Lizzie*Kate Blog

When life gets in the way of work...

2012-03-06T09:08:00.000-06:00

The last few posts have been about our CRAZED pace leading up to market, the FRENZIED pace during market, and then....a slight pause! So here's ONE of the reasons I haven't blogged for over a week.

I had a little knee surgery to correct a couple of tears in my meniscus. After a couple doc visits this fall and finally an MRI, I got the answer to my insistent knee pain. No, I don't know how I tore it (everyone asks this)...probably some gradual thing related to GETTING OLD, but it needed to be repaired. I postponed the eager ortho doc until I returned from my business trip, and reported to the surgery center the day after we returned.

All went well at the uber-efficient surgery center, and I was home a couple hours later. I was propped on the sofa with my own little igloo machine, humming softly as it circulated cold water around my knee. My faithful granddog Henry was as close to the action as possible. After orthroscopic surgery, you only have 2 little incisions on the knee. But my leg was mysteriously wrapped from ankle to mid-thigh in gauze, the water therapy thing and a thick frosting of Ace bandages. I was supposed to use crutches, but realized immediately I was a klutz and a real danger to myself. Thankfully, I could put weight on it right away, so I hobbled around for a few days. What a thrill it was to limp to the door to greet the flower delivery guy, and multiple friends bearing food!

Now I'm back in the office, except when I'mhanging out with 2 handsome physical therapists a couple times a week. Who knew physical therapy could be entertaining? The young therapist is just a couple months from graduating, so he has another attractive blond guy there to oversee him and give him verbal pop-quizzes while he works. And did I mention the student therapist looks like a young Chris Noth (famous actor from Law & Order, Sex in the City, The Good Wife)?? I'm sure a menopausal woman in sweat pants isn't the most exciting part of their day, but they put a smile on my face...even while I'm doing my exercises!

Ode to empty boxes...oh, how I love thee!!

2012-02-26T13:27:00.000-06:00

When we come to market, our car is FULL of boxes!! How many do we have? We have so many boxes, we download a second carload to our friend Debbie, who owns our local needlework shop. Debbie drives to market to SHOP, and we come to SELL (with a little shopping on the side!).

Saturday was our first market day and it was CRAZY busy! We opened the door (pictured above) a little before 9 and got SLAMMED! Before noon arrived, we were sold out of some of our goodies. Honestly, we were worried about the amount of inventory we brought to market. It's no fun to pack it up and bring it back home.

Above are the sad little EMPTY boxes in front of our new Less=More Flip it series. You can see the actual models sitting behind them. Of course, we have plenty more leaflets at home ready to assemble ASAP. Thankfully...I assembled 1100 embellishment packs during the 13 hour car ride to Nashville, which will go inside the individual Double Flips. But for the rest of the show, I had to take orders on these.

Same thing on our Inspiration Boxer display - beautiful models, but the inventory was soon MIA!

We gave away a few empty boxes to shopowners who wanted them to get product home, but the rest are coming back home with us in their "flattened" state. They'l spend some time in the attic, and then reappear to make the trip to our next market.

Market will close at 4 today, then the building will erupt into a mad race to see 1) who can tear down their showrooms the fastest and 2) who can snag a coveted gold bellhop cart from the hotel to help get stuff to their vehicles. WHOA - we had better start checking the lobby soon...those carts may already be hoarded by another eager exhibitor!

Ready, set, MARKET!!!

2012-02-25T15:44:00.000-06:00

Market opened this morning...WHEE!! After months of planning, 13 hours of driving, a full day of setup, and one allergy attack (apparently I'm allergic to Nashville's early spring weather) we opened the door of our little L*K showroom at 9:00 AM. Below is a pic of our "front windows" that face the atrium hallway. We did a little chalk art on brown paper to jazz up our posters previewing the new kits.

Our market is held in a beautiful Embassy Suites hotel, so the designers arrive early to transform their hotel "living room" into a cool showroom. We schlepp in tables, containers, and all sorts of display to showcase our newest designs and create a fun atmosphere. People do all kinds of crazy things to work with the furniture that's already there, and cram the unwanted pieces into the back bedroom. The sofa sleeper was too big to move, so we remade it into a display table to showcase our Inspiration Boxer series. We removed the cushions, put an unwanted coffee table on top, then layered a 6' table on top of the pile and camouflaged with an extra sheet from the maid's cart. Yes. that's our new "sofa table" in the photo below!

We used the bar area of the living room for our Flip-it/Double Flip display. More chalk art covered the large mirror above the bar, which was bolted to the wall!

When the shoppers are finished selecting their cash & carry merchandise, they head to the back room to Alan's checkout area. When his checkout line gets too long, we encourage customers to label their bags, throw them on the bed, and return later to pick up (after we've had time to total their orders).

OOPS! We caught Alan checking a few basketball scores in a quiet moment. Time to get back to (needle) work!!! More market update tomorrow.....

Countdown to Market...kit sneak peek!

2012-02-20T09:29:00.000-06:00

Every year we go to Needlework Market in February...17 years in a row, that is! I've only missed one, when I went to Guatemala with my 2 daughters and a group from my church. While I was enjoying the most interesting trip of my life, Alan drove to and fro Nashville, and managed the booth by himself. Of course, he did have a couple hundred kind needlework ladies cheering him on! Hmmmm...maybe I should plan another trip?!

No matter how much we plan ahead, we're always SWAMPED the weekend before market. We always plan a couple surprise kits for the market attendees, and somehow, they're always ready just in the nick of time!

So this past weekend we found ourselves assembling kits while watching one basketball game after another...and our sport-loving friends were there to help!

Right in the middle of our family room (and in prime TV viewing position) we set up a couple tables, and got to work! After a full day of folding, sacking, intermittent cheering and eating, we finished assembling BOTH kits! As we completed kits, Alan packed them into boxes to make the trip to Nashville.

This morning, Alan is headed out to Heart's Desire, our LNS here in Wichita. Debbie helps us every year by carrying a (big) portion of our inventory to Nashville. We'll download this batch of boxes to her, then fill our car again with more market stuff...more inventory, display tables and cloths, L*K banners, props to make things look nice, and much, much more. When we roll across country in a couple days, we'll be the car that looks a lot like the Beverly Hillbillies (sans Granny sitting on the top!).

Above is the sneak peek pic I promised! We're doing a very special Limited Edition kit that uses these fabrics in a fun way. Check out the birds, bugs, stripes, dots, and rick rack. Who can guess what we'll do with these? We haven't shown the stitched part of the kit, but we'll guarantee it's quick and fun!

Back to my lists!!!

Meniscus, schmeniscus (my aching knee!)

2012-02-16T17:58:00.000-06:00

Getting old isn't for sissies! That's the title of a brand new L*K design, and it exactly sums up how I'm feeling today :(

After 3+ months of knee pain, multiple ice packs and a bottle of Advil, I finally had an MRI which revealed a "complex" tear in my meniscus. How did this happen?

Doctor: Is this the result of an injury?
Linda: I don't think so.
Doctor: Did you fall or have an accident?
Linda: I can't remember anything.
Attractive young doctor: And you are 39 years old?

Whatever! After an afternoon shuttling between the extremely pregnant X-ray tech, nurse practitioner, orthopedic surgeon, scheduling lady, and yet another scheduling lady, I'm home! I'll have a little scope surgery the day after I return from market. I guess that means Alan will have to unpack everything from our cross country trek. Darn...I always LOVE that job!!! While he's unpacking market paraphernalia, and trying to catch up on a week's worth of work that piles up while we're gone, I'll be anesthetized, learning to use crutches, and (hopefully) greet casserole-bearing friends at the door. HMMM...maybe I should do this every year!

Meanwhile, here's a pic of the timely new Snippet we released this week. It's quick, fun, and maybe a little TOO true. Stitch it for one of your "older" friends...like me!

Valentine's Day = husband in kitchen and car!

2012-02-14T11:27:00.000-06:00

Valentine's Day is in the middle of the work week - who planned that? But we still want to celebrate, in the midst of the CRAZY week before we leave for Needlework Market in Nashville. Multi-tasking to the rescue!

Lizzie*Kate is releasing NEW products today, which means we're shipping products to hundred of shops around the US and around the world...all on the same day! We worked like little elves all weekend, then spent Monday attaching mailing labels and doing customs forms.

Alan is at the big post office at the airport as I blog, delivering a car full of packages, that hopefully meet the recently released postal increases and rule changes! This afternoon, we'll greet the regular UPS man with an equally large pile of boxes. Shipping has become ridiculously expensive, so we choose the cheapest method, depending on weight and location.

To get a jump of the big heart holiday, we celebrated Valentine's early last weekend with 35 of our favorite pals from church. Every year the men cook the women an amazing meal, serve it, CLEAN UP, and then sing to us. I know...it's hard to believe!. Truly, it's a certified MIRACLE every year!

Every year, the men gather the night before the dinner to bake cheesecakes for dessert. They actually make and bake 4-5 beautiful, tasty kinds of cheesecake. Above are the cheesecake bakers grinning after a successful night. My husband, Alan, is on the right. During this extravanganza, the wives go out to dinner (the guys order in pizza) and watch a chick flick movie. You could say, we are spoiled!!

After a wonderful meal the next evening, we finish with a cheesecake extravaganza! The varieties this year were (from left to right) Bailey's Irish Creme with chocolate topping, white chocolate raspberry, Heath bar cappuccino and white chocolate Amaretto with peach sauce. YUMMM!!!!

Tonight, after the shipping drama, we're planning to bring in food from a favorite restaurant (my mouth is already watering), open a bottle of wine, and relax. I'm going to make a yummy chocolate dessert from my daughter's food blog. If you need a quick chocolate VDay fix, click on the link below. Happy Valentine's Day!

http://gimmesomeoven.com/mexican-hot-chocolate-molten-lava-cakes/

Valentine's countdown + sneak peeks!

2012-02-10T11:10:00.000-06:00

What are you planning for Valentine's Day? Roses, candy, romantic dinner for two? We're really planning ahead this year, but I'm pretty sure it's not a traditional celebration. We're SHIPPING NEW PRODUCTS on the big V-day, February 14! At least it makes our deadline really easy to remember.

We'll be blogging frequently until then, sending you SNEAK PEEKS for our new stuff, soon to be appearing in your favorite local needlework shops. In the previous post, we showed you our new goodies at the printer...literally "hot off the press"!

Now everything has been delivered and we're busy assembling everything, before we can begin packing boxes. What's in the photo above? About a zillion tiny iridescent raspberry beads and golden heart charms. Every leaflet in our new Less=More Double Flip series will (eventually!) have one of these tiny packs attached inside.

After we fill the little 1" x 1" zip bags (in the car, watching TV, wherever!) we attach them to the Glu Dot strips. These waxy strips have a dot of adhesive wedged between the black stripes. You press down, then pull them off one at a time to attach to the printing! Our helper Carmen spends a lot of time with these Glu Dots, and so do we! There are 4000 Glue Dots on every roll, and we order several dozen rolls at a time!

The SNEAK PEEK for today is F117 Whine Less Breathe More, the 2nd part of the Less=More Double Flip series. (See pic for F116 Fear Less Hope More in previous post). The colors on the Less=More series are so beautiful, I hope you can get a good preview from this pic.

Once we get these newbies shipped, we'll post a link on our website for a FREE border graph to combine all 4 parts of Less=More into one big design. This post will include a thread list for the entire project, stitch count and instructions. We'll preview the big photo of the whole Less=More series soon in another post. But the cool part is, these individual graphs make really great pieces on their own. Look below and you'll see!!!

Here's a SNEAK PEEK of the cover of F116 Fear Less Hope More. We worked with our graphic designer Janice to create a "vintage wallpaper" sort of look for the backgrounds, and are excited to say these covers don't look like ANYTHING else we have ever done. That's a challenge!

Have a great weekend...and stay tuned for more PEEKS!

Flips flops in February and ...Double Flip sneak peek

2012-02-01T13:52:00.004-06:00

February ...May ...which is it? Is it a beautiful day in Wichitawesome! The temps are in the 60's, the sun is out, I'm wearing my favorite flip-flops, and I'm a happy girl!

Right after lunch today I got a call from the printer that my job was ready for a press check. I was on "standby" today, after I approved the first round of proofs yesterday, and final proofs this morning. I was happy to get out of the office (where the windows are OPEN!) and enjoy the sunshine on the short trip to the printer.

Here I am with the pressman, admiring his work. He works hard before I arrive to get the colors matched to the proofs and also to the original stitchery I have on hand. When I arrive I can make changes and tweak colors, if necessary. Today I just signed off and told him to "start the presses"!

But look at my footwear on the first day of February! My office is always warm because I have windows on four sides. It's not unusual for me to crack the windows, even when the temps are below freezing. But when the weather is in the 60s, it's a full out open air day!

When I left the printer, I took a couple press sheets home with me, just for fun! You can see all the products ganged together on this color side of the sheet. Of course, the other side will have all the black/white charts, instructions and details. After these sheets dry, they make a trip to the bindery for cutting, folding, and boxing. I imagine my new designs are spending this morning in the very noisy bindery!

And now for the SNEAK PEEK we promised! This press sheet has 4 new Double Flips from our new series ...drum roll please... Less=More Double Flips!!! You can spot the 4 similar products on the press sheet. Also on the sheet is a Less=More bookmark and a Snippet.

Here's a corner from one of the Less=More Double Flips. I found this really cool saying, which meanders through the whole series, but also works really well in small bits (each design!). Then I was inspired by lots of antique alphabets and sampler motifs, and just had the BEST time designing and stitching everything.

We're getting psyched to release the new series in mid February, so we'll be bringing more sneak peeks and preview info here on the blog. Anticipation!

The mystery of the missing letter "L"

2012-01-27T11:16:00.000-06:00

OOPS!!! In my haste to get the aforementioned "A Little Love" kit published (previous blog post), I left out the symbol for the letter "L". Since this letter is essential to the design, this is a pretty big boo-boo...and I'm pretty embarrassed. It's seems I'm too "close" to the project to accurately proof my own designs, and I bypassed my usual proofreader on this quickie project. Nevermore!!!

I've posted a correction on my website, and will address it in my next monthly needlework shop newsletter, but for all of you curious and perplexed "A Little Love" stitchers, here's the scoop:

Letter "L" is stitched with purple haze Weeks Dye Works overdyed thread (DMC 3740/Anchor 872).

We just began shipping "A Little Love" to shops this week, and we're busy making more kits and shipping reorders already. It seems the world just needs "A Little Love".

Please, don't let my error make you "lose that lovin' feeling"! Happy Weekend to all!

Gotta have "A Little Love"

2012-01-23T14:31:00.000-06:00

I wasn't planning on doing a Valentine's project this year, but I was so delighted with all the cute Valentine's decor in the stores right now, I was inspired! Actually I was sleepless one night last week (another blog post, for sure!) so used the time to design a little kit in my mind!

The next morning, I shoved all the "urgent" stuff on my desk to the side, and got right to work designing my little ode to love on the computer. I designed thinking about fabric and embellishments I had on hand, so I could market it ASAP. Then I got to stitching...made more than a few adjustments on my original design...and finished my model!

I found a frame in my stash that would work OK, but when I went to my local needlework shop and found the adorable moulding pictured above, I was seduced - had to have it! I paid the friendly frame company to overnight me the frame so I could photo the next day. While I waited for the frame to arrive, I did the graphic design. Choosing the romantic pink background, adding fun little scalloped trim, flowers, bird, bow...I LOVE this part of my job!

My kind printer put a rush on the job, while we got to work cutting and folding fabric and sacking embellishments. We sent an email to hundreds of our favorite needlework shops, and now we're super busy shipping out "A Little Love"!!!

Look for these kits in your local shops before the end of this week. If they don't have them, please ask them to order from us! There's plenty of time to stitch before the big V-Day, but this design will work year-round.

Remember....all you need is "A Little Love"!

CONTEST TIME!!!

2012-01-12T11:19:00.000-06:00

I can't believe it's been almost 6 months since our 1st blog contest - way TOO long! Last August we had fun with our slime green calculator contest (Aug. 22 post), as we challenged you to tell us about your personal "stitch niche". We mailed green calculators to lucky winners around the US, Canada and (surprise!) Europe!

January....hmmmmm...what should we do? As I was assembling some Winter Fab Fob kits this AM, the idea came to me. Give some away!!!

This is a fun Limited Edition kit we did last winter, and we have some remaining. The kit includes the design for the fob, 28 ct. evenweave ivory fabric, pearlized beads, hand-dyed aqua snowflake button, and (this is the best part!) darling little customized L*K scissors.

The nice people at Kelmscott made these scissors especially for us. They are the famous "Little Gem" scissors design, which means they are "short" on blades, but long on "cute". They're even "airline approved"!

To enter, just leave us a comment and tell us what the high temperature is today where you live! It's a balmy 32 here this afternoon, sunny and windy...BRRRRR. Our office mascot dog Henry still has his coat on from his short, brisk walk this morning!

FYI - there were also Summer, Spring and Autumn Fab Fob kits available last year. We have sold out (except for a hand-full of Autumn kits), but check your local needlework shops for availability. Some might still be lurking on their shelves and looking for a good home. Go to our website www.lizziekate.com for photos of the whole series.

GIVEAWAY PRIZE:

10 Winter Fab Fob Kits

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS:
How to Enter: Leave a comment on this page and tell us what the high temperature is today where you live...and where you live, if you want.
Required: You must include your email address in the comment form. I will
need it to contact you should you win.
Deadline: Jan. 22, 2011 at 11:59pm Central Time
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Fine Print: No purchase necessary to enter. One entry per person.
Winner will be selected at random by Lizzie*Kate using Random.org. All
entries received after the giveaway closing day and time will not be considered.
Winners will be notified via email and will have 48 hours to confirm
receipt of the email. If the winners do not reply within 48 hours, another
winner(s) will be selected. Giveaways will be mailed to the winners' homes.

Boys and Their Toys

2012-01-03T11:24:00.001-06:00

Christmas is for kids...right? Maybe not!

The holiday is over, but there's still a buzzing helicopter wafting it's way around our office. Two very good boys at our house - Alan and son-in-law Jeff - got cool toys this year! Can you spot the hovering red heli on the left side in the photo below?

Before Christmas, Alan was mentioning to some guy friends that it was a challenge to buy for our 26 year old son-in-law, Jeff. He gave us a list, but we wanted to surprise him with one gift that wasn't on the list. The conversation went something like this...

Alan: Yea, we're not used to buying for guys.

Eddie: Does he have a helipcopter?

Alan: A what?

Eddie: You know, the little remote control helicopters from the mall. I love mine!

Bob: You have one of those? I have one, too. Every guy needs a helipcopter!

So Alan and I went to mall, watched the expert flying ace demo the helicopter near the mall kiosk and bought Jeff a really cool blue helicopter. You should have seen his face on Christmas morn - pure delight!

It didn't escape me, though, that Alan really looked longingly at the helicopter when we went the mall. So I went back to the mall later and bought him a red heli. Then, waited until all the gifts were unwrapped and pulled one ONE MORE little thing from Santa. It's nice to see a grown man GRIN!

For the next few days, it was dueling helicopters all over the house. I even noticed that Jeff flew his heli up the stairs and took it to the bedroom (near him!) at night. Boys and toys...what a great combo!

Whew...another successful landing on the L*K shipping table. So, if you hear a buzzing noise in the background when you call.....

It's good to be Santa!

2011-12-21T14:39:00.000-06:00

My church has a very cool partnership with a nearby elementary school. If you lived at our church, you could easily walk to school!

Park Elementary is a downtown school in a beautiful historic building with a newer addition. The student body has a 96% poverty rate. Our fabulous Christian education director, Libby, thinks of a zillion ways to involve as many members of our congregation with Park Elementary as possible!

We tutor and mentor in the classrooms, help with enrollment, send treats for the teachers, help the nurse and office staff, and generally try to meet (or exceed) the requests and needs of the students and staff. Every week 30-40 of us are in the building, hanging with kids and teachers, and re-entering the world of elementary education! Did I mention that most of the kids at Park are bi-lingual? Almost 90% of the students are Spanish/English speakers...I'm so envious! Below are some smiling 4th graders I tutored at Park.

Earlier this week, we hosted the annual school Christmas Program at our church. The sanctuary was overflowing with students, staff and families...what a blessing!

So...when our Sunday School class was looking for a family to help at Christmas, we asked the Park social worker for a suggestion. This year we're excited to help a lovely family with 6 kids, including one special needs child. After some cajoling, we got a small list from them, and the pile of presents is growing, along with my Christmas spirit...at MY house! We've taken their minimal list and expanded it!

I'm the coordinator for this year's effort, so it's looking a bit like Santa's workshop in my piano room. I am piling the presents in here, so they don't get mixed up with our family gifts.

Today is the big day for us to deliver the gifts...it's SO fun to play Santa every year! This morning I went to Sam's Club with Libby and we shopped for food staples....GIANT bags of rice and beans, laundry soap, TP, soap, cooking oil, etc. My little sleigh (car) was full!

Later a few friends showed up to help me load gifts (I needed another car trunk!) and we delivered to our family. After we stashed all the gifts under the tree and into the frig, we took a picture with the smiling Mom and her darling 2 year old daughter.

As my friend Deb and I rode home, we chatted about our experience. We both agreed it was the highlight of our busy holiday season...and the real spirit of the season...giving! It was a delight to help this family and make their holiday season merrier. What a blessing!

Freaky Friday!

2011-12-16T13:26:00.000-06:00

WARNING! Do not proceed to read if you are squeamish about MINOR medical procedures! Just close this post and wait until the next one appears. The next post will be about something sweet and holiday-ish and probably needlework related!

If you dare to continue, I wanted to share about my recent adventure at the dermatologist. To make a long (potentially boring) story short, I had a suspicious brown spot on my arm. I thought it was a freckle, my doc thought it was a big freckle and the derm wanted to have a closer look. After a little biopsy, and inconclusive lab work, they decided to take a bigger bite out of my arm...just to be sure.

I seem to be more and squeamish about medical stuff as I get older, so when I came home from the derm a week ago with this icky stitchery on my arm, I wasn't too thrilled! And it is my STITCHING (translation - working) arm! At least I didn't have to cut any fabric all week. I wasn't supposed to put pressure on it, or lift stuff. That rotary cutter takes a bit of muscle as I propel it through several layers of linen. Unfortunately, no one else cut those giant bolts of fabric this week, either!

Anyway, just returned from the derm, got the scary (very itchy!) stitches out, and I am good to go. The lab work came back good (praise the Lord!) and I'm anxious for the little stitchy marks on my arm to plump up and fade away.

All I want for Christmas is...stitches on my new cross stitch designs...and not on my arm!

Stained Glass Cookies!!

2011-12-14T16:57:00.000-06:00

I took a "personal day" off from L*K today. Sadly, I absolutely cannot remember the last time I took a (almost whole) day off during the middle of the week! I hopped on the turnpike, in the rain, and drove an hour to nearby Winfield, KS to spend a day baking with my good friend Julie. We've been friends since our college days, so that is a very long time!

Just to get an idea of what fab personal style Julie has, here is a pic of her charming house! Isn't it looking classically wonderful, all decked out for the holidays? Julie has a great kind of charming, homespun style that makes you feel welcome. I always admire all of her special touches at Christmas, especially her baking! So I went for a hands-on tutorial on her famous Stained Glass Cookies.

The first step was smashing the Jolly Rancher candies that would be the "glass" in our cookies. Armed with a hammer, we smashed 5 different colors of candies.

Then we mixed up the cookie dough,(similar to sugar cookie dough), rolled it out and started cutting out shapes. The tricky part is, you need 2 sizes of cutters for each shape. One for the outside shape of the cookie, and a smaller cutter to remove the inside shape. While Julie rolled and cut, I filled each cookie with the crushed candies. You don't have to be too neat, but you need enough to "fill" the cookie. If you plan to hang the cookies, like Julie does, you need to put a little hang-hole in the top of the cookie with a toothpick.

After about 10 minutes in the oven, we pulled the little masterpieces out and let them cool. After we removed them from the cookie sheets, we inserted ribbons and hung them in Julie's windows. She has a very organized system of curtain rods and ribbons she uses every year.

Here are the finished cookies, ready for viewing now and (Julie tells me this happens) eating later! I'm still trying to figure out how to hang my cookies in my kitchen windows. I don't have any clever window treatments to hide the curtain rods - maybe those little plastic suction cups?

Whatever! It was an awesome day away from my desk and into the small town world of Winfield, Kansas. I also got to see several other Winfield girlfriends when we went to the weekly Wed. lunch gang - what a bonus! After lunch, we made some cinnamon pecans - quite yummy and refreshingly quick after our stained glass adventures. After all of this baking, I returned home in time to BLOG and cook dinner!

It was a great day to breathe a little in the midst of the holiday busyness. Julie's faithful dog Sam wasn't feeling ANY holiday stress as he kept us company in her cozy kitchen!

Out the (snowy) door!

2011-12-07T09:46:00.000-06:00

YEA! The auto ships left the office yesterday afternoon! Alan trekked overflowing US Mail totes to the post office, and piled UPS boxes on the driveway. We felt sorry for the UPS driver...as if he wasn't busy enough! We'll have to make sure Santa puts something extra in his stocking this year.

Henry, the grand-dog, thought this was some sort of game, so you can catch a glimpse of him racing through on the left side of the pic.

THREE NEW DESIGNS are whizzing their way to needlework shops near you (or maybe slogging through the holiday shipping rush)! Here's the new lineup - the final L*K products for 2011.

*Faith Inspiration Boxer (see Dec. 5 post for preview)

*A Good Marriage Kit (see Dec. 2 post for sneak peek)

*Flora McSample's 2011 Ornaments - below!!

Our sampler girl Flora decided to do a set of ornaments at the last minute - you know how busy she is! These little guys turned out so cute, I took them in the house and photographed them on my little kitchen Christmas tree. If you don't have time for more Christmas stitching this year, no worry....Christmas rolls around this time every year! Just put them in your stocking now, or add them to your list, so you're ready when you have time (next summer?).

I don't know about you, but my calendar is CRAZY between now and Christmas. This week I have an event every evening! On the coming weekend, I have to choose between some double-booked times, with 2 things I really want to do at the same time (both out of town!). To cope with all this holiday busyness, I'm aiming to adopt a positive attitude...embrace it, not fight it! I'll keep you posted on how this works...meanwhile...

Here's wishing you all a very Joyous Christmas season!

Monday, Monday...it's just that day

2011-12-05T09:47:00.000-06:00

Ah...the refrain from the old Mama's and Papa's song...if you're old enough to remember that classic melody! We need a weekend to recover from our uber-busy weekend.

*watched 2 important football games on TV - KState Wildcats WON!!
*watched 1 basketball game on TV (attempt to see local high school BB game was unsuccessful - sold out!)
*attended winter outdoor decor workshop (I'm enjoying my new wintry porch pot, pic below)
*toured 3 historic homes, all decked out for Christmas
*wrapped my first Christmas presents
*went to church, Sunday school, dinner with friends afterwards

AND...made almost a thousand of the new Faith Inspiration Boxer kits! We toted pre-assembled kit materials to the house and set up a couple temp tables in the family room, so we could watch TV while we worked. We kitted through ballgames, our favorite shows and even a episode of the Tudors from Netflix. Is anyone else watching this series? I feel a little smarter just for watching this historic account of the life of Henry VIII!

Now the finished kits are in our office and we're packing orders for shops all over the US and around the world. We do about 10% of our biz outside the US...who knew? We'll ship everyone on the same day - Wed. - but there's a lot of work between now and then.

Below is a SNEAK PEEK of the new B36 Faith Inspiration Boxer. Now that you can see the bottom of the verse, can you guess the top part?

Each Inspiration Boxer comes with a BONUS design inside. Here is a pic of the sweet little bonus design for the Faith kit. It echoes the colors I used in the main kit project - they are yummy! The kit includes the patterns and embellishments for both projects, including heart charm and beads on photo above.

Ah...it was nice to sit and do this post...but it's back to work at the shipping table!

Busy Weekend!!

2011-12-02T16:17:00.001-06:00

What are you doing this weekend? Christmas shopping? Cleaning the house? Hanging with the family? We have exciting plans here at L*K world headquarters...we're kitting and packing boxes. WOO-HOO!!!

Next week is our final new product release for 2011. It's a small one - 3 products - but we're excited about all of them. Just in case you need something new to stitch over the holidays, or want to "drop some hints" about what you want in your stocking on Christmas morning, we're happy to provide the designs!

Today we're kitting the new "A Good Marriage" kit. Scroll back to our Nov. 18 post for another preview photo of this kit. Now we have the printing in hand, and the elves (Alan, Linda and Carmen) are busy putting all the pieces together. Here's another sneak preview of the bottom of the design! This kit will come with full skeins of beautiful overdyed threads, and DMC threads to fill in the small spaces. You choose your favorite fabric, whatever count you like, and start working on a real heirloom piece! This design would be awesome for Valentine's Day, or any day you want to honor marriage...your own, or maybe some relatives or friends.

Tonight we're taking a break in kitting to go to an old-fashioned Friday night high school basketball game. Our kids graduated years ago, (one of them teaches high school!) but it's great, cheap entertainment. And you get to YELL and stomp your feet...very therapeutic!!!

Check back tomorrow and we'll update progress on another new product and post a sneak peak photo. Happy Weekend!

How I beat the "back to work" blues (plant therapy!!)

2011-11-28T16:40:00.000-06:00

UGHHH! Who wants to go back to work after a long weekend? We barely had time to rest, between hosting the big turkey feast at our house, then traveling to hang out with tons more family in KC.

And then the pressure is starting to build in my head, along with the lists on my desk. We're working hard at L*K to ship a new product release next week, so things are in high gear around here. At the same time, these nagging messages flooding my brain...need to decorate house for Christmas, need to shop, need to make sure everyone has the BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!!!

When I feel overwhelmed, I indulge in a little plant therapy!! Lots of gals like to shop for clothes. Me, I like to shop for plants! I brought home the first 2 poinsettias yesterday (I'm sure there will be more) and my kitchen instantly brightened.

I bought a new baby fern for my desktop terrarium. It's a lot of happy for $2.99. I bought this terrarium a couple years ago when I was in Franklin, Tennessee for our annual February market. I hope to snag another one at the same cute store next year. It's low maintenance, no worry, happy desk material! Just keep the lid on and leave it...all that photosynthesis stuff you learned in 7th grade biology!

For some inexplicable reason, my Christmas cactus from last year is gorgeous...again. I tucked it outside this summer and nearly forgot about it until we had freezing temps at night. When I found it, there were flower buds forming. Who knew such bad care was just what it needed for a beautiful show of fuchsia flowers? And nestled next to the cactus is my shamrock plant from last St. Pat's day...also putting on an unseasonal show of snowy white flowers.

My upstairs studio/office has windows on four sides, so it's quite a greenhouse effect in here. I LOVE sunlight! In addition to my plant menagerie, I'm babysitting a dozen plans for a friend who is working in Haiti. I'm determined to keep her plants alive, as we eagerly anticipate her return. And I just brought in a batch of outdoor plants to winter inside, so it's positively GREEN in here!

I hope all of you have a very merry, green holiday season!

A "Tail" of Two Turkeys!

2011-11-24T17:05:00.000-06:00

In between all the cooking, eating and napping...I decided to BLOG! And since it's Thanksgiving, I have "turkey on the brain"...and in my stomach!

We had 2 turkeys on our table this year!! Woohoo!

Our first gobbler came out for appetizers while the big bird was still in the oven. He's a pretty popular guy - this was his 3rd appearance this week! I made him with a honeydew melon, red pear, red pepper, red fruit rollup, raisins and a cheesy nose. He was really fun to make and take to various events. I just restocked his feathers with whatever was in the fridge - fruit, cheese, summer sausage - and he was ready to travel!

The main event turkey was prepared by my "turkey novice" husband Alan, with assistance by daughter Ali. He was the star of the meal. I'm not crazy about handling that big raw bird, so they graciously cleared me of that responsibility. The best part was, I didn't have to touch him until he was golden brown and headed for the table...and my mouth!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!!!

Who wants A Good Marriage?

2011-11-18T17:01:00.000-06:00

Really? How? We're not marriage therapists here at L*K, but we're busy working on a cool new kit called "A Good Marriage" and we're excited to give you a sneak peek! The text is an adaptation from a longer work called "The Art of Marriage" by Wilferd Peterson. We've shortened it, changed the language a bit, and added lots of L*K fun and flair.

The model is all stitched and framed (in a beautiful vintage-look frame from Huneywood), so now we're busy with publishing and production. Above is a SNEAK PEEK of the top part of the design.

For the "publishing" part of the project, I've been working with my awesome graphic designer Janice to make everything look beautiful. Janice did the color backgrounds on the front and back cover, and arranged all the important info I gave her to look nice. Above are some of our proofs, with corrections noted. We'll send files back and forth several times until we're happy with the changes and the finished look. In the middle of this, I send the files (and the actual model) to my proofer Debbie, so I have an extra set of eyes to look for problems.

"Production" is actually L*K slang for BUSY WORK! Most of the thread included with the kit will be beautiful skeins of Crescent Colours overdyed thread. But we also are using 3 DMC colors for some of the less-used colors. This helps keep our costs down...our yours, too! We order DMC on big cones which each have 2100 meters of thread. Making thread packs is a job best done in front of the TV...note the remote in the photo!

After the DMC thread is measured, wound and sacked, we toss them in a big US Mail tote. These big totes are useful in a hundred ways around the L*K office, including their intended use to carry the mail. The tote only has a couple hundred thread packs so far, so it needs to be full before we start assembling kits. There's a big football game party at our house this weekend, so...maybe more thread packs will appear!

Have a happy weekend! TGIF!!!

Talkin' turkey!!

2011-11-15T12:54:00.000-06:00

I hope you all know that Thanksgiving is NEXT WEEK...whoa! I'm in charge of dinner for 12, so I'm busy making lists and assigning food for family to bring. I'm not planning to do it all myself - horrors! I'm a little nervous about the turkey because usually I assign this slimy task to my daughter Sarah and son-in-law Jeff. They handle that (gross) raw bird, fill him full of who-knows-what and babysit his lengthy stay in the oven. They can't come home this year, so I'm plotting to assign this task to someone else. If I have to handle the icky bird, (before it's roasted to golden perfection), I will lose my appetite!!

Speaking of turkeys, my daughter Sarah sent me this cute photo of some colorful turkeys that her K-2 students made this week in her art class. These gobblers are now decorating the halls of Medora, Indiana Elementary School!

As you continue to stroll the halls of elementary academia, these tasty looking corn stalks were provided by the talented 1st graders! I'm pretty sure these rural Hoosiers are well acquainted with corn!

Being in a turkey mood myself, I made these cupcakes for a women's group I attend at church. I found the "recipe" for these gobblers online and tried to duplicate them. If you want to make them, here's the shopping list for the goodies on top: I started with chocolate frosting (from the can!), then used candy corn (for feathers and a little white tip for the beak), red fruit rollups (for waddle thing), mini vanilla wafers (head) and black frosting (eye). GOBBLE, GOBBLE!

New York, New York!!!

2011-11-09T14:22:00.000-06:00

Be a part of it....New York, New York! And we were! Our long-time friends Julie and Greg recruited us to join them to watch their son Luke run the New York Marathon, and we were happy to round out the Luke Thompson fan club.

Of all the pics I took of Luke running, not a single one captured this speedy young man (you know that delay between pushing the button and the photo actually shooting?), so here is our hero after he finished. That's Luke wrapped up in 2 blankets, wearing a stocking cap, and still shivering to keep warm. The weather was gorgeous, but after you run 26 miles and suddenly stop, you can get really cold. Luke finished his 26.2 miles in 3 hours, 3 minutes and 3 seconds...what a guy!

Like crazed Kansans, we chased Luke all over the city, hopping on and off subways, hoping for a glimpse as he ran by. And...amazingly...we saw him 3 times! When you consider the probability of finding Luke among the 47,000 runners, we felt really fortunate. As we navigated the crowded subways wearing our purple Kansas State University gear, we made lots of friends. (It turns out their are lots of former Kansans living in NYC.) Other marathon fan clubs were more "professional" than us, and pulled out notebooks of calculations and maps, carefully plotting their runner's paths. We relied on the marathon route map, the subway map, and luck!!! Greg had purchased an official marathon phone ap that was supposed to send us periodic updates on Luke's progress, via a chip on his bib. Sadly, we never got a single email update, so we tracked him the old-fashioned way.

The old subways are full of beautiful (underground) tile work and I snapped this photo of a really cool tile mural. The subways were crowded and a little confusing (and sometimes not too clean!), but we encountered so many friendly people. Lots of people offered to help us navigate and gave us lots of good advice...who knew New Yorkers were so friendly?!

After the race day, we got down to business exploring the city. We've done all the usual tourist destinations in the past, so we revisited some of our favorite sites, and boldly ventured into new territory. We walked so much each day, I felt like I'd run a marathon! Above, Julie and I are hanging around Times Square, with about a zillion other people.

We planned ahead and got tickets for one Broadway show. Before the usher told the man behind me that ALL photos (before, after or during) are prohibited I shot this great photo of the stage and set. The old theater was amazing and beautiful, but the seats were so (charmingly) small and cozy!

One of our favorite activities was a Walking Food Tour of Greenwich Village. I had booked this in advance after our daughter Ali had enjoyed this tour earlier this year. We took the subway to meet our tour guide and other food-tasters in Greenwich Village. Then we spent 3.5 hours walking through the lovely village, away from the noise of the city. We sampled food at 8 different restaurants, and got a wonderful narration about the history and architecture of Greenwich Village along the way. Above is one of our stops, a charming little bakery called Milk & Cookies. I would definitely return to tour a different part of the city with this tour company...we met great people and ate yummy food...it was even educational!

Back in the city, we happened upon an iconic little business. Does anyone remember the "Soup Nazi" character from Seinfeld? Yup, he's still there dishing out soup...next!

After dark, we were excited to walk by Macy's and find their giant tree already up and the cute "Believe" clock ticking it's way toward Christmas.

The skating rink at Rockefeller Center was in full swing with lots of eager skaters. Alas, we packed our bags and winged our way back to the "Land of Oz" and back to work. NYC was really a change of pace and alot of fun. But, as our favorite film character Dorothy says..."There's no place like home!"

Before the freeze...and after

2011-11-04T16:55:00.000-05:00

Ah....fall...how I love thee! After our hideously HOT summer, autumn has been such a sweet relief. The plants that survived the summer, like the sweet potato vines, have thrived and look all fat and lovely again. The mums are blooming, and the kales are funky and colorful.

Above is a little pic of the daily commute from our house to our office - almost 50 steps away!

And right by our back door is perhaps the largest mum known to mankind, hanging out with a giant purple kale and some asparagus ferns that are sighing in relief at the cooler temps.

But you know, this "fall bliss" doesn't last long. We've had several frosty nights this week and I had to put the little coat on granddog Henry for our walk early this AM - it was 28 degrees!

Alas, after last night's freeze the beautiful sweet potato vines looks more like slime. Bunches of semi-frozen leaves are falling like rain in the yard. But the sun is shining and we're looking forward to a fun weekend. It's great to live where we experience all 4 seasons...sometimes they're even in the right order!

More "inspiration" on the way!

2011-11-01T15:56:00.000-05:00

People are always asking me where I get the "inspiration" for all of my designs. Sadly, I don't have a great answer. Here, there and everywhere! I keep files of sayings and am always happy to add those that you all send me to the lists. I also try to keep track of color trends in decor and fashion. Mostly, I just do what makes me happy at that moment...and what I hope will make all of you smile, too!

With that in mind, I'm busy working on a new series of Inspiration Boxers. We recently released the last in a 3-part Inspiration Boxer series, and these designs have been so popular...we've been surprised! All 3 designs make their way into our daily shipping to shops around the world, so we're constantly restocking around here.

Here's a quick photo (above) of the already released designs. They are all sayings from Mother Theresa, or her adaptation of sayings from other wise people. We decided to include a bonus design with each Inspiration Boxer, so those are the small projects you see included on the photos. You can see better pics and full descriptions on our website at www.lizziekate.com. Check out B33 I Know God (left), B34 When We Do (upper right) and B35 Not All of Us (lower right). Contact your local needlework shop to order!

So...I've been poring over lists of inspirational sayings and have finally narrowed it down to 3. I've been graphing all 3 designs, including the 3 bonus projects. Before I can begin stitching, I have to locate and order enough fabric for the whole series. You have to work backwards!!! While I'm waiting to finalize that info and receive some fabric for model stitching, I decided to pull prospective threads for the series. Aren't they gorgeous? The graph on the right is one of the "bonus" designs...a little sneak peek! I'm going to stitch it tonight, because I can use a bit of fabric from my stash for the bonus project.

It's really important to eat well to "fuel" all this inspiration, so I'm working on leftover Halloween candy. I followed the important rule for selecting Halloween candy...always buy what YOU love to eat, in case of leftovers! We had a great crop of trick-or-treaters at our door last night, probably increased by the balmy, warm weather.

Above is a pic of our granddog Henry, ready for a busy evening greeting kiddos in his Kansas City Chiefs sweater. The Chiefs were conveniently playing during the evening, so we had a crowd of friends over to help hand out candy (the women) and focus on the game (the men!). It took us until 11:30, but the Chiefs finally pulled out a victory!

Visit to Hoosier-ville!

2011-10-23T22:11:00.000-05:00

Sometimes those grownup kids don't live very close...sadly! Our daughter Sarah and husband Jeff live in Bloomington, Indiana. Jeff is doing graduate studies at University of Indiana and Sarah is busy teaching art in the tiny town of Medora, about 40 miles away. She is the only art teacher for Kindergarten through high school, and that adds up to a lot of lesson plans. But we'll save her amusing teacher anecdotes for another post!

Sarah had a short "fall break" from school so we popped up there for a parental visit. We flew to Indie, then drove to Bloomington. WOW...who knew Indiana was so beautiful in the fall?!

Alan and I stayed in a nearby small town called Story, right on the edge of the famous Brown County State Park. It's a long "story". but the nearly abandoned little town was purchased by developers and is now a quaint inn. The charming building and houses are now a bunch of rooms to rent. There's even a great restaurant - pictured below.

Here is a sample of a little house that is now part of the inn. That house is so cute...it should be on a L*K design!

The Story Inn restaurant also grows a lot of it's own food (and purchases other food locally when possible) and we enjoyed exploring a couple large kitchen gardens. It's past the season for lots of veggies, but some of the herbs were still going (growing) strong! This friendly scarecrow was keeping an eye on things.

Back in Sarah and Jeff's apartment in BTown, Sarah taught me how to make and Naan bread. We made the dough, let it rise, formed little dough balls, let them rise again, then patted them into circles which we grilled. YUMMMM! The four of us almost ate the whole batch, as we happily dipped the warm bread into hummus.

Not to be outdone in the kitchen, son-in-law Jeff whipped up a homemade apple/cranberry pie, complete with homemade crust. Gotta love a guy who can make a pie! Sarah was his able assistant.

When we weren't cooking and eating, we explored Bloomington, nearby town Nashville, and the Brown County Park. We also checked in on Sarah's latest painting - a bowl of cherries. Can't wait to see this one finished! You can see Sarah's other work at www.sarahewain.com

Alas...we're safely bake home in Wichita, and gearing up to tackle a busy week at L*K. We just released new products before we left, so messages and orders await! See you at Christmas...Sarah and Jeff!

NEW! NEW! NEW!

2011-10-19T11:57:00.000-05:00

NEW designs are on the way to needlework shops! We shoved them out the door yesterday and are SO relieved to have some space to work again. About a thousand leaves blew in the door as the boxes went out, so autumn has definitely arrived.

Ready, set, go...here are the new designs!

Above is Be Jolly, our 2011 Christmas Kit (K54). You can read about the "evolution" of this kit in earlier blog posts, but here is the finished model. It's colorful and fun, and has a sort of retro feel to it. Kit includes 27/28 ct. tea linen, white crystal beads and exclusive design. Get this in your hands, and you'll feel jolly, too!

This is a new Quick-it called HoHoHo in a Row (Q10). I stitched it on frosty Morris blue linen from Weeks Dye Works, but you could put it on any little piece of neutral fabric from your stash. Quick-it includes 3 tiny red buttons. HOHOHO, baby!

Snow Fun 6 Fat Men Flip-it (F113)

Let It Snow 6 Fat Men Flip-it (F114)

Snow Day! 6 Fat Men Flip-it (F115)

The last 3 parts of the 6 Fat Men Flip-its are finally HERE! Yes, these guys have been anxious to join the other 3 chubby men. This batch includes my personal favorite of the designs...Snow Day! Visit our website www.lizziekate.com to see the 1st three snowmen in this series (F110 Snowed In, F111 Snow House, F112 Snow Friends).

Remember...if you want to stitch them all together (see photo on back of each design and on our website Home Page), there is a FREE template for this on our website. This also includes some free graphs for "Snowmen melt my heart" border and a cool birdhouse motif. Get SNOWY!

This is the 3rd design in our new Inspiration Boxer series, Not All of Us (B35). Your response to all 3 of these Inspiration designs has been...well, inspirational! We couldn't be more pleased. We're working hard on a new set of Inspiration Boxers for 2012. This kit includes 32 ct. Flax linen, hand-dyed raspberry flower buttons and a FREE design for a darling little pin pillow (pictured on cover). We also included an antique-gold heart charm for the pin pillow.

Finally, here is the Winter Alphabet embellished chartpak (#151). This design completes our seasonal alpha series, and it is my favorite. Or maybe I just like whichever one is newest? I do really like the beautiful colors and fun wintry motifs on this one. Chartpak includes tiny red buttons and itsy-bitsy antique gold heart charm.

The goods have left the L*K world headquarters and we're left with a mess! Every single design in this release required assembly - putting snowflake buttons in all 3 Flip-its, gluing red buttons in HoHoHo in a Row, inserting embellishment packs in the Winter Alpha, and assembling the Christmas Kits and Boxer Kits. WHEW! Now we're finding room on the shelves for the new designs and organizing the supplies, so we can keep track of them!

I feel the need for some extra energy, so it's off to our fave Mexi restaurant (El Paisa) for an infusion of salsa. I've have a #4 please, and a giant Diet Coke!

You call this work?

2011-10-17T10:49:00.000-05:00

I just returned from a FAB weekend in El Paso! The fun gals from the Counted Thread invited me to their annual Camp Stitchmore event to be the guest designer, so it was a "working" weekend. But really...does this look like WORK?

Really...we DID work...but we also played...A LOT! Above photo shows the event hostesses Nancy and Libby (from the Counted Thread) and their angel helpers Terri and Bonnie. They were dressed for nighttime stitching in matching holiday nightshirts. Can you tell we had a Christmas theme?

We met at a beautiful hotel and the elves set up an amazing portable needlework shop. Boy...were the gals eager to shop! Above is the L*K area of the shop, but there were lots of trunk shows from other designers and all sorts of needlework goodies.

In between all that stitching and chatting, we did a bit of eating! Above is a photo from our "English tea". We all wore hats and had a fun parade of hats, admiring each other and nearly laughing our hats right off our heads. Check out Libby's "fascinator" hat (second from left), inspired by the recent royal wedding!

This clever lady had a cross stitch themed hat complete with floss, scissors, needle and buttons. All she needs is an L*K Flip-it to complete her ensemble!

I left on Sunday morning, but the faithful gang stayed on to stitch through the day. Before I left for the airport, we posed for a group photo. I'm in the middle front, happily sitting between the camp hostesses.

A lot of these ladies have been coming to camp for many years, so camp wasn't only a chance to shop, stitch and get new projects. It was a time to catch up on each other's lives and tell (crazy) stories from past camps. Libby and Nancy weren't only hosting a needlework event, they were dispensing "extreme hospitality". Every one felt like they were special, and I was treated like Queen for a Day. (Does anyone remember that old TV show?)

Now I'm back in Wichita and working like CRAZY to get our new releases shipped. We're shipping new designs on Wednesday to needlework shops all over the US and around the world. Alan is a wonderful shipping helper, and Carmen is here this AM to help with assembly, but once again...we need some elves!!!

Paint by number for adults!

2011-10-07T10:54:00.000-05:00

Do you buy Groupons? I get them in my email every day, and sometimes those great deals get me to try new things. The trick is...you gotta use your Groupons before they expire!

Many of my best friends are famously "un-crafty". They almost have panic attacks at the thought of creating something with their hands. But my sweet friend Glenna is my "craft buddy". So when the Groupon for Paint the Town popped up several months ago in my email inbox, I thought of Glenna. Before I could call her, she called me to see if I'd like to do a painting class with her. Of course!!!

Realizing our Groupons were about to expire, we chose a night in October for our 2 hour paint class. Paint the Town is a group painting class format. Everyone does the same painting...almost like paint by number! It's also a BYOB paint class. At first I thought that meant "bring your own brush", but I learned it means "bring your own bottle". It seems that a little wine consumption helps reluctant painters get their brushes moving...or maybe it just adds to the general fun. And, conveniently, Paint the Town is located right next to a liquor store! It's also located next to Cinnamon's, and that's where Glenna and I got our liquid refreshments. Glenna brought along some appropriate Halloween snacks she confiscated at her office party earlier that afternoon, and we got to work!

There were about 20 budding painters in class...all women. Lots of friends came in groups of 2 or 3, just like us. Everyone got a real canvas, and a paper plate already prepared with globs of acrylic paint. The teacher instructed us on the step-by-step creation of our Halloween witch. There is very little "drawing" required. We traced around cardboard cutouts for the cute witch shoes. It was a great way to spend a relaxing evening... painting, snacking, chatting and comparing our works in progress.

At the end of the evening we posed with our witch masterpieces. It's hard to tell from the photo, but I didn't "paint within the lines". It seemed a little too "neat" for me, so I took the messy approach with my brush - less stressful that way, too. I added some extra texture on the solid orange background and a few polka dots to the chubby witch's skirt. She sure has skinny legs for the size of the rest of her...hmmm...sounds menopausal.

Here's my painting resting on the ledge over the cooktop in my kitchen...hiding a much better painting done by my daughter Sarah.

Thanks to my witchy class, I realized something...I LOVE to paint! I practically grew up with a paintbrush in my hand, since my family owned a sign business. Then in my school years, I was always the one that got to make the posters and banners. Later, I did a couple watercolor classes in college...but that's been a long time! A couple years ago, my daughters gave me some canvases and tubes of acrylic paint for Christmas. I whipped out a couple folk art paintings, then got distracted with...work and LIFE! I hope to spend some more quality time with "brush in hand" soon! Check out a painting class in your town and prepare for some (messy) FUN!

One football game = how many 6 Fat Men?

2011-10-03T15:40:00.000-05:00

6 FAT MEN? Which 6 guys am I talking about?

NO, not those guys on the football field filling out their stretchy pants almost to the bursting point. No, not those men parked in their favorite chairs all over the country...inhaling chips and swilling their favorite beverages.

I'm talking about Lizzie*Kate's 6 FAT MEN Flip-it series!!! These 6 chubby guys get invited to lots of activities at our house, and a prime Saturday afternoon football game is no exception! While our favorite team (Kansas State Wildcats) is lining up for the kickoff, we're lining up rows and rows of prepared Gludots, each with their own snowflake charm attached. The TV trays in our family room aren't just for eating, they're for stripping dots and Flip-ping!

Even with lots of breaks for excessive cheering (our team won!), snacking and concentrating on the game, we still matched A LOT of the 3 new snowmen with their charms. The first 3 snowmen in the series were released in June, and now we're preparing to ship the final 3 snowmen in the now-infamous "6 FAT MEN" gang. If you haven't met these snowy men, check them out on our website at www.lizziekate.com. The first 3 (snow) men are pictured on our What's New page. If you click on the big photo of the whole gang, you will find the FREE border elements and instructions for combining the whole gang into a big SNOW FEST!

I forgot to take a photo of the messy room, which was surely a blessing. There were piles of empty GluDot strips scattered all over the floor, which we gathered into the trash when the game was over. Then we transported all of our finished products to the office, where they are resting on the floor until it's their time to "enter the game".

Meanwhile, today there's a pile building in the L*K office, just waiting to be transported into the house for some after-hours assembly. On the way to the house, we pass our beloved (but woefully faded) purple Wildcat banner. I think it's time for a replacement! GO CATS!

About that kit...

2011-09-29T15:56:00.001-05:00

Before my last "wildlife" post, I was chatting about the new Christmas kit (Sept. 22 post). Since I sorta "forgot" about this one, it is fast-tracking through the production process. Here's what's happened since the last post:

1. We are busy cutting fabric with the rotary cutter. Yes, it's dark outside. I was listening to Good Morning America, sipping tea (red mug on ironing board), and cutting fabric. Carmen (my part-time helper) arrived later to help.

2. After it's cut, we iron the wrinkly pieces. Thankfully, most of it is pretty smooth and escapes the iron. Then we fold the pieces, so kitting will go faster later. We're still expecting another shipment of fabric, but this batch is almost processed.

3. While I was in Colorado for my "moose" adventure, the frame arrived at my local needlework shop and Debbie framed it for me. I went straight to my photographer (he's in the same neighborhood) and shot it. A professional photograph is expensive, but I really think it's worth it. I don't have a great camera, lighting, or any of that. And the better the photo you begin with, the better the finished product!

4. I've also been working on the graphic design for the cover. Evidently you're not supposed to photograph your computer monitor, because it looks funky (see the strange texture that mysteriously appeared?!). I really LOVE doing this part, playing around with colors, fonts and all that. I try to resist getting too many elements and busyness that will detract from the stitchery photo, but that's hard!

I finalized this layout and emailed it to the printer. The next morning my husband Alan delivered the actual stitchery to the printer so they could match the colors more accurately. The printer will deliver a proof for our approval before we proceed with printing. That's when we can tweak the colors or anything else we're not happy with. We also delivered another file (the black and white stuff) to another printer. Different printers...different jobs!

Meanwhile, catch a sneak peek of the bottom of the design and ...BE JOLLY!

I met a moose!

2011-09-27T12:15:00.000-05:00

We just returned from a long weekend in Colorado. Is it worth the 10+ hour drive each way for 2 days in the mountains...definitely! Especially when you're travelling with friends and car time is full of chatter and laughter.

We did a lot of hiking, because the weather was Colorado PERFECT...cold in the morning and gorgeous in the afternoons. Our friends were speedy hikers, so I didn't get as many pics as usual. I typically brake (and catch my breath) for photos of all sorts of plants, flowers, animals, whatever.

We were fortunate to see a bunch of cool mountain animals...elk, moose, deer, marmots, and a ton of cute chipmunks. The best encounter on our hike was a pair of moose! Is "moose" the plural for "moose"? The male moose (bull) was keeping watch (see that wary look in his eye) while his happy partner (cow) chowed down on the aspen trees. You aren't supposed to get too close to moose, so I zoomed my camera to the max. All the hikers on the trail slowed to a stop to enjoy this lucky treat! They were HUGE!!

So we returned to our cabin, feeling fortunate for our experience, and guess what we found in our neighbor's yard? More moose!!! There was a mother moose lounging in the grass while her youngsters munched nearby. It's hard to tell the size from this pic, but the "baby" was bigger than a really big dog.

Coincidentally, our neighbors had a decorative "moose" sign in their yard. Who knew moose could read road signs?

It was aspen season, so the aspen trees had turned a brilliant gold and glowed on the mountains. Check out that blue sky, too!

On the way home, we stopped at a historic little diner for sliders...yum!! Hey, the drive is SO long, you have to keep up your energy. The Cozy Inn has been serving up sliders (baby burgers) for almost 100 years in the same tiny building. You have to make a decision when you get there...order from the outside window (for the feint of heart) or step inside and commit yourself to smelling like fried onions until your next shower. So, of course, we went inside and watched the young grill guy smushing those sliders with his spatula. When I got out the camera, the counter girl and the grill guy asked if they could join us!

Here's the L*K challenge of the day...where is Cozy Inn located? I know a lot of Kansans will know the answer, but how about the rest of you? I have seen articles about the Cozy Inn in several national magazines, and I'm pretty sure they've been on that "Diners, Driveins and Dives" show on the Food Network.

Warning...if you're casually driving through Kansas (hint: it's not in Colorado) and stop in, don't ask for cheese! Or anything else "custom". Cozy isn't a "have it your way" sort of place. Just take the pickle, ketchup, mustard and signature fried onions and enjoy it! And don't ask for one...order by the bag!

Sometimes I'm organized ...and sometimes I'm not!

2011-09-22T09:01:00.000-05:00

Does this sound familiar? MOST of my life, personal and business, is pretty organized...I think. Then I completely forget about something important, and I start to wonder if I could be wrong about this "organization" thing. I'm in charge of a program at church that kicks off...TODAY! Even though I had all summer to contemplate the first fall meeting, I pulled it together this week.

From the needlework biz perspective, I always release a special Christmas kit, or even two. And this year...I FORGOT! But now that I have remembered, I'm just saying..."I delayed!". I'm not sure what happened. I've been SO busy and distracted with those 6 new men hanging out in my office...aka The 6 Fat (snow)men series. I also have a whole pile of other projects in "production" mode, in various stages of completion.

But no worry...the annual Christmas kit is on the way ASAP!! Last week I designed it and stitched furiously over the weekend. It's a L*K interpretation of a band sampler with lots of colorful bands of holiday fun.

Here's a little timeline of what happens when I create a new KIT. Developing a KIT is a bit different from other projects, because I have to think of materials during the creative process.

1. Sketch some design ideas with pencil (and eraser!)

2. Graph the design on my computer

3. Choose fabric and check on availability BEFORE beginning to stitch. On this kit, I knew I would need a lot of fabric, so I contacted several distributors to see what was available immediately. I didn't have time to order fabric...it had to be in stock!! I was fortunate to find a large quantity of a really cool fabric, at a price that would allow me to kit. (Sometimes the fabric is just too expensive to cut and kit).

4. Order the fabric

5. Stitch the model (I already had a piece of the fabric in my stash, so I could start stitching).

6. Order the frame. I rushed out to my LNS as soon as I finished the model (actually it wasn't QUITE finished) and chose an awesome frame. I can't wait for it to arrive later this week, because it is so pretty.

7. Order embellishments. Once I finished stitching, I ordered the beads I had decided to use. As soon as they arrive, we'll put them in little zip bags.

That's where I'm at on the kit...so far...but I'm pleased. The fabric just arrived last night (those UPS guys work long hours), so I found it leaning on my office door this AM. I got 2 giant boxes of fabric, so I see a lot of quality time with the rotary cutter in our future.

Meanwhile, today I'm delivering the stitched model to my LNS so she can frame it for me. I had the frame shipped directly to her to arrive tomorrow.

Oh yea...remember that church meeting I coordinated at the last minute? I've been baking for that this AM, and I'm off to spend the lunch hour with the English/Spanish language gang. We haven't met with our Spanish-speaking ladies since last May, so it will be fun to see them again and help them practice their English skills. See you soon...hasta pronto!

Some spooky stitching!

2011-09-19T09:12:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it's the middle of September! Which means, it's time (or past time) to put out my fall decor. Even though the kids are grown and gone, I still haul out the pumpkins, spiderweb runners, black candles, beautiful fall leaves and "all that" to decorate the house. I banish the summery ferns and bird's nests to the basement!

It's surprisingly aerobic to do all this re-decorating...a lot of trips up and down the stairs! But when I'm finished, it's rewarding and there's a surprising amount of orange in my house. Below is the arrangement on my little entry hall table, tucked under the stairway. I liked this vignette so much last year, I photographed it (because I can't trust my memory) and re-created it this year. Much faster that way! Thank goodness for my photo Memory Manager system on my computer. I'm still not that familiar with the program and don't use half of the features, but it sure helps with photo organization.

As always the challenge is locating all of the stuff. I have big totes in my basement that are labelled for the holidays, but sometimes things get pulled out of them during the year...and not returned. We're always working way ahead of seasons at L*K, so I'm rummaging for Christmas decor in March!

But I'm getting distracted...this blog post is about spooky STITCHING, not my home decor! There's still plenty of time for fun fall stitching projects, so I decided to feature a few of my faves. Some are quick, one-day projects, and some are bigger commitments.

This one (#149 Autumn Alphabet) is new this year and the colors are gorgeously autumn! I really enjoyed designing and stitching this model...from the hooty little owl, right through to the swirly letter "Z". Chartpak includes a couple antique gold charms (squirrel and moon) and some teeny tan buttons. This is part of a seasonal alpha series....Winter Alphabet is coming soon!

Above is the Limited Edition Fall Fab Fob kit (K48). This kit includes the rusty fabric, buttons and beads and thhe custom chartreuse/purple bitsy scissors. You can probably stitch this one is an evening or weekend, then enjoy it for many seasons to come! They are not quite sold out - there are about 30 numbered kits left on our shelves, so if your LNS doesn't have one, ask them to order.

Boo who is this? This was our very first Flora McSample kit (FM001)we introduced last fall. Flora is our fictional sampler girl, and she had a good time with this funky sampler-ish design. Kit includes muted lavender linen and hand-dyed "pumpkin" button. Please invite Flora for a visit...she's a great house guest!

Eek Boo Hiss (#144) is a group of 3 fun fall designs that you can play with! Stitch them big or small, finish however you please, just have some spooky fun! Tiny buttons and beads are included with this versatile chartpak.

Above is the Sampling Halloween Quick-it (Q-001). This was our very first Quick-it designs and it's...well... a really quick stitch! Quick-it includes antique gold ghost charm.

YIKES...you need more Halloween/autumn stitching ideas? We have 2 series of Halloween Double Flips (Boo Club and Halloween Rules) and a scary host of other stuff. Visit our website at www.lizziekate.com and click on the categorical listings for Halloween and Autumn. Don't worry if you don't finish your autumn stitching in time this year...think how far AHEAD you'll be next year!!!

What's HOT at L*K this week!

2011-09-15T19:53:00.000-05:00

Just thought you might like to know what we're shipping this week. Actually, a random mix goes out the door every day, but here are the HOT items. As you might expect, it's a lot of NEW stuff, but a few other items are keeping us busy with more assembly.

1) Those crazy (snow)men are rolling out of here! The first 3 designs in our "6 Fat Men" Flip-it series are available. F110 Snowed In, F111 Snow House, and F112 Snow Friends are all chubby snowmen! The remaining 3 guys will be available near the end of October. FREE instructions and graphs for combining them on our website. Invite these men to your house...your husbands and boyfriends won't mind! Pic below shows the models in my LNS. Notice anything missing on the Snow House? Yes, I forgot to backstitch the windows in black and we digitally added it in the photo later - OOPS!

2) B34 When We Do Boxer Kit & B33 I Know God Boxer kits. This is a new series of Inspirational Boxer kits which include fabric and embellishments. There's also a BONUS design (pin pillow, pincushion or fob) included in each. We tried a new vintage approach to these designs and blogged about it earlier this summer. Check out the designs with their muted color palettes and the "new" vintage-look covers with some of our favorite things scattered about for props. Pic below is B34.

3) ABC Halloween kit (K46). This isn't new, but suddenly we can't keep the thread packs in stock. Thankfully the gals at Crescent Colours are fast shippers. It's one of my FAVORITE designs of all time - great spooky colors and funky Halloween motifs. It's a big project, but hey...Halloween comes every year! Kit includes pattern, lots of skeins of Crescent Colours and DMC for the small bits. You choose what fabric (color and count) you prefer!

4) Coming to Town - Santa '11 Snippet (S100). Of course, the yearly Santa is always popular. This year he's shaped differently. I don't know if anyone has noticed, but he is usually a square design and this year he's tall and rectangular. Santa has his own embellishment pack, too (S100E).

TODAY...I'm anxiously checking my mailbox for a fabric sample I ordered so I can start stitching a NEW Christmas kit. I just designed it this week and I can't wait to begin stitching!! I'm running a bit late, but sometimes life gets in the way. My Mom has been really sick this summer, and I'm so pleased to share that she is really improving - what a blessing!

Sneak peeks about the new Christmas kit SOON! HOHOHO!

Cowtown!

2011-09-13T08:30:00.000-05:00

Yes, there is a place in Wichita called Cowtown...actually it's the Old Cowtown Museum. It's a "living history" museum where you immerse yourself in the life of the 1870s in an authentic cattle town...like in all those Western movies! There is a whole line-up of historic buildings complete with boardwalks, period artifacts inside those buildings and costumed history interpreters wandering around. Here's the old Wichita train depot!

You can catch glimpses of Cowtown in a lot of movies. One of my favorites was the movie version of the beloved book "Sarah Plain and Tall". I wish Glenn Close and Christopher Walken would return to Wichita to shoot another movie! I think I'll put that on my Net Flix list to enjoy again...check it out if you haven't seen it!

The last time I was at Cowtown (embarassingly) was as a field trip driver with my daughter Sarah's 5th grade class. "Whoa, Nelly" (old west talk)...that's been a long time! I also remember volunteering there as a Girl Scout when I was in elementary age. The Girl Scouts always provided a source of cheap labor for the summer season. They loaned you a character costume, and you memorized a short speech to recite whenever visitors came into your particular building. I remember a long, lonely afternoon in the church hoping for company! This lady below looked a little lonely, too - she needs some cross stitch in her hands!

So we returned recently with our adult pals for a Cowtown Wine Mosey! Who knew they drank wine in the old West??? It was a fundraiser (and they always need the support), so we do what we can. Armed with our own Cowtown wine glasses, we moseyed from building to building, sampling here and there, enjoying all the scenery and finishing with a great barbecue dinner. I sure do appreciate all the buildings and antifacts more now than I did when I was young!

Here's some of the action we found in Cowtown. Sadly, the photo ops ended when the sun went down because it is "authentically" DARK in Cowtown when the sun sets in the West!

I checked out the General Store, looking for that elusive needlework. This is a REAL store, imported from a nearby small town with all the cool old fixtures, etc.

Then we moseyed to the blacksmith shop where a very chatty blacksmith was making a prop for his Halloween costume - pretty scary stuff! I'm sure OSHA hasn't visited him, because he wasn't wearing gloves or an apron, and he had the scar-speckled hands to prove it!

We had to rescue our men from the clutches of the saloon girls with their pretty petticoats - those hussies!

Then - HORRORS - a gunfight broke out on Main Street. We were close to the action and the men were really going at it, until this rifle-toting lady in the blue dress broke up the fight! This is a good pic to see one of the dusty streets, authentically scattered with cow doo. The experienced re-enactors carefully "died" away from the stinky manure.

Afterwards, everyone smiled, made up and posed for photos! That's me in the black shirt in middle and my friend Deb on the left. You can see the rest of the gang on a Wanted poster!

Yes, it was just another day in the Old West and a fun adventure with some of our pals. Happy Trails, y'all!

Remembering 9/11

2011-09-11T16:17:00.001-05:00

I hadn't planned to do a 9/11 post today, but it's been a special day of remembering...

At church this morning we had a memorable discussion around where we were that day 10 years ago, and what we remembered. I remember being in my little L*K office, and watching the events unfold on television. I was so stunned and saddened. Even though I live in the Midwest, I felt like I was there. My oldest daughter Ali was away at college, so we checked in with her often and hugged our daughter Sarah who still lived at home.

Not knowing how to react and respond to the situation, I did the only thing I could think of...I stitched and stitched and stitched! I sketched out a couple design ideas, and went right to the computer to design. Suspending my other work, I spent a couple days stitching models as I watched TV. It's comforting to do something you know and love when everything else is confusing and unfamiliar.

We quickly got the design published and released and researched where to donate the profits from this charity project. We tried to select charities that would serve all 3 affected areas (NYC, Washington DC and PA), and those especially involved in supporting families and children.

To this date, 10 years later, YOU have been our partners in contributing over $8000 to these combined charities:
Salvation Army, Twin Towers Orphan Fund, September 11th Fund (United Way & NYR Comm. Trust), Children of September 11 Victims (Camp Comfort), and United Methodist Committee on Relief.

Your support has made these donations possible and we THANK YOU!

One more thing I just remembered that I want to share...in the days following 9/11, we received many thoughtful notes of condolence from our overseas customers and friends. They just kept flowing in during the days and weeks that followed. It was so reassuring to know that the world was mourning with us and our country, and watching over us. Once again, we love our friends in the needlework biz...in the US and around the world!

The day I forgot my ABCs

2011-09-09T11:13:00.000-05:00

I know it's been a LONG time since I learned the alphabet, but I thought I had a firm grasp on all 26 letters. I was wrong!

I just finished stitching the new Winter Alphabet design. It's the 4th in a seasonal series of alphabets, with each letter getting it's own "star treatment" with a different border and font. It's been such a fun series, I have truly enjoyed designed and stitching each letter and the little motif sections in between. Below are the covers for the already released Spring, Summer and Autumn Alphabets.

So while I am waiting on the frame for the Winter Alphabet, we are working on the text, assigning symbols, etc. Then Alan comments..."so you decided not to use the letter J on this one".

HORRORS! I had graphed AND stitched the whole thing and completely left out the very essential letter J!!! Yes, I know that historically the letter J was often not used in samplers. I have boxes of antique reproduction samplers that I have stitched to prove it! The sampler experts could explain it better than me (and there are different explanations), but briefly, the letters "J" and "U" are relatively new to the English language. They appeared in the 16th Century. Below are a few snippets from my cache of reproductions, demonstrating the mysterious absence of the letter J.

Think about those Roman letters you learned in school (oh wait...if I don't remember the current alphabet, I probably don't remember those either!). The Roman spelling for our word Justice was "IYSTICE". Instead of J they used I, and they subbed letter Y for our current letter U. Anyway...I digress from my current dilemma....

Alan made 2 helpful suggestions:
1) leave out the letter J (sure to elicit tons of responses and questions from shops and stitchers)
2) squish 2 letters into the same square (inconsistent with previous designs!)

So I thanked him for the thoughtful advice, and returned to my graphing software to solve this problem! With the design already stitched (and I was really happy with it!), I concentrated on changing as few squares as possible, while not neglecting the letter J.

After some quality time with my scissors removing stitches (see the missing areas?), I'm ready to restitch several sections and return the letter J to it's deserved importance!

Which reminds me those Sesame Street lessons I always enjoyed watching with my kids..."this episode is sponsored by the letter J!"

Contest Winners! (and world peace)

2011-09-06T11:19:00.000-05:00

Our first ever BLOG CONTEST ended at the end of August, so we just notified the 10 winners (random numbers) by email. Sorry... no surprise door bell ringers, no television cameras, no life-changing prizes. But as soon as we get those old-fashioned mailing addresses, there will be 10 more slime lime calculators being happily used by dedicated cross stitchers around the world! Hey, we do what we can...

Speaking of doing what we can...thanks to all of you for sharing your responses in the contest. What a delight it was to read about everyone's customized stitch niches. I just re-read all the responses and it was inspiring! Really, I want to visit everyone and check these out in person. Here are a few of the highlights...

WHERE you stitch...
living room, dining room, bedroom, kitchen table, on a cruise (bragger), in the car (I used to do this when I was younger), your own personal living room (separate from DH's living room), anywhere you can carry your projects!

WHERE you sit when you stitch...
recliner, chair with ottoman, rocker, chair and a half (sounds nice to me), desk chair (oops..that's me in my office), electric reclining sofa (whoa) and a sofa with build-in cooler (multi-tasking is permitted!).

FAVORITE stitching aides...
Scissors, lamps, magnifiers, glasses, pattern holders, ort jars, magnetic stuff, needle cases, boxes and drawer thingies, boo-boo stick (not sure what this is, but I'm sure I need one), furry stitching aides (pets to add extra fiber, warmth and encouragement), peanut M & Ms with Diet Pepsi (great combo!).

It was fun to hear from stitchers all over the US and around the world (Finland, Canada, UK and Italy to name a few). Isn't it cool how this hobby brings us all closer together? Maybe cross stitch is the universal language?! With enough stitchers in the world, maybe we can finally find "world peace"?

On that motivational note, here is a pic of a pink globe (yes, PINK) in my office opposite my desk. It came from a very unlikely source, my son-in-law Jeff. I'm not sure how he acquired it, but he was throwing it out (with Sarah's approval) when I spotted it and rescued it. I love old globes and this one is PINK and it lights up, and it looks good with my curtains.

Have a great week and let's keep on stitching for mankind!

Going, going, gone....

2011-09-02T10:25:00.000-05:00

Remember when summer was defined by your white shoes?? The "official rules" were....start wearing your white shoes on Memorial Day and put them away on Labor Day. Wearing white shoes outside those parameters was strictly a fashion NO-NO! Ah...I fondly remember wearing my new white shoes to church and trying to avoid those black scuff marks. But if I did get scuff marks...there was that pasty white shoe polish to the rescue! (That same white shoe polish kept my saddle shoes looking spiffy in the winter!)

With that in mind, we released a summer-only Limited Edition kit this year called "Life's a Beach". It's been available this summer, but is going away on Labor Day. But unlike your white shoes, this kit won't reappear next spring. It's going, going, GONE!

We're still taking orders from shops for this kit, but because it's winding down, I'm only making them a few at a time. But a couple good orders this morning sprung me into action.

First, I cut the fabric. We still have another bolt left, so we're covered if we get more orders this weekend.

Then I fold and iron the fabric cuts...it's nice to get paid to iron.

Then I combine the printed material with the fabric, throw in the buttons and sack it all together. Then ship to my favorite needlework shops.

If you're wanting to add a Life's a Beach kit to your stash. it's not too late! If your needlework shop doesn't have one in stock, they can let us know ASAP. Meanwhile, we're wishing a happy Labor Day weekend to everyone! Does it begin soon?

Threads of Life...or MESSY BUILD-UP!

2011-08-31T08:38:00.000-05:00

Before you read this new post, today is the LAST DAY to enter our first GIVEAWAY contest! Scroll down to Aug. 22 post and add your comment to enter.

How good are you at returning your threads to their proper locations? Or do they have permanent addresses? You know what I mean...the threads from the project(s) you just finished, the new threads you just purchased, the threads you pulled and never ended up using...the flossy mess goes on and on!

It's a constant problem in my office and my house...or maybe a blessing, since I am fortunate to have a huge stash of gorgeous, colorful threads, courtesy of the thread companies. Even though the threads all have permanent homes, they seem to gravitate out of their bags, drawers, baskets and land all over the place!

When our children were young, they loved the Berenstain Bears books! We read them so much, they were memorized. Except for that one with the troublesome message...The Berenstain Bears and the Messy Room. It seems our daughter Alison thought that one was directed at her, and after repeated readings it mysteriously disappeared. We found it many years later cleverly tucked under the cushions of the rocking chair...hmmmmm. This book coined a phrase we have used many times since....MESSY BUILD-UP!!

Here's a "messy build-up" of overdyes and DMC waiting to be returned to their proper places.

OOPS! Another "messy buildup" of overdyed threads sorted according to numbers, but not yet organized in their little plastic bags on big metal rings.

Here are my thread cabinets, where the wayward floss is supposed to live. These little drawers are handily located right behind my desk, so I just whirl around and grab whatever I need. The drawers are organized according to different thread companies. (On top you can see the messy stash pictured above!).

So one of my projects for the long weekend is to refile those pesky threads and do an all-office cleaning. We'll see if that happens?! If the weather is nice, I'm pretty sure that filing threads won't be at the top of my list!

1 daughter + 3 giraffes = FUN!

2011-08-29T09:46:00.002-05:00

Our daughter Ali came home this weekend - special treat! So we kept busy doing all of her favorite Wichita things.

Shortly after she arrived, a trip to our favorite neighborhood Mexi-restaurant, El Paisa. Ali rarely goes anywhere without her camera, so she snapped a photo of Alan and I savoring our favorite sauces! We regularly finish a whole bottle of salsa with each meal there...part of the experience! Que rico!

Alison is 28 years old, but we decided a trip to the Zoo would be fun! Wichita has a fabulous zoo, and this weekend happened to be the 40th anniversary and FREE admission day. It was a mob...or should I say..."it was a zoo!" We weren't sure which was more entertaining...the zoo animals, or the people! It was also HOT and humid and the jungle felt like...the jungle!

We stood in line for a turn feeding the giraffes - a new experience for all of us. What a hoot! We climbed onto a platform at the appropriate giraffe height, then fed them tree clippings that the staff provided. These long-necked guys (girls?) were super friendly and have super-talented grayish tongues. If you weren't fast enough with the leaves, they reached right out and grabbed them. We had so much fun, it was definitely worth the warm wait.

I managed to get a smile out of the tiger. Alan and Ali even dragged me into the Herpetarium (it was cool in there), which I have successfully avoided for many years, since my experiences as a school field trip sponsor. I managed to avert my eyes as I glided past the snakes and creepy things. So far, no bad dreams.

At the end of the morning, we were so hot, we felt like snoozing, just like this intelligent guy.

After the lunch, we took Ali's dog for a swim in our neighbor's pool. I'm not sure Henry was included when they extended the invitation, but he joined us in the fun. He was a little tentative about the water - his first swim - but he did an excellent doggie paddle from person to person. And with his recent summer haircut, he was the first one dry!

Fun, family, friends, food - what a great weekend!

AND...don't forget to enter our GIVEAWAY on the previous post! Scroll down for details!

Our 1st Blog GIVE-AWAY! "My stitch niche"

2011-08-22T14:10:00.000-05:00

Where do you do your stitching? I stitch ALL of my own original models, so I'm always stitching a new design, or two. I do a LOT of stitching in my office at my desk...with everything spread all around me, my extra-large computer monitor beside me with the ever-evolving design, and general chaos as I stitch, take out, re-stitch, change again, etc.!

But I also do a lot of stitching in my house in the evenings, while I watch a movie or TV. I have this semi-efficient system of keeping current projects in baskets and carting them back and forth. I frequently leave something important in the wrong location, but generally it works. Above is a pic of my comfy stitching chair with little ottoman in front. I always stitch with my feet UP!

Notice the scary big light with magnifier. When new guests come over, I usually roll this monster into the adjoining room, or try to answer their baffled inquiries! Otherwise, it's always right over my shoulder. I should note that my stitching chair is wearing it's summer linen "dress". When fall comes, I'll remove the linen slipcover and let the cozy chenille upholstery keep me and my needle warm.

So what's on that cluttered TV tray next to my chair? Below are the usual contents...

*Glass of water - always!

*Napkin - in case that water gets away - or to catch crumbs because I'm usually snacking.

*My favorite very-pointy scissors - I do lots of stitch REMOVAL - 2 pairs are better than one! The 2 current fobs are both recent gifts from stitchers - what a treat!

*Needles in an (unattractive) plastic container with lid - a couple hundred or more! Is that too many?

*Pincushion where I keep needles threaded and ready to go - or park needles with enough thread remaining to use later. I bought a darling pin cushion from JABC and just haven't found the time to assemble it. Someday it will look stunning on my TV tray!

*Pen - for making changes and notes on charts as I stitch. I can make changes on the computer later.

*Clip with current thread holders clamped together. Those little paper tags that come with the over-dyed threads have a way of getting lost, so I clip them together while I'm working on a project. The Vera Bradley clamps are cute and make this job prettier! Just in case I forget to record a color, it's there in my clip!

*Most important - the current PROJECT basket. Inside are color stitching charts printed from my design software. I usually have a printout of the entire project, along with printouts of enlarged areas for easy viewing. Also in the basket are threads and the project in progress! The project you see will be the Winter Alphabet. It's all graphed and I'm having a really hard time making final color selections...lots of exercise for the pointy scissors in this model! But I think I'm finally satisfied with the colors (except for that one green that I might still change!).

So here's the GIVEAWAY!

GIVEAWAY PRIZE:

10 Lizzie*Kate slime-lime calculators!

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS:
How to Enter: Leave a comment on this page telling us something about your favorite stitch niche...where it is, your favorite stitching aid/tool, whatever!
Required: You must include your email address in the comment form. I will
need it to contact you should you win.
Deadline: August 31, 2011 at 11:59pm Central Time
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Fine Print: No purchase necessary to enter. One entry per person.
Winner will be selected at random by Lizzie*Kate using Random.org. All
entries received after the giveaway closing day and time will not be considered.
Winners will be notified via email and will have 48 hours to confirm
receipt of the email. If the winners do not reply within 48 hours, another
winner(s) will be selected. Giveaways will be mailed to the winners' address

Even though my daughter Ali tells me that calculators are no longer popular (or necessary!), they are still popular at L*K. We keep them on our desks and the shipping table, and they're very popular prizes when we attend special stitching events! So...to show Ali that calculators are, indeed, not EXTINCT, please enter our VERY FIRST giveaway!

What a week!

2011-08-19T17:34:00.002-05:00

Oh my! What a big week at L*K! We shipped our new designs to several hundred shops on Monday, and barely paused to catch our breath before the reorders began. We're not complaining, though...it's a blessing to be busy!

Our website should be updated this weekend (with good quality photos), but here are some quick photos I shot of all the new things!

Finally...the 6 Fat Men Flip-its are here! This is the group model with all 6 chubby guys hanging out in the snow together. I forgot to shoot the individual models before loaning them out, but you can see the printed material laying in front. Please invite these guys for a visit...they promise to behave like gentlemen! F110 Snowed In, F111 Snow House, F112 Snow Friends.

Above are the 7 models for Tiny Tidings XVI. We've never squeezed this many designs in before, and this photo shows why I use a professional photographer. It's hard to shoot them all together and get them looking right. There is also an embellishment pack for this chartpak. #150, E150.

Here he is! Santa is our 7th important man this year! He's cheery and happy to be headed to your house with his overflowing sleigh. There's also an embellishment pack for this Snippet. S100, S100E.

This is our new Inspiration Boxer kit "When We Do". It's the 2nd in our inspirational series. Many blog posts ago, we followed this group of designs through the development process. We were aiming for a vintage look in the design and the printing. Boxer also includes bonus design for the bluebird fob. Kit includes 32 ct. Flax Belfast linen, designs, hand-dyed raspberry flower buttons and chartreuse beads (for the fob). K34.

Here's what's been keeping us BUSY for the last few months! They should land in a great needlework shop near you very soon. If they're not there, please ask them to order! If you need help locating a needlework shop, check our website for shop listings. Please support your local needlework shops...they're the best!

My night with Keith Urban!

2011-08-17T09:18:00.000-05:00

Keith brought his "Get Closer" show to Ta-town last night...and I was there! It may have been a Tuesday night, but it didn't dampen the spirits of the fans at the arena. There were so many cowboy boots and short skirts, it was an eyeful. Not to mention Keith!

Am I a country western fan? Not really.

Do I know the words to Keith Urban songs? Sadly, no.

What did I say when my girlfriends invited me many months ago? Sure!

I really intended to do some prep ahead of time, listening to his songs and getting Keith-educated. (Hey, I do know that he's married to Nicole Kidman.) But, just like my Spanish homework, I wasn't ready for the pop quiz. But I had a fantastic time, anyway!

After the warm up music of Jake Owen, Keith played non-stop for over 2 hours. He had so much energy, as he tore up the main stage and a couple extra little stages scattered around the arena...it was amazing! It was also fun to hear him chat in his Australian accent. He even worked in a mini-rendition of the classic "Wichita Linemen" for his Wichita faithful! In above photo you can see mini-Keith (bottom center) and giant Keith on the cool circular screen. The set and lighting were awesome and constantly changing!

Among his many guitars, Keith used a fancy light up guitar. It doesn't look great in my photo, but it changed colors as he played, had different light patterns and definitely kept my eyes on Keith! Did I say that he looks pretty good in a pair of torn jeans?

But the end of night, Keith was all sweaty and his trademark locks were a little droopy. (Actually, this happened about fifteen minutes into the show.) But it didn't dampen his spirits, or ours. It was a late night for this empty-nester, but I can say that Keith and I definitely "got closer"...and wasn't that the point of his tour?!

Adios, 4 chubby men!

2011-08-15T14:37:00.000-05:00

It takes hours to put shipping labels on everything, but we're finally finished! We have a nice pile for the UPS man and a separate stack of stuff to deliver to the Post Office loading dock at our local airport. The shipping method depends on where it is going and how big (heavy) it is! About 10% of our business is outside the US, so those customers are very specific about shipping method. Overseas shipping is really expensive!

What's next? Cleaning the office, of course! After 5 days of assembling, packing and shipping the place is...well, a MESS of holiday proportions! Sure, it's a lot emptier than it was a few hours ago, but it's time for the elves to clean Santa's workshop.

While we wait for those elves to show up, here's a preview list of what's coming to a needlework shop near you later this week:

* 6 Fat Men Flip-its - the first 3 snowman in the series (check our website soon for FREE border and instructions for combining the men into one big snow fest.

* Santa '11 - Santa's sleigh is overflowing with goodies and beautiful holiday color (Embellishment pack available)

* Tiny Tidings XVI - the first time we've ever squeezed 7 designs in this annual chartpak. Includes some unique finishing ideas as gift tags, wine bags and bags for gift jars. (Embellishment pack available)

* Inspiration Boxer "When we do what we can, God will do what we cannot". This includes bonus design for a sweet bluebird fob project.

6 Fat Men get stripped!

2011-08-14T20:55:00.000-05:00

Oh my! When we put the bitty zip bags containing embellishments on the Glu-Dots, we call it "stripping"! So, when the printing arrived last week, we pulled the individual bags off their "strips" and attached them to the 6 Fat Men Flip-its. Yea...the 6 Fat Men are now all stripped and ready to ship!

We spent most of Friday, Saturday and Sunday finishing assembly on the new goodies and packing them in boxes. Lots of stores contract with us to "automatically" receive the new releases ASAP. Literally, these designs were hot off the presses. Some new items had been here for a week or two, but this last batch arrived in the "St. Nick" of time...including this year's Santa!

We do order packing assembling line style. Alan types all the invoices in advance, according to each shop's instructions. Then we divide the shipping table into 2 spaces. On the back side I have the invoices, and pull the inventory from my little assembly line. Then I hand it to Alan on the other side of the table who selects the appropriate sized box and packs it up - he prides himself on a well-packed box!

By Saturday morning we were making such good progress on our packing, we joined our friends for a bike ride. After a summer of dismally hot weather, we finally had a cool morning to trek around the county. We rode to the little town of Bentley (20 miles away) where we had a yummy breakfast at the Bentley Bar & Grill, otherwise known as the Roadkill Cafe. The dress code was overalls, but we showed up in our geeky bike gear.

It was a beautiful morning for a ride, and I brought my camera, of course. I have a nifty little bag that hooks right to my bike frame with Velcro where I can easily reach it. For you city dwellers...here's some of what we saw along the way!

Miniature horses! Yes, a farm where they raise little horses. They weren't very close to the road, so I zoomed in as far as I could for these mini horses!

Corn! The only corn that is alive this year is the irrigated stuff, like this. The dry land corn is toasty and brown...sad year for the farmers.

This is what the river looks like - the sandbars are so big you can almost walk across, and there's vegetation growing on the sandbar. Drought!

Back to work and more packing. Gotta keep up our strength with some M & M refreshments!

Care and feeding of Elves 101

2011-08-12T17:34:00.000-05:00

OK...the elves did show up! No cute little costumes, but our friends Doug and Vicki are cute enough without the pointy ears. They showed up at our house/office after their real jobs and volunteered to help with this shipment. In return, I fed them!

I found a pan of enchiladas in my freezer. Check out the recipe from my daughter Ali's blog - http://gimmesomeoven.com/best-chicken-enchiladas-ever/?s=enchilada. I baked those and added 2 kinds of Mexi-cheese (elves are known to favor cheese). Doug showed up with a big bag of frozen food and whipped up this frozen concoction that made us all feel happy (and berry healthy), as we anticipated the strenuous work ahead.

After dinner, we cleared the kitchen table and got to work on a variety of assembly tasks...sacking Tiny Tidings XVI chartpaks, assembling 6 Fat Men Flip-its and assembling more of those Santa '11 Embellishment packs.

We took a break for some yummy ice cream pie I whipped up earlier. This is SO easy, and everyone loves it. I used a pre-made graham cracker crust, then layered on 2 flavors of ice cream (chocolate chip and cappuccino chunky chocolate. In between the layers and on top I sprinkled some Heath bar chips. Then top with hot caramel topping and whipped cream...and Santa's workshop is a happy place!

Alan is such an over-achiever, he was multi-tasking...eating pie and assembling embellishment packs at the same time. And who said he couldn't multi-task?!

Alas, the elves went home and we continued packing orders into the night. It really goes smoothly when the phone isn't ringing and you've had some good elf food for energy!

At home at the North Pole

2011-08-11T14:12:00.000-05:00

Is this Santa's workshop, or does it just look that way! Actually, I think Santa's workshop (if I can rely on those clever Santa Clause movies) is a whole lot cuter!

But we are busy as elves putting together the newest batch of L*K printing. They may not look as pretty, but getting those big boxes from the printer today is like Christmas morning to us! Except when we open these boxes, we're not kicking back and relaxing...we're springing into action!

Our faithful part-time helper Carmen was here this morning, busily attaching snowflake charms to the 6 Fat Men Flip-its. Her son Elizeo has been coming to the office all summer (enjoying our computer and wireless internet!), and we'll miss him next week when he returns to school. Carmen usually helps us 2 mornings a week, but this week she agreed to work an extra day.

Carmen is a WONDERFUL helper here at L*K...and even doubles as my Spanish tutor. I'm giving my brain a rest from Spanish studies this summer, but I have been trying to learn Spanish for the last few years. It turns out, it's pretty hard to learn a foreign language when:
*you begin at age 50 (and studied German in school)
*you aren't faithful with your homework
*you talk too much in class
But it's still on my bucket list, and I am determined to dust off my dicionario and improve my Spanish skills. !Definitivamente!

Meanwhile (mientras, back at Santa's workshop, we're busy assembling Flip-its and making Santa's embellishment packs. Formula: one white snowflake button, 3 tiny black buttons and a pinch of beads go in every pack.

Tomorrow...packing the sleigh...I mean, the orders!

To the bindery, baby!

2011-08-10T10:48:00.000-05:00

Back to our favorite 6 Fat Men...and Santa (can't forget him!). I guess that makes 7 Fat Men on their long path to your favorite needlework shops. The photo below is the press sheet I brought home yesterday after we did the final color check.

Today we visit the bindery in another part of the print building. After the big, beautiful pile of press sheets have a little time to dry, they move to the bindery. I'm sure you noticed that all 8 designs and the embellishment tag are ganged up together on the press sheet. They're all cozy and close, but now we need to separate them...separation anxiety!

Please put on your big protective ear covers for this part of the field trip, because it's noisy in here!

Here's one of the machines that processes the big press sheet. Before we can cut the items apart, we need to SCORE them. What is scoring? Scoring actually puts long creases in the paper (in all the right places) so the folding can occur without cracking the paper. We don't want any unsightly paper cracking!, .

One more little bit of printing trivia (sorry, I love this stuff)...it is important to print with the direction of the paper whenever possible. Yes...paper has a direction, just like fabric! Scroll back up to the photo of the whole press sheet. You can see that all the folds will occur in the same direction, which is how we like it!

With all the scoring done, it's time to cut and fold. This time we printed 6 Flip-its, 1 Snippet, 1 Quick-it (this item won't be available until later this fall) and one embellishment pack tag. When we deliver the graphics files to the printer, they include instructions for how to trim our designs to the proper finished size.

Does anyone know the phrase "full color bleed"? No, it's not a medical term. It's the printing process that allows the color to go all the way to the edge on the printing. In order to achieve this, we actually print extra color all the way around each design. Then, it is trimmed off, so the finished project doesn't have a ring of white around the edge. (That reminds of those funny commercials from my youth about the horrors of "ring around the collar" in your laundry!). But I digress....

Now I'm busy at my desk, catching up on other stuff, waiting for the printer to let me know when our printing will deliver. It might be late this afternoon, but probably tomorrow morning. Whenever it gets here, we're ready to get to work assembling!!! You can't pack orders until the products are assembled.

The snowflake buttons are all nestled on their trusty Glu-Dots. There are lots of extra snowflake buttons standing by in case they are called to duty. Our helper Carmen is going to work a few extra hours to help us with the big work crunch...she's the best!

We're still waiting for those elves to show up!

6 Fat Men on the move!

2011-08-09T14:29:00.000-05:00

They may be chubby, but these 6 jolly men are setting a fast pace! Yesterday we looked at 2 sets of printer proofs (color and black/white). After making one minor change and approving those, the printer got things ready for the press.

I use different printing processes for different products, mostly depending on the quantity required. I have 3 local printers who are all awesome, and all super helpful. When I print Flip-its, it is a LARGE press run, so I use the BIG printing press. To make things as cost effective as possible, I try to fill the entire press sheet, jamming the whole Flip-it series and anything else I have ready that will fit.

Here's the pressman standing in front of the BIG printing press. The press is the big long machine behind him. It even has a little stairway and platform all around it that he uses to keep things running smoothly. Behind him (rather hidden in this photo) is where the finished printing emerges.

When I have a job on the press, I am "on call" with the printer. (Sounds important...HA!) They told me yesterday to expect a press time today, then called this morning with an exact time for me to arrive. Before I get there, they have already made the plates with the L*K goodies and put the job on the press. Then they have start preliminary printing, carefully adjusting color so it matches the proofs I approved yesterday. By the time I arrive, everything is looking colorful and nice.

This table is next to the giant printer in the previous photo. On top is the L*K press sheet for our approval. You can see there are a zillion little knobs and adjustments that the pressman uses to get things "just right". I rarely make changes at this stage, but it is possible to make all sorts of color adjustments...on the whole sheet, or selectively on certain parts of the press sheet.

Here we are...the whole happy gang! Left is my printing rep, then me holding up the pretty press sheet, then the 2 pressmen. We're all happy because I just signed my name and they can proceed with the printing. They tell me it's pretty rare for someone to want their photo. I remind them that I'm their only cross stitch client!

Tomorrow's itinerary...field trip to the bindery! Remember your permission slips!

Countdown continues with SNEAK PEEK on Santa '11

2011-08-08T14:18:00.000-05:00

Our countdown continues toward printing and distributing our new batch of holiday goodies. Today we got color proofs from the printer. Our rep delivered to our office/house and I took awhile we look them over...AGAIN.

No, this isn't the same photo I used in the last post. These are the color proofs from the printer. Notice how the front and back covers are both on the same sheet. After they are printed, they will go to the bindery. Then will use a machine to "score" the paper so it can be folded. Then the front and back will wrap around to become...well, the front and the back!

BTW...I'm thrilled with how the color looks on these proofs. I deliver the actual models to the printer so they can match color as carefully as possible during this process. They did an awesome job!

What's this? I also get separate proofs for the black/white insides of each design. On the next set of proofs (maybe tomorrow?), the inside and outside of each design are combined (stapled together actually). Then we can make sure everything is right side up. Have you ever opened a design and everything inside is backwards or upside down? It's an easy mistake!

And now for the SNEAK PEEK! Today we're also proofing this year's Snippet Santa and the matching embellishment pack. You can see Santa is coming our way in a super sleigh this year. Check out the funny little skinny rectangular proof on this photo - this will become the little embellishment pack insert. The cover is on the right side and the back portion is on the left side of the proof.

We'll be VERY busy later this week sacking these inserts and adding the buttons and beads into each embellishment pack. WOW - we could really use some elves around here!

Countdown to 6 Fat Men!

2011-08-07T16:11:00.000-05:00

The last time we checked in on our favorite chubby guys (July 22 post) we were busy pulling all the info together for the graphic designer. I had finished stitching all of the models, got them framed, and photographed each and every one. I gave the photo files, the graph and instruction files and the actual models to Janice, my graphic designer, so she could work her magic. I also pulled all of the men together for a big GROUP PHOTO - more about that in a future post!

I think I've told you a bit about Janice before, but she deserves some extra space! Janice is a long time friend (she sewed me crib bumpers when Alison was a baby!) and a very talented gal. She is a full time graphic designer (her day job) but freelances for L*K on nights and weekends. Janice is also a talented seamstress - she used to be the finisher for my LNS. If that isn't enough, she is also a cross stitcher...which is SO helpful because she actually understands what we are publishing!

Janice is the one who makes L*K designs look good on the shelves. She takes all the info I give her and arranges it on the pages for the printer. Janice adds backgrounds, fun graphics and all the special things that make a L*K design look like....well, an L*K design! Collaborating with Janice on how my designs will look is one of my favorite parts of my job. I send her ideas about how I want something to look, she tweaks them (often comes up with something better) and makes it happen. Because Janice is free-lancing for L*K, we work some really weird hours...like after dark! But I try to be available whenever she is sending files and ready to work!

Here are our working files on the 6 Fat Men Flip-it series. Check out the pretty background colors! We love coordinating the whole series, so they will look pretty on the LNS shelves, and in your hands. These are color printouts of the front and back covers, and black/white printouts of the insides of each graph. Time to proof, proof, proof! I look for corrections, along with my proofer Melissa, and we submit changes back to Janice. Then she sends us corrected files, and we do it all over again. It's a evolving PROCESS!

Here is our new little 6 Fat Men logo that will appear on each snowman in the series! We also added a fun little snowman saying to each Flip-it, besides the one that appears in the stitchery! I love the saying on this one..."Wearing white is always appropriate".

Stay tuned - the snowman countdown continues this week!

My Rocky Mountain High!

2011-08-01T15:04:00.000-05:00

OK...I live in Kansas...where the weather this summer is HIDEOUSLY HOT!!! But a 10 hour drive to the west lands us in the mountains of Colorado. ROAD TRIP!!!

We loaded 3 cars, 9 friends and a lot of STUFF and made the long, uphill drive to Breckenridge, a lovely Victorian town in the heart of the Rocky Mountains. The further west we drove, the temperature and humidity dropped and giddy smiles came to our faces. Thanks to the generosity of other friends, we borrowed a great house for our Rocky Mountain adventure.

How to summarize our long weekend???

We rode bikes (mostly downhill) to Frisco, the town next door. The views as we pedaled were gorgeous...majestic mountains, tall trees and wildflowers everywhere!

We stopped to smell the flowers along the way. That's me on the left and my friends Connie (front) and Vicki (right).

We took the chairlift to the top of the mountain...

...and (slowly) hiked all the way down. We walked through lots of ski runs, mountain biking paths and flowers....more wild flowers! (I think I have enough flower photos for an entire album!).

We also took the a shorter chairlift up Peak 8 and rode the Alpine slide down. This is SO much fun! It's a great summer activity where you ride a little sled down the mountains...zigging and zagging...and going as fast (or slow) as you choose. We had some great competition as we rode side by side in different lanes.

In between all the strenuous biking, hiking, sledding, whitewater rafting, etc....we managed a little shopping. Here's my favorite place to shop in Breckenridge, the Bay Street Co. It's beautiful inside, but the stunning gardens outside are a real treat!

We also had to refuel, and had a great time cooking and eating at our weekend home. Eddie, the bacon master, was the first in the kitchen every morning.

Alas, our long weekend came to an end, and we returned home. During our 10 hour drive the temperature dropped more than 50 degrees - YIKES! It was 52 when we left Colorado in the morning, and 105 when we arrived home at dinner time.

Ah....fond memories of our Rocky Mountain High!

My favorite artist is...

2011-07-26T21:01:00.000-05:00

my daughter Sarah Wain! I just picked up this framed original today and hung it in my kitchen...isn't it delicious? (Please ignore the bad photography and glare from my funky chandelier.)

These beautifully realistic chocolate-covered strawberries are actually an oil painting (on canvas) that I just had framed at my local needlework shop, Heart's Desire in Wichita, Kansas. We added a neutral mat and frame, and glass, since it's hanging in my kitchen. I'm so thrilled to have it in the busiest room in our house!!

Now my kitchen has a smorgasbord of dessert art, with this cupcake print hanging over my stovetop. This frame and mat used to hold a rooster print, but I de-poultried it and popped in the cupcake print. Easy!

Want to see more? Check out Sarah's website at www.sarahewain.com. She has originals and high-quality prints available at really reasonable prices. The cupcake above is a custom-order she just painted for my sister-in-law Donna, who chose the colors to complement her kitchen. Sarah is currently an under-employed art teacher (unable to get a contract) working as a special ed para at an elementary school in Bloomington, IN. While she would LOVE to get an art teacher position (anyone have a job out there?), the para job gives her lots of extra time to paint!

Yes, life is just a bowl of cherries!!!

6 Fat Men = Major Desk Piles!

2011-07-22T10:35:00.007-05:00

Remember the 6 Fat Men? No, not THOSE chubby guys...the 6 fat snowmen Flip-its we're working on this summer!

But, those men are really keeping me busy! It's hard for a girl to ignore these 6 chubby fellas...they're everywhere on my desk and all over the office.

Paperwork??? Lots of it! Gotta keep things organized when you're working on 6 projects at once. Here's what's in those colorful clips... color charts I used to stitch the models with supply lists and stitching notes, scans of completed projects, text and all the info that will appear in the printed material...important stuff!!

Since the last sneak preview post, everyone is asking questions, so here are a few facts about our 6 favorite men!

1. There are 6 individual designs - all different shapes and sizes - all SNOWMEN!

2. Each design comes with a white snowflake button

3. All the designs use the same color palette - pinky red, aqua, teal, navy, forest green, chartreuse, gold, brown, yellow, and WHITE...lots of white!

4. The 6 designs are great separately...but they also fit together to form a big snowy puzzle!

5. L*K will provide FREE designs to tie the 6 patterns together - to fill in the gaps!

6. Look for the first 3 designs in your local needlework shop in mid-late August.

7. Stay tuned to this blog for more sneak peeks!

Today I picked up the 6 individual framed designs from my local shop and made the field trip to the photographer. Extra thanks to Debbie from Heart's Desire, who whizzed through my projects and framed them all in one day! She said that working on snowmen during this summer of record temps was a "cool" experience.

I returned from the photographer with a disc with all 6 photos and immediately copied it into my computer for future reference. Then I'll send the photo disc, the 6 stitched models, and all the other info to the graphic designer. Janice will get to work over the weekend and we'll collaborate to make our 6 Fat Men look fabulous in print!!

We're also busy putting thousands of snowflake buttons in tiny 1" x 1" zip bags, then putting them on the strips with the Glu-Dots...all ready to attach to printed material soon.

Even during a crazy busy week, these roly poly guys MAKE ME SMILE!

The Judy and Linda Show

2011-07-17T16:18:00.000-05:00

I just returned from a whirlwind weekend in Chicago...what a trip! In addition to traveling to markets on business, sometimes I get invitations to visit needlework shops and be the guest teacher at a weekend event. This weekend I was pleased to visit some of my long-time, faithful customers...Pam and Kim from Tomorrow's Heirlooms in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. The other teacher at the event was Judy Whitman, from JBW Designs...also known as my BFF in the needlework biz!

Here we are at the end of event...still smiling...from left to right...Kim, Pam, Judy and Linda (me!).

Q. What do cross stitchers do when they get together?

A. Laugh, talk, eat, stitch, stitch, stitch!

On Friday night, about 50 of us gathered at the lovely Doubletree for a casual Meet and Greet event. Judy and I were there to chat with the ladies, but I think they were more interested in our products than us! Pam and Kim created a beautiful "road show" with tons of Lizzie*Kate and JBW Designs models and products, as well as other select goodies from their shop. The gals could shop to their heart's delight, while munching on snacks.

The next morning we met in a large sunny room for a full day of class. Judy taught in the AM, introducing the class to a special kit created just for the event. While the gals started stitching, Judy talked about her business and did a slide show about her life and JBW. Judy is a super teacher (lots of notes), and answered lots of questions and offered great advice.

We took a break for lunch and headed out to a Chicago favorite, Portillo's, where we had genuine Chicago HOT DOGS!!! Yes, there's a dog hiding in there, under all the yummy toppings. I forgot to photo the luscious chocolate layer cake, which was the perfect finish to our power lunch!

We returned to the hotel for the "Linda Show" after lunch. I also presented the gals with an original design and kit. While they stitched the afternoon away, I chatted about life at L*K...how I started, the production process to get a design from sketch to publication to distribution, showed some family photos, and all that! Yes, Judy and I were both pleased to get our audiovisual presentations to actually work! We were a little worried to manage all that technology without my faithful husband/geek Alan, but we succeeded in style!

After the class concluded, we returned to the hotel suite for more shopping and chatting, and finally wrapped things up. Before dinner, we took a detour over to Norden Crafts, one of our distributors, also in Chicago. Norden is a wonderful family-owned business, and we were pleased to meet owner Dave Stott and daughter Katy Fong for an after hours warehouse tour. Katy also attended our event....extra fun, because we remember her at market when she was just a teenager, and now she's all grown up, super-efficient at her job, and a delight to be around. Here is Katy posing in front of a beautiful wall of Weeks Dye Works fibers.

Every time L*K releases new designs, in addition to shipping to needlework shops all around the world, we also ship to our distributors. I've always wondered how they store and organize all that stuff! Here is a portion of the L*K corner of the warehouse. What a job to organize all those patterns, especially when we continually release new products!

After the warehouse tour, we detoured for some YUMMY Mexi-food - my favorite thing! We were joined by another needlework exec, Sharon Crescent from Crescent Colours (2nd from left). Sharon flew into Chicago to be a participant in our event...just one of the gang. But Sharon's irrepressible spirit is hard to contain...she is a blast to hang with!

After we finished our Mexi fiesta, we did a twilight tour of the Tomorrow's Heirlooms shop. I forgot to take pics. Maybe I was in a Mexi-food stupor, maybe I was overwhelmed by all the lovely MODELS in the shop, maybe I just forgot. So, if you're in the Chicago area, stop in to see the shop for yourself! They will be happy to see you!

Many thanks to Pam and Kim from Tomorrow's Heirlooms for a great weekend getaway! Now I'm sweating it out in Kansas with another 106 degree afternoon, catching up on EVERYTHING that happened while I was gone...back to work!

Too HOT to blog!

2011-07-14T10:57:00.000-05:00

It's too HOT to do anything, except hibernate in my air-conditioned office, with the granddog parking himself in front of the fan.

The only rays of sunshine in this horrible, hot drought (yes, while the rest of the country is flooding, we are having a terrible, sad drought) are my sunflowers! After a slow start (and late planting) they are finally blooming!

A couple years ago I realized the importance of planting "pollenless" sunflowers. In addition to not making you sneeze, they don't drop that toxic yellow pollen all over everything. They're perfect to cut and bring inside and enjoy!!!

The sad side of my garden ): contains the most pitiful tomatoes in years. Look at these beauty-challenged little specimens!

They are so ugly, I may have to enter them in the annual "Ugly Tomato Contest" at the local extension office. They are cracked, oozy, pecked...and remarkably, still delicious! After you cut out the offensive parts, they taste great. Obviously the birds thing they taste good, because they have been doing a number on them. Maybe I need a scarecrow?

If you have suggestions on tomato growing, write me a comment. We call ourselves "faithful gardeners", because we basically plant and pray! We're not too good at the maintenance part of gardening...we just want the results!

Meanwhile, I am moving into my annual summer meal strategy...tomato intensive meals. Everything has tomatoes in it or on it! Toe-may-toe....toe-mah-toe...either way you say it, summer is here!

Meet me at the fair....

2011-07-10T09:47:00.000-05:00

FYI - I live in the CITY! But...the "country" is only a couple short miles away, and it is endless entertaining! For our Friday night activity, a group of friends drove to the county fair in Cheney, about 25 miles from Wichita. Somehow, in my 55 years of living, I have never been to the county fair. To make up for that, my friends (many of them grew up on a farm) guided me through a variety of classic and quirky fair experiences and we had a blast!

First on our list...fair FOOD! We chose the Cheney Methodist Church building because my friend Vicki's sister helps there every year, and because we know those church ladies can really cook! The building is permanent - read the sign - they've been serving fair food for 125 years. But it isn't air-conditioned - more like a giant screened-in porch, but we happily worked our way through chicken and noodles, taco salads, and beautiful pieces of pie. I can't imagine how hard these ladies (and men) work to serve food all day for 4 days - that's a marathon church dinner!

After dinner, we strolled past the "Fair Idol" contest and listened to a couple aspiring singers...country music, of course. Then we headed for the large animal barns, where my friend Marlys insisted I pet a cow. Admittedly, I was a little nervous about this large animal, altho this one wasn't full grown. Marlys told me stories of her 4H youth days, when she showed cows and had to style their tails as part of their whole body grooming process. What a hoot! Yes, when cows come to the fair, they are unusually clean and well groomed! I'm not showing a dairy cow pic...I'll leave that sight to your lactose imagination!

On to the pigs, which were a mystery to me. They put 8-10 pigs in the ring at the same time, and their hapless owners (who are all dressed up!) try to herd them around with little sticks. It was hilarious, until a couple pigs decided they didn't like either other, and they had to break up a pig fight!

Then onto the goat pins, where one little goat decided he was "king" of the pin, and tried to rule from his bale of hay, keeping out challengers with his little horns.

In the small animal barns, we saw chickens of ALL varieties, ranging from classic chickens to the weird and wonderful. This little gal looked like she was having a bad hair day, or is it a good look for poultry? Whatever...she won a purple ribbon for her efforts!

And then the bunnies...again, all shapes, colors, sizes...all equally CUTE! You really want to stick your fingers through the cages and pet them, but there are signs everywhere warning that the bunnies BITE!

Finally, we checked out all the fair rides. Notice, I didn't say we rode the rides...we checked them out. Our conversations went something like...

"WOW...I used to love that ride when I was young!"

"Yea, but I think that would really upset my stomach now."

"I used to be able to ride those things all day."

"I think that would really make my back and neck hurt now."

"Don't these portable rides that go from place to place make you a little nervous?"

"And look at that guy running the ride - he is so scary, can we trust him with our lives?"

We skipped the big grandstand event (you had to pay for this) which was bull riding. But I must mention one of the MOST entertaining events at the fair...watching the people...OH MY!

Friday night at the fair was so much fun, we decided to return Saturday AM for breakfast with the church ladies. We got up early and rode our bikes and greeted all the unsuspecting church folk in our geeky bike gear. My husband Alan was a happy camper with his biscuits and sausage gravy, homemade cinnamon rolls and watermelon. Look out cows and random farm critters, I'm coming back next year!

My FROGGY Fourth!

2011-07-07T11:29:00.000-05:00

What did you do on the 4th of July? Watch fireworks, hang with family and friends, relax? Yes, we did all of that, too! But did you have a giant FROG encounter???

This friendly fellow was relaxing by the pond at Trail Creek Farm, where we have our annual Fab Fourth Family bash, hosted by our farm relatives, Susan and Harlan. You probably know Trail Creek Farm from their beautiful cross stitch pillows, banners and designs. The designer, Susan, is my sister-in-law.

She is also the gracious hostess for our annual pyrotechnic extravaganza at the farm, where (almost) every kind of firework is legal. For many years, we have gathered at the farm for food, fun and fireworks!!! Sadly, neither of our daughters were able to make the drive this year (from out of state), so we did our best to celebrate in style without them.

Harlan took little Noah on a tractor ride, which he LOVED! Noah also enjoyed visiting the young chickens in the barn. Their fuzziness is fading quickly, as they mature, but they're still cute!

Henny and Penny, our favorite chicken footstools, were hanging out on the front porch to greet us! These mega-sized chickens are actually sturdy footstools, and are handcrafted on the farm by my niece, Sally, and Susan. They have beautiful bronze feet and beaks, and are wrapped in cozy hand-dyed and felted wool. If that's not enough, their heads BOBBLE! Check them out at www.thecitygirlfarm.com.

And all that excitement was on Sunday, the day BEFORE the official holiday! On Monday morning, we put on our hair-wrecking bike helmets and rode to a fun Wichita tradition, the Riverside pancake breakfast. We met a group of friends there, found more friends once we got there, and had a tasty and fun morning. After the breakfast, the neighborhood kids do an old-fashioned parade with decorated bikes and the whole nostalgic thing.

Where am I in this pic? That's me in the middle foreground with my back to you, using my hands to tell what must be an amusing (or embarassing) story, judging from the looks on everyone else's faces! Afterwards, we biked back home to counteract the effects of our pancake/sausage fest!

6 FAT MEN to keep me cool!

2011-06-30T17:38:00.000-05:00

It's 105 in Ta-town today - crazy summer heat! But I'm "stayin' cool" with my favorite 6 FAT MEN! Who are these merrily obese mystery guys? L*K's new SNOWMAN Flip-its!

Our next Flip-it series will be a group of six snowmen, tentatively called "6 FAT MEN". The series will have 6 different little leaflets, each with a unique shape and design, and a snowflake button. But...here's the FUN part...all 6 designs will fit together in a sort of winter puzzle. We'll supply a few FREE elements to fill the empty spaces in the snowy puzzle.

My desk is a little messier and scarier than usual as I'm stitching on ALL 6 models at once. Why do I stitch my own models? Why do I work on them all at once? I have to choose a color palette and use it consistently throughout all the designs. I want all 6 chubby snowmen to look great by themselves (for their closeups!), but also to fit nicely in the bigger snowy puzzle. I jump from design to design, filling in elements I'm sure about, delaying stitching the areas I'm unsure of for color selection. I've finished 3 designs (should finish the 4th later tonight) and hope to do the other two over the holiday weekend.

I wasn't completely satisfied with the last 2 designs, so I've been busy this afternoon tweaking and changing them. I designed everything a few weeks ago, but sometimes it's best to let things sit a bit, and then suddenly you have more ideas and different solutions to design problems.

Meanwhile, I'm listening to books on CD during the intense model stitching process. The current one is "Left Neglected" by Lisa Genova, and it's wonderful and interesting, and yes, even educational!

Wishing a fabulous 4th holiday to all...and plenty of time for your recreational stitching!

Yummy art show!

2011-06-28T14:34:00.000-05:00

Question: What are 2 things you are crazy about?

Answer: My daughter Sarah and food!

Last weekend we had a super daughter/foodie experience! Our daughter Sarah was the June artist of the month at Mead's Corner Coffeehouse. This coffeehouse is operated by our church and Alan and I have been really involved from it's beginning almost 3 years ago...from finding a place to rent, painting the exterior, tiling the bathroom and now as volunteers. Every month they feature art from a local artist.

This past Friday was the monthly Final Friday Art Crawl when galleries, studios and anywhere else that can hang art (like our coffeehouse) were open for a must-see Friday night event. Sarah now lives in Indiana with husband Jeff, but she made the LONG drive to Wichita for the big weekend. Alan and I had hung her artwork at the beginning of the month and it has been a joy to see her tasty paintings all month in our cozy retreat...and to share them with everyone else!

Friday night was BUSY...Final Friday wanderers, 3 local bands and their groupies, and a seemingly endless supply of young people passed through Mead's Corner. Lots of Sarah's old friends from school dropped by (what a treat!) and her high school art teacher made a special visit....and FAMILY...lots of family!!

But the highlight of the evening was the BIG SURPRISE! Alan and I had arranged to fly husband Jeff in from Texas where he is doing a summer internship. Our friends volunteered for the sneaky airport pickup and whisked him to Mead's Corner (after a flight delay) to surprise her about 10:30. And boy, was she surprised...and thrilled to see Jeff in person (not on Skype)!!! I admit...it nearly killed ME to keep this secret for over a month - I told everyone I knew - and swore them to secrecy.

What a joyful weekend we all had together. Did I mention it was also Alan's BIRTHDAY that night? We celebrated later with a Snickers cheesecake. All those dessert-y paintings really worked up our appetite for something sweet. Check out this super candybar cheesecake recipe at our other daughter Ali's food blog...www.gimmesomeoven.com.

Sarah's theme for the show was the "sweet things in life", so she painted a collection of dessert themed oils, along with a selection of pastel tea cups. Below is a print of her margarita cupcake that I framed to hang in my kitchen over my stovetop.

And...a pastel teacup that hangs in my L*K office.

Check out all of Sarah's goodies on her website at www.sarahewain.com. In addition to her original artwork, she has nice quality prints on canvas paper available to purchase. I'm headed to the kitchen for a break, because I think there is still one sliver of that Snickers cheesecake languishing in the frig!

100K on a skinny bike seat

2011-06-23T09:53:00.000-05:00

What do you do on Saturday mornings in the summer? Whenever we can, we bike through the backroads of rural Kansas with our pals...exploring all the little towns, checking the crops, waving to the farmers...and all that!

Last Saturday we participated in a very special ride to benefit Open Door, a local homeless ministry. We started at a local Methodist church, then rode to various churches all around the area, eventually covering about 100 kilometers (66 miles in all!). At each stop we were greeted with snacks, drinks, encouragement, hospitality and a shady spot to rest! Above in photo, a bunch of my girlfriends (I'm 4th from left) looking perky BEFORE the ride.

We passed through lots of small towns along the way...Maize, Bentley, Sedgwick, Valley Center, Furley (above), Kechi, and finally returned to Wichita. I challenge all of you Kansans to locate these towns!

One of our favorite stops wasn't at a church...just in a friendly farmer's front yard. There really wasn't a town closeby, so we contacted the farmer in advance for us to set up in his yard! The people running this stop were all from my Sunday School class. Check out the awesome K-State Wildcats shelter!

The whole ride really began months earlier with lots of planning meetings, committees and preparation. Alan was in charge of marking the route, so he spent the 2 evenings before the route putting markers all over the county. We had about 20 of these t-shirt signs, along with 12 cans of spray paint arrows all over the pavement. Alan's pointer finger may still look fluorescent orange from defacing roadways with spray paint on a very windy evening!

These twin sister riders won the prize for their Bike Princess costumes, complete with fuzzy helmets and (temporary) princess tattoes. Cindy (right) is also a local Methodist pastor.

As always, we celebrated with FOOD! The night before, 13 friends gathered at our house for some carb-loading and a potluck pasta dinner. Then we ate our way through the 100K, 5 hour ride. Later that evening, we met friends for homemade ice cream and leftover goodies from the rest stops.

The BEST part is, so far we have raised $20,000 and the donations continue to arrive. Last year, the ride raised $30,000, so we are optimistic to reach that goal again. Meanwhile, I'm done with that skinny bike seat...until this Saturday morning!

TGIF means 13 for dinner!

2011-06-17T09:26:00.000-05:00

Back in the old days (when I was a teen), TGIF was such a popular phrase...and I still love it! Several years ago when I was on a mission trip to Guatemala, I remember explaining the meaning of TGIF to my patient Spanish teacher. She knew a lot of US euphemisms, but this one was new to sweet Patricia!

TGIF this week means that L*K got the new releases shipped....whoopee! It's always crazy around here when we release new products. Shipping over 200 shops on the same day is just a big deal, no matter how organized you are. We started packing on Saturday and finished the final labels on Tuesday night. Wednesday AM Alan delivered crates full of smaller boxes to the loading dock at the airport post office. Because it was a beautiful day, we stacked the UPS boxes on the driveway and waited for the friendly UPS man. I'm not sure he was that excited to see us and our pile of boxes, but we always warn him in advance.

Here are the new releases...shiny wrappers and all! Autumn Alphabet chartpak (left) is the 3rd part of our seasonal series and includes embellishments (squirrel, moon and tan buttons). Life's a Beach (top middle) is our Limited Edition summer kit - only available this summer - so grab this peachy beachy kit now! (See June 2 posting for a closeup of this Limited Edition design). Bottom right is our new Inspirational Boxer "I Know God". Faithful blog followers have been watching this design progress all the way from early sketch to publication...and here it is! Boxer includes pattern, 32 ct. flax linen, flower buttons, and a BONUS pin cushion design. The cool round box you see in the pic is the BONUS pin cushion design. You choose a scrap from fabric from your stash, and we supply the pattern and a couple chartreuse beads.

3 NEW SNIPPETS! Left is our Live Laugh Love Now & Then Snippet. We've started a new series where we republish best-selling oldies, while adding a 2nd "fresh look" at the old design. Both designs are included - choose your favorite or stitch them both. Middle is Flora McSample's Farm Sampler. Our sampler girl Flora is down on the farm with critters, barn, sunflowers, the whole corral! Right side is our Wine A Bit Snippet. This design is pictured in a cool wine bag from Stitch-A-Gift, but you can put it anywhere. Pour yourself a glass and you'll still finish this design in one evening.

After we ship the auto, it takes a couple days to recuperate, clean the office, and catch up on everything we neglected during the process. I'm off to my local needlework shop, Heart's Desire in Wichita, KS, to select some frames, pick up some perforated paper for a new project, and deliver some of my daughter's artwork for framing.

Then...we seem to have 13 friends coming for dinner...HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? I sent an email invitation yesterday and...more on next post!!!

The real Farm-ville!

2011-06-12T16:22:00.000-05:00

Even tho we live in the Midwest, we aren't farmers. OK, my husband Alan grew up on the farm and has a host of hilarious stories to tell about his childhood adventures on the farm. Really, it's a wonder farm kids live to adulthood!

Last weekend we embraced our rural inner selves and took a field trip to some friends' farm just across the border in Oklahoma. We loaded up 7 of our friends for the 75 mile trip to Wakita, OK - only 75 miles south of Wichita. As we crossed the border the main difference between Kansas and Oklahoma was obvious - the DIRT in Oklahoma is RED! It's like God drew a line between the states...Kansas dirt is brown, Oklahoma dirt is rusty red!

What is this??? It's a field of golden, ripe wheat just begging to be cut! Just for you farm novices, the farmers plant their wheat in the fall. Then it hangs out all winter and grows a beautiful green in the spring. As the summer heats up, the wheat matures and turns a gorgeous gold. At this time, the farmers feverishly work to cut the grain, before any weird weather might ruin the crop. During harvest, the crazed farmers work all day and into the right to get the crop in. Our farmers friends were in the middle of harvest, but graciously invited us to visit and see them in action.

Here' s a pic of our friend farmer Eddie's big boy toy combine. - the machine that harvests the wheat. These things are modern marvels (unlike the ones Alan used as a kid) with enclosed cabs and even GPS navigation! Farmer Eddie uses 2 combines and 4 farm hands (3 men, one very able young college gal) to help him harvest nearly 2500 acres of wheat.

The farm workers are all powered by wife Connie, who serves AMAZING farm food daily. Are you familiar with the famous food blogger and cookbook author Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman? She lives right down the road, also in Oklahoma. Connie might not be as famous, but I'm sure she can challenge her in the kitchen! By the way, we all brought food to "pay our way" and make sure we had something to eat after the real men left the table?!

Did I mention that the tiny town of Wakita was the film site for the famous (infamous) Twister movie? YES! While the Twisiter movie was really painful for anyone who knows anything about tornadoes to watch (not realistic), the movie was good for Wakita and a few Twister things remain...the Twister Museum and the Twister Cafe.

IMPORTANT thing I almost forgot - their farm is called "Green Acres", just like the TV show we all remember. So, as we rolled into the driveway we broke into song and some of us (Alan and I) made it through the entire theme song...probably evidence that we watched too much TV when we were kids!

I hate HAIL!!!

2011-06-10T09:54:00.000-05:00

What a night!!! The weathermen were on TV for 3 HOURS continuously last evening. Hey, it's Kansas, so we have the most zealous weathermen around. Like all real Kansans, Alan and I have grown incredibly capable of IGNORING them. When the weathermen get really excited, we run outside to get a good look at the sky ourselves! After 2 hours of non-stop warnings and sirens, we went to the office to get some work done. Maybe that was a mistake...because then the REAL storm started!

After a whole year of drought (while the rest of the nation is too wet), we had rains of Biblical proportions! The sad part, tho, was the HAIL (those white things on the photo)! Oh, how I hate the sound of hail on the roof, hail on the windows, hail on the sidewalk, and especially, hail on the flowers and garden! We were stuck in the office with torrential rain and hail outside, and Henry could only sigh and chew on his slimy rubber cheeseburger.

I wanted to go outside and take closeups of the hail balls, but it was raining too hard, and I didn't want to get nailed on the head with a hail ball. They melted quickly, because it was over 100 degrees today. Now the cleanup begins....where is that leaf blower?

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: Printing Delivered! (Or...what to do when it's 102)

2011-06-07T17:52:00.000-05:00

Remember the long process we began on April 4l, following a design from inception to publication? We're FINALLY done - almost!!

The boxes delivered from the printer and now our work really begins. Everything need to be assembled before it can be packed and shipped. This batch of printing is really pretty easy. There aren't any Flip-its or Quick-its in this batch (which require putting a charm/button in a tiny 1" x 1" sack, then attaching to printing with our beloved adhesive Glu-Dots).

We're busy assembling boxes and boxes of Boxers, the same design we've been following thru the publishing process. In advance, we've cut, folded and ironed hundreds of pieces of fabric. Our helper Carmen does most of this - yes, she gets paid to iron! I also do this sometimes in the evenings while watching TV. Somehow that makes it more fun. Also in anticipation of the printing, we've sacked the embellishments in tiny zip bags. Now we put everything together in a Boxer case, and seal it shut with a clear sticker.

Also for this new product release, we're busy assembling an embellished chartpak, the Autumn Alphabet. It's the 3rd in our seasonal series, and we're excited about this one - the autumn colors are gorgeous! We did, however, have a SQUIRREL EMERGENCY develop! One of our included charms is an antique gold squirrel charm, and they arrived without their little hanging loops - not good! And also, not usable - no way to attach them to the stitchery! So the charm supplier had to reorder from her supplier, rush it through the plater who adds the antique gold finish, and they just arrived today with ridiculously expensive overnight shipping. We'll put them in little bags with the other embellishments and sack them with the printing later this week. Maybe I'll invite a friend or two over to help???

Life's a Beach (even in Kansas!)

2011-06-02T09:28:00.001-05:00

It's SUMMER and we're celebrating with a special new SUMMER KIT! Check out this sneak peek!

Remember the rule about not wearing your white shoes after Labor Day? We're changing it up a bit! We designed a SPECIAL SUMMER KIT with some fun white flip flops. Here's the catch...it's ONLY AVAILABLE during the summer of 2011. When Labor Day rolls around in September, you'll put away your white flip flops...and we'll put this kit away for good. Sure, needlework shops will be able to sell those kits they already have in stock, but they won't be able to reorder after Sept. 5.

We're beginning shipping on these kits soon, so let your local needlework shop know if you want to go to the beach with L*K and preorder. Kit includes sandy colored 18 ct. fabric (perfect for stitchers on the go!), 2 hand-dyed yellow flower buttons and exclusive pattern.

It's always a beach somewhere (even here in Kansas, Land of Toto)!!!

(Almost) perfect Memorial Day weekend!

2011-05-31T13:37:00.000-05:00

I was going to say "perfect", but realize that having BOTH daughters and son-in-law home would be the PERFECT weekend, so I'm opting for "almost" perfect. Daughter Sarah made the LONG drive home from Indiana to spend the weekend with us and the granddog.

We journeyed with extra relatives to visit the Ebright family farm, about 75 miles away. This pic has my husband Alan (left), his brother and sis. It was our first Memorial Day since the death of their mother, and this holiday was always very important to her. She always placed live peonies from her garden on the family graves. After we placed the flowers, we lingered in the charming old cemetery, enjoying the beautiful weather and looking for the really old headstones.

After Sarah left for Indiana early Monday AM, we had to amuse ourselves to keep from being sad. So we headed for the BORDER! Oklahoma/Kansas border, that is! Because the wind was howling from the south with huge gusts (the kind of wind that makes us CRAZY) we decided to drive our bikes to the border and let the wind push us the 55 miles back to Wichita. Here I am with my bike buddy Connie. The other 3 in the group were guys! We know we look geeky in our bike gear - no need to comment on that!

What an adventure! We flew by the rapidly ripening wheat fields which are turning a gorgeous gold this time of year.

We visited our friend farmer Eddie who showed off his new combine, which is ready to start harvesting soon.

We stopped in the charming "near the border" town of Caldwell and visited the local cafe for pie and breakfast rolls (and a bathroom break). The locals were pretty amused at our us and our geeky bike wear, but we love discovering small towns and yummy small town food! Isn't their main street charming?

What an adventure! On a day we would normally not venture out of the driveway on our bikes, we designed a one-way ride and let the ridiculous wind do the work...well, most of it! We were still tired and hungry when we arrived in Ta-town. It's time to go to work and rest from the busy weekend!

The happy printer and I

2011-05-25T14:37:00.000-05:00

What? Another gap in the production process? IT HAPPENS! Our faithful printer had technical difficulties the end of last week, i.e....the printer was broken! Now they're back in business, and we're one step closer to publishing!

Our happy printer Frank delivered proofs to the L*K office this AM. I'm not sure which was nicer...Frank's always friendly self, or the beautiful (and much anticipated) Inspirational Boxer proofs! I really wanted to give these a thorough look, so Frank left these with me. I called him when I was finished proofing and he popped back in to pick up the proofs (and play with the dog!).

So what exactly are PROOFS? They are a preview of what the finished product will look like. Check out this proof sheet...this will be the 1st Inspirational Boxer. Notice there are 3 of the same thing! The printer stacks up as many images as will fit on a page for cost efficiency. You are looking at the (unfolded) color outside of the Boxer. The bluish part (bottom of photo) is the back cover and the cool photo (top of photo) will appear on the front cover. The black and white inner portion (you can't see it) is on the other side of this big sheet. After they are printed and dried, they are cut and folded and boxed before delivery.

Why deliver a proof? The most important thing I am looking for is COLOR accuracy. This is the best time to make color corrections. If I happen to see a problem with text or anything else, there is still time to correct this, too.

We work really hard at L*K to make our color as accurate as possible. We use 3 different local printers, depending on the kind and quantity of printing. They are all awesome printers (and people) and a really important step in getting the goods to you... our faithful stitchers!

Publishing 101 continues....

2011-05-16T08:32:00.000-05:00

Back to that pesky publishing process! We're taking you all the way from original design idea to shipping a new L*K design out the door!

On the May 6 post, we visited the photographer and had alot of fun doing some cool propped shots. We're really aiming for a different "vintage" look on this group of 3 Boxer kits, and I hoped we had some shots that would work well on our cover designs.

After I finished at the photographer I dropped the discs with the photos at my graphic designer's office. Sorry, no photo of me meeting Janice in the parking lot and doing the exchange! Thankfully, Janice's office is only a couple blocks from the photographer, which is only a few blocks from all 3 printers I use, which is really convenient. A lot of the graphic related businesses are clustered between downtown and old town, which makes my job easier!

My long-time friend Janice has been helping me with graphic design ever since we started publishing full color Snippets. Before that, we were gluing all the photos on black/white printing. Janice is a full time graphic designer and free-lances for me on evenings and weekends...thus the clandestine parking lot exchange of our info! Not only is she a very talented designer, she is the PERFECT designer for L*K because she is an avid cross stitcher! She actually understands what I am printing, and works to make it as pretty AND usable as possible.

In addition to the photos, I give Janice files for the text and the cross stitch chart, and a print out of the text for each design (with symbols penciled in). I also give her the actual stitched models, because she likes to have them for reference (and inspiration) while she is working.

Then...MAGICALLY...a few days, or a few weeks later, Janice emails me the files with the proposed layout. She sends me files for front and back covers, and well as the inside chart layout. She takes all the info I provide and turns it into a beautiful file for the printer. I give her suggestions about how I want things to look, colors or motifs or fonts I want to use, and we chat back and forth about ideas.

Below is my monitor with the file for the first Inspiration Boxer. You're seeing the front and back cover (unfolded, of course). The right side has the photo of the framed Boxer and the bonus pin cushion design. On the left you can see the back cover info, as well as the photo of all 3 Boxers in this inspirational series.

I don't have the skills to do what Janice does...she is a professional!! She spends most of her "real job" hours working on food products...Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, KFC, etc., so my work is a welcome relief from a monitor full of fast food. And I might add...Janice has the largest monitor in her office that I have ever seen! She is a true multi-tasker! I promise to post a photo of Janice soon when we visit the printer.

After I receive the files, I print everything and start PROOFING...and proofing...and proofing some more. I have a long list of things I check for, but (sadly) it's easy to miss something. I send her the corrections, and she makes the changes and sends me corrected files. It's not unusual for the files to be flying back and forth after 10 PM - whenever she has time to work on L*K, I try to be ready, and awake! Often I get to my computer in the morning, and find she has sent me a file after I went to bed. Then I have all day to proof and work on it, because she won't work on my stuff until "after hours".

I'm thrilled with how these new Inspiration Boxers are looking! I just got to my desk this AM to find a late night email with the first batch of corrected files. I can't wait to get these guys published and show you the new goodies!

5 ways to celebrate when it's 100 degrees in May!!!

2011-05-10T15:27:00.000-05:00

Yes, it's 100 degrees..and hot and humid and windy and all that! I barely took off my sweater last week when the heat wave suddenly invaded us on Mother's Day. I don't really enjoy hot weather, so I'm looking for ways to think positively about this bizarre weather situation!

1. HAPPY HIBISCUS plants on patio! I've been busy planting my patio pots and annuals around the area between my house and office. It's a short commute - about 20 steps, but I pass by it constantly, so that is where I concentrate my gardening efforts! This year's color scheme is yellow, purple and coral - great L*K colors!

2. TINY TOMATOES are already growing on my patio tomato vines! Ahhh...the promise of a summer full of juice tomatoes of all sizes, shapes and color. I'm really looking forward to tomato-intensive meals...where your menu strategy is to use as many tomatoes as possible. I have started oven-roasting my excess tomatoes to freeze, but that is a future post.

3. LETTUCES AND PARSLEY are ready to pick! I planted 4 varieties of lettuce and spinach and they look better than usual. Probably due to our unusually COOL weather, up until this week. What a joy to step outside the kitchen and pick a piece of lettuce for a sandwich, or a pile for a fresh salad. Can't wait 'til the basil gets a little bigger!

4. FAITHFUL GRAND-DOG HENRY...guardian of the patio hose! He had a close encounter with a giant mother raccoon and baby last week, which nearly took a year off my life with fright! But he emerged unscathed and (hopefully) a little more cautious. We can hope!

5. GIANT GLASS OF ICED TEA...nestled on my messy desk next to fibers and my favorite hand lotion. It sure helps keep me awake when I fade in the afternoon. I don't think I was really meant to spend a whole day at a desk!

HAPPY HOT WEATHER TO ALL!

and the design process continues...

2011-05-06T12:14:00.000-05:00

Rememberr when we started blogging about the design process way back on April 4? We wanted to show the evolution of a design...from original idea to publishing and distribution. We were clicking right along, showing you the group of 3 new Inspirational Boxer kits on their journey towards publication....until we hit a SNAG! We ordered the frames right when the frame company took a 2 week shutdown. OOPS...who knew? Then one of the frames arrived and it was the wrong size...DOUBLE OOPS!

The replacement frame arrived and Debbie from my local needlework shop Heart's Desire stretched and framed all 3 pieces. I don't do the stretching myself...she's an expert! Here I am at the checkout stand. My new Boxers are the wrapped things at the bottom of the pic, the wrong sized frame is sitting on top. Who knows...it might work for something else? In Debbie's hand is my purchase of the day - a beautiful new book from Leisure Arts with designs from my best bud Judy Whitman from JBW Designs. Check it out - it is gorgeous and quite a bargain!

Next a short drive to the photographer's studio. I had an appointment this morning, so beforehand I rounded up a bunch of props for the photos. We don't usually prop Boxer photos, but I wanted these to have a different, old-fashioned look, so I raided my office and house for some of my favorite things. I told Steve (photographer) what I had in mind in advance, so he also pulled a few goodies from his storeroom as well as his Mom's basement! Steve is a collector...oh my...he has everything...and he even knows where it is!

We had a fun time doing arrangements with antique marbles, buttons, piano music (my piano teacher would be so proud!), a cool old Collars & Cuffs china container and lots of other old stuff. See the framed needlework sitting in the middle of the mess? Leaning on it is the BONUS design that will be included in this kit. We made it into a little pincushion and trimmed it will beautiful hand-dyed chenille from R & R.

Here is Steve standing on his trusty stool so he can shoot down on the whole little vignette. You can see one of the giant lights on the right, but there are more surrounding the table. I used to shoot all of my own photos on my back porch. You should have seen me sweating in the summer (while shooting Christmas projects) and freezing in the winter, trying to shoot with my gloves on! A professional assures much more predictable and reproducible results. The better photo file you begin with, the better the results and your ability to make color adjustments during the printing process.

Everything is DIGITAL!!! Immediately we view the shots on the computer next to the camera. When we are satisfied with the arrangement, we make color adjustments and save everything on a disc. When I first began at L*K, we shot real film and had to scan the photos afterwards. In order to "see" what we were shooting, the photographer would also shoot Polaroids, so we could get an instant idea of what was on the film. Sounds like the dark ages now!

I love going to the photographer - so interesting and fun. Steve likes having me visit, because his wife is a needleworker, and my stuff is so different from what he usually shoots. Next step...next post!!!

A jolly good slumber party!

2011-04-29T11:54:00.000-05:00

Hmmm...how should we celebrate the early morning royal nuptials? How about a grown-up slumber party? Girls only, of course! A group of six friends gathered at my friend Connie's house last night about bed time. We all brought our overnight bags, wedding hats and assigned food items. We munched on cute (and surprisingly tasty) cucumber sandwiches (I made them and used flower cookie cutters to shape them), finished our breakfast prep, then set our alarms and went to bed. After a bit of giggling and late night chatting, we aimed for as much sleep as possible before our 4 AM wake up call!

It was painful climbing out of bed so early, but we put on our robes and hats, and gathered in front of the TV, turned on the fireplace and snuggled in our blankets. Connie remembered to put our egg casserole in the oven and as we watched the royal wedding, we soon realized we were, indeed, HUNGRY!! Was it the excitement of the royal wedding, the finally revealed wedding dress design, the crazy parade of hats and inexplicable English clothes...or was it the smell of breakfast? Whatever!

After the ceremony was finished, we moved to the table for a royal breakfast! We feasted on lemon blueberry scones with lemon curd and Devonshire cream. It turns out Devonshire cream (or clotted cream) and lemon curd (tastes like lemon creme pie!) are both extremely yummy.

We also had chocolate dipped strawberries, egg casserole, and tea....lots of hot tea served in Connie's grandmother's beautiful china teacups. Oh yea, orange juice mimosas also magically appeared! After the much-awaited royal balcony kiss, the gals with "real jobs" got dressed and left to be at work at 8 AM. We'll talk later to see how perky they were today?! The 3 of us who remained did the dishes and savored our royal morning a little longer.

What was the best part? That's easy, old chap! Having fun with my own "royal" girlfriends!!! Cheerio!