) Now that we've talked about the different types of fabric available, and how they differ from one another…it's time to figure out the fabric size you need to make sure the stitching fits. There's nothing more frustrating than putting hours, or even months into a project only to realize that the piece of fabric you're using is too small. The 3rd and final part of this series will appear in the next issue of Cross Stitch Tips & News on March 29th 2008). | ||||||||||||||||||
Recent ArticlesThese articles are amongst those we've recently added to the cross stitch articles library:Cross Stitch Patterns Forums - Why All Stitchers Should Pay A Visit Online forums and message boards have opened up a whole new world to people seeking social networking, friendships and information. Cross stitch patterns forums are a great way to learn from more practiced cross stitchers and share your experiences and questions with others . . . keep reading Harry Potter Cross Stitch Patterns Appeal to Your Inner Wizard Free hummingbird cross stitch patterns are fascinating | ||||||||||||||||||
New Cross Stitch PatternsWe're giving EVERYONE who reads this letter a FREE Bonus cross stitch pattern.Follow the download instructions carefully and Contact me if you have any problems. Some of our more experienced members have asked us to consider providing the occasional design that's a little more "challenging". We've listened and will be listing at least one pattern with embellishments, such as: beads, knots, backstitching, and so on. Here you can view The latest FREE downloads (for members): You'll find additional information and can also leave comments and rank (from 1 to 5) each download, if you so wish.
Please note that you have until the next issue of your Cross Stitch Tips & News letter to download the BONUS pattern. After then it will be available only to Members in the Cross Stitch Library. We're trying to introduce as wide a range as possible in the cross stitch library to cater for all tastes. So if there's a theme we've missed that you'd like to see patterns for, then please drop a quick email to Contact us. If you'd like to try and win a fr*e membership, reply to Membership for fr*e with the word 'frogging' in your email subject line (only one entry per reader please). To view this week's gallery, here's the link again to view the latest FREE downloads. | ||||||||||||||||||
Cross Stitch Forum PostsThe Cross Stitch forum has continued to post many interesting threads. Samples of the most recent are shown below: If you haven't taken part yet, why not take a look and maybe join in. Hey! You might even enjoy it.
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... And FinallyWhen the membership of Patterns Patch grows to a certain level we'll be able to approach major suppliers and manufacturers and negotiate discounts for our members. So please make sure to encourage your stitching friends to join Patterns Patch.Forward this email newsletter to them so that they can subscribe to (www.patternspatch.com) and receive future copies directly to their own mailbox. Please do not reply to this email. It was sent to you by our computer, which is splendid at sending emails but absolutely useless at reading them! To get in touch with us, please send a short email to Contact us. Do please take the time to let us know what you like or dislike about "Cross Stitch Tips & News". We value all your emails and rely on them to move us forward as we strive for cross stitch perfection. ... and finally, if you have children, give them a hug and a kiss, and tell them you love them. Sincerely,  PS If you're not already a member, why not? You're missing out on so much! Why not join now Joining is easy! Your next "Cross Stitch Tips & News" letter will appear on SATURDAY March 29th 2008. Until next time, Missed an issue of our "Cross Stitch Tips & News" letter? Find them all here: | ||||||||||||||||||
