SPOOKED! Collage Sneak Peek Photo

It's here...our "famous" collage SNEAK PEEK photo!  Here's your best to chance to "see" our SPOOKED! Mystery Sampler ahead of time. Have a look and put your sleuthing skills to work and see what you can "discover" about the upcoming SPOOKED! Mystery Sampler. We've packed lots of little clues into one picture.

I spy with my little eye....
* Winnie Witch BONUS standup (check out her "real" stem)
* Beautiful threads including our new custom color, but which one is it (we'll reveal the name soon)
* 2 sided fob BONUS (wonder what the other side looks like?!)
* "Cleverly crumpled" SPOOKED! Mystery Sampler (unframed)
* "Artfully folded" For the Birds BONUS stitchery
* SPOOKED! embellishment pack insert and a spatter of buttons
* My recycled sweater pumpkins - DIY project with my craft buddy/guru, Glenna, last fall
* If you "spot" any other clues, leave me a COMMENT at bottom of post

Speaking of "sleuthing"...did any of you devour Nancy Drew mysteries as a kid like I did? Oh my! Reading Nancy Drew was how I learned the definition of "sleuthing". I remember lazy afternoons at my friend's house (shout out to Connie GW if you are reading!), each of us sprawled on her twin beds, working our way through a Nancy Drew mystery. I also remember afternoons in her kitchen making our famous Chocolate Chip Meringue cookies. Connie's Mom was a dear to let us loose in her kitchen, and I learned how to separate the egg whites and yolks while making some fabulous cookies.

http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/chocolate-chip-meringue-cookies/

Here's a link to some similar Chocolate Chip Meringue Cookies on my favorite food blog, Gimme Some Oven. I may need to whip up of these little pillows of chocolate and meringue now....

Our next behind-the-scenes SPOOKED! post will be a behind-the-scenes visit with Mona, our expert finisher AND our field trip to Picture This Plus to see our beautiful linen and Aida being dyed for SPOOKED! We made the pilgrimage to nearby Abilene, Kansas to visit Marilyn and the PTP gang last Friday. We wanted to confirm that they were really working on Friday afternoon...and those hard-working ladies were still there...and eating ice cream.

Everyone is invited to join our SPOOKED! Mystery Sampler Club! If you need to order, let your fave needlework supplier know and have them pre-order NOW. We needs pre-orders to insure we have enough supplies from OUR suppliers. 

We'll ship Part One of SPOOKED! to shops around the world on June 15. The first shipment will include:

* Part One leaflet with thread key, instructions, and the first 1/3 of SPOOKED!
* BONUS 2 sided fob chart and instructions
* SPOOKED! thread pack with 13 skeins of Weeks Dye Works, including our mystery custom color
* SPOOKED! fabric precuts, available in 28 and 32 ct. linen, and 14 and 16 ct. Aida
* SPOOKED! embellishment packs with goodies for Mystery Sampler and 3 BONUS projects

We're getting psyched for a summer of stitching mystery and can't wait to begin the journey together in June.

Mysteriously yours,
Linda

Cross Stitch 101 - Questions and Answers

Last time our class met, I asked you all to send questions. I knew there were things I hadn't covered in class that you would like to hear about, but what are they?

Here are answers to a few questions you submitted. I won't cover all questions here, but hope to get to remainder soon. Some questions were covered in earlier discussions. Don't miss class!

Q: How do you decide on fabric? Do you use something you have on hand or go shopping? How do you choose the fabric company or manufacturer?

A: Great question! I often make a basic fabric decision when I begin the design. My software allows me to put the background color on the computer screen. Thread color choices really change with varying backgrounds, so it helps to know if you're designing for a light, dark, bright, or specific colored fabric.

Then I get more specific on fabric choice when I'm ready to stitch the model. Yes, I still stitch ALL of my own models. A great deal of change/creativity occurs when I move the design from the screen to needle and thread. Twould definitely be easier to use a model stitcher, but the designs wouldn't be the same. You can usually find me stitching (working!) in the evenings.

My fabric shelf is in my supply closet (left). My home office is actually a guest bedroom, so I added shelves instead of hanging rods to the closet. Fabric is organized by thread count, and also fabric company. I'm guessing you're thinking..."not that much fabric in her stash!", or "what a mess!".

One perk of being is a designer is that manufacturers will send you supplies at no charge. When I began 20 years ago sample fabric would just arrive in the mail - unsolicited. Now I have to call and request what fabric I would like. Sometimes fabric companies send info about new fabrics being released, but rarely send the actual fabric until I request it. Fabric is expensive, as you all know.  If there are fabrics that I'm not using, I usually donate them. I try to weed out fabrics that are discontinued so I won't accidentally use them for a model and cause confusion.

If I have a "fabric emergency" and NEED a fabric for immediate stitching, then I visit my LNS (Heart's Desire in Wichita, KS) and buy something she has on hand. Sometimes you just NEED fabric in a hurry!


Q: How about threads and embellishments? Do you keep a good stock on hand?

A: Pretty much same answer as above regarding fabric. Thread companies are good about sending new color releases. As I use my threads for models, I request replacement threads from the source (at no charge). I'm super careful with my threads (as my fabric) and try to be respectful of what I've been sent and not waste anything. I have accumulated a nice stash of embellishments over the years. The tricky part is finding what I'm looking for. I have embellishments sorted by buttons, charms, beads, etc.

When we moved to our new home last summer I had to completely reorganize my needlework stuff, and I'm still searching for a few things. When organizing my supply closet was just one part of organizing the whole house, it was overwhelming. Now, after almost a year, I need to clean out my office supply closet, reorganize, and hopefully find some lost treasures. Heck, I even found a few things tidying up for these photos (yes, this is "tidy"). Both pictures above are thread stashes.


Q. Where does your inspiration come from and how do you start - events, sayings, family....?

A. All of the above! First, I keep a schedule of releases for a year at a time. I've been doing this for many years and it helps me stay on track. I pencil in themes of things I want to do, and what month. Generally I release new things every 2 months. Then I pencil in things I do every year...like Tiny Tidings, annual Snippet Santa, Flora's Christmas collection, etc and make sure they're not forgotten.

You can see that the already released designs are now in pen, and the rest of 2016 is in pencil and subject to change...and the end of 2016 is MIA. What's that hiding behind my schedule? Looks like this year's Snippet Santa is peeking out. He's ready for needle and thread tonight.

As I'm planning a year's worth of cross stitch, I try to do designs from my variety of formats...charts, Snippets, Flip-it series, kits, Boxers, etc....something for every shop and every stitcher. Some shops love kits, and some can't sell them. Some shops go crazy with Flip-it series. You get the idea.

Inspiration comes from seasonal stuff, themes I want to explore, things/sayings you've requested, things happening in my life, a saying I happen to see here or there, trends in decor (like right now, beachy stuff is really trending)...everything.

Next class, I'll cover more about the business end of designing. You sent some really good questions about printing, distribution, legal stuff, copyright infringement...all the nitty gritty, day to day of the design biz. Very little time is actually spent in front of the computer doing new designs...who knew, right?!

Class dismissed...GO STITCH!!!

Behind-the-scenes at SPOOKED! Mystery Sampler

Our upcoming SPOOKED! Mystery Sampler Club is at the top of our list right now. There's a lot of action behind the scenes when we're readying for a big mystery sampler release.  We won't release Part 1 of SPOOKED! until this summer, but we've been working on it steadily since 2016 began. We want to share the prep with all of you and keep you posted on our progress.

***If you haven't heard about SPOOKED! Mystery Sampler Club, scroll back to previous post for all the scoop.

SPOOKED! is our 5th Mystery Sampler project, and it's been a learning process with each one. Remember our previous Mystery Samplers?

Very Scary 2013

Holly & Hearts 2014

Things Unseen 2014-2015

A Little Mystery 2015

When I decided to do a summer Mystery Sampler, I knew I was ready for another Halloween mystery. It's been 3 years since Very Scary, and it's our Very most popular mystery and still selling! I just saw a great pic from a stitcher sharing their progress on Very Scary on the I Love Stitching L*K Facebook page. ***BTW...if you're not a member of this FB group, please consider joining. It's an independent group of stitchers (I'm a member like everyone else) posting WIP or finished L*K stitcheries. We truly enjoy following along with everyone on their little masterpieces...just as much as you do.

I began by searching online for a unique Halloween phrase, aiming for something that hasn't been used a zillion times. Tough to do, but I'm pleased with my choice. The phrase helped direct my design, and things flowed from there. When I'm designing a Mystery project, it's hard to stay away from the computer. My desk is a disaster of notes and ideas and other projects are temporarily on hold. I'm on a creative binge and sleep-challenged until it's finished...and then I tweak it again and again.

I kept my original sketch for SPOOKED! above. If you look closely, there was a vertical option (and a different phrase) and the horizontal option and phrase I chose below. There's also a little list to the side with some autumn motifs I was considering using...just little reminders to myself. Some of them actually made it on the finished sampler! Clearly my sketches are pretty sloppy, just a vehicle to get to the computer where the magic begins, clicking on all those little squares. 

If the size and shape of SPOOKED! looks familiar to you, it is! I used the exact same stitch count as our previous Holly & Hearts Mystery Sampler. The size is so nice...not huge, but a really satisfying project. If you like to trade seasonal projects in/out of frames and have already completed Holly & Hearts, this Mystery is for you.

After SPOOKED! was all designed, I still had lots of spooky little motifs that were unused and "floating" on my design program outside the finished SPOOKED! design. I didn't want to hit Delete on all of these, so fashioned them into a group of 3 BONUS projects.

The BONUS projects for SPOOKED! are so fun!! I had a blast stitching and finishing them. Actually, I enjoyed the stitching, and really enjoyed trading finishing ideas with my finishing guru, Mona. Mona does all the gorgeous finishing (I'm sewing challenged). And she's promised to post complete finishing instructions - along with pics of the actual projects - on her fantastic finishing blog. Stay tuned to magicbymona.blogspot.com as the mystery unfolds. 

CHECK BACK SOON for another post and we'll have our "famous" sneak peek collage photo. You can use your mystery sleuth skills to pick out lots of fun mystery details from this upcoming picture. We're also working on upcoming blog posts for:

* L*K field trip to Garner, NC to visit Weeks Dye Works and see our custom color in production. Can't wait!

* Field trip to Picture This Plus in nearby Abilene, KS to watch the SPOOKED! linen and Aida in progress

* Embellishment Pack goodies

* Mona at work on finishing SPOOKED! bonus projects

Meanwhile, I'm working with 2 printers to print SPOOKED! Part 1. One printer does the full color work on the cover. Here's the proof I approved this morning for cover art. Hope to have these in our hands by end of week and begin collating and sacking.

The other printer will publish the insides. I'm still tweaking the 2.5 pages for Part 1. My proofer has completed her work, I've made corrections, and then I'm proofing all over again. Part 1 includes all the important info you keep in order to complete the other Parts 2 and 3 - the thread guide and color key. The ".5" portion of Part 1 is the BONUS 2 sided fob design and instructions.

We are encouraging shops to begin a list with us, then add to it as their orders increase and the needlework shop pre-order deadline nears on May 25 . Part One shipment leaves L*K on June 15. If you want to join our SPOOKED! Mystery Sampler club, just let your fave needlework shop know ASAP. Ordering early really helps us with our suppliers to get everything you need, when you want it!

***Leave a comment if there are other "mystery" details you'd like to know behind-the-scenes at SPOOKED! We're happy to blog about them if they're not TOP SECRET.

Have a great mysterious week!

PS - Happy 33rd Birthday Ali "Kate"! We love you, and L*K wouldn't be L*K without you!

SPOOKED! Mystery Sampler coming this SUMMER!

It's not a mystery anymore. We're doing another summer mystery club, and we can't wait to share the news with all of you. Introducing our...

SPOOKED! Mystery Sampler Club

What's a mystery sampler? Most of you know, because you've been asking for another mystery. But for the "uninitiated", it's a sampler that unfolds in parts. The big mystery is...what will it look like?! Because unlike every other L*K project, there is no project photo on the front (I know...shocking!). Each month you receive a portion of the design. As you stitch, the project develops and the mystery unfolds!

Mystery Samplers are so fun, because...well, lots of reasons:

*It's a giant club with stitchers literally all over the world. And it's the best kind of club, because EVERYONE is invited and welcomed. It's fun to chat with other "members" as the mystery develops. And yes...there are a few over-achievers who race through each section. It's fun for needlework shops, because they get to see you/communicate with you every month. 

*We do lots of extra fun things when it's mystery sampler time. This summer we're working to develop a new overdyed thread color just for SPOOKED! We're also rounding up all sorts of fun embellishments to make SPOOKED! really special. We also offer precut fabrics (fantastic!) in 2 sizes of linen and 2 sizes of Aida.

*We "reward" Mystery Club stitchers with BONUS projects. SPOOKED! will include one BONUS project with each part...3 BONUS stitcheries in all! And let me tell you, they're super fun this time and only available with SPOOKED! 

HERE'S ALL THE ADVANCED SCOOP ON SPOOKED!

* 3-part series will ship in mid June, July and August.

* Stitch Count for SPOOKED! is 227W x 97H. Clever mystery sleuths will recognize this as the exact same stitch count from an early Christmas mystery, Holly and Hearts. If you like to switch frames seasonally, that's an option.

* SPOOKED! is stitched on Ale linen, from Picture This Plus. It's a great mottled, pale brownish/neutral color that makes Halloween colors pop and we love it. We'll have 4 fabric options...28 and 32 ct. Ale linen, as well as 14 and 16 ct. Ale Aida. All fabrics are precut with 3" border on all sides, serged, and individually packaged. You can also personalize with your own fabric choice.

* SPOOKED! thread pack has 13 skeins of Weeks Dye Works overdyed threads, including an exclusive new color we requested especially for SPOOKED! It's not named yet, but we'll reveal that soon.

* There are 3 BONUS projects, one included with each SPOOKED! portion. I was having so much fun designing this one, I didn't want to stop. I had "leftover ideas and motifs" and needed a place to put them! These are each lovely little projects by themselves. Here are the BONUS projects, in the order they will be revealed:

Bewitched 2 sided fob/pin pillow - 26W x 29H on each side - June
Winnie Witch standup - 43W x 79H (you can stand her up or flatten her like the Wizard of Oz!) - July
For the Birds - 121W x 29H - a very large BONUS for August

You're ALL invited to join our SPOOKED! Mystery Sampler Club!! We've mailed info and order forms to needlework shops around the world. Just contact your favorite needlework supplier for pricing and pre-order info. 

We'll be blogging soon with behind-the-scenes looks at the whole mystery sampler process, including our awesome suppliers/partners at Weeks Dye Works, Picture This Plus, and Just Another Button Company, and (of course) the busy goings-on at Lizzie*Kate. 

***We're super excited to share that we'll be making a field trip to Garner, NC...better known as the home of Weeks Dye Works. We'll be dropping in on Miranda, John and all the WDW gang to visit their fascinating business. I've always wanted to see how those beautiful fibers and fabric are dyed and the whole production process. Hopefully we'll see our mystery thread color in production. And I'll be sharing pics with all of you about our thread pilgrimage...can't WAIT!

We know from previous mystery adventures, that you enjoy seeing all the prep and creativity that make a mystery happen. It's truly takes a (cross stitch) village to put one of these projects together, and we want to include YOU as we uncover the SPOOKED! Mystery Sampler together.

Mysteriously yours, 

Linda

Lizzie*Kate

P.S. Lots of you are asking about pricing and where to pre-order. Just contact your usual cross stitch supplier and ask them to pre-order. We've mailed info to needlework shops. If they haven't started a list, ask them to put you at the top of the list! If you need to find a needlework shops, you can visit the "Shop Listings" section of our website. http://lizziekate.com/stitchers.html  Most shops are willing to mail - just ask! 

* Check back soon for a SPOOKED! teaser photo and more mysterious happenings at L*K.

Cross Stitch Design 101 - Spring Break!

What? Only 2 classes and it's already time for spring break? I'm the teacher, I make the rules and I say Spring Break!

Actually, after 2 posts full of L*K designing tips, I feel like I've hit a wall on giving advice. (Scroll back to see previous Design 101 posts if you've been skipping class.)

Now I need some comments/questions from all of you!!!

I want to hear what else you would like to know about designing cross stitch.

Have I left out some important design steps?
Want to hear more about the publishing process after a design is "done"?
Want a tour of L*K world headquarters/warehouse where Alan works?
Want to hear about "typical day" as a designer?
Want to hear about distributors/shops/online shops and all that confusion?

I know I can't answer all of your questions, but please leave a comment below with what you'd like to know about L*K and cross stitch design. 

Class dismissed for SPRING BREAK!

***Summer MYSTERY SAMPLER sneak peek info coming soon!  Visit again soon! 

MORE coming soon!

In addition to the new Yearbook Double Flips, we have a couple other new designs COMING SOON!

B53 Accept What Is Inspiration Boxer plus BONUS sampler!

I'm so excited about this new Inspiration Boxer. I love the simple sentiment that was a "Top 10 finalist" in our inspirational sayings contest several years ago. It finally made it's way to the top of my design list. 

But I'm also super excited to share this darling BONUS sampler!! It turned out extraordinarily large for a BONUS. If you read previous posts on cross stitch designing, you know how things don't always turn out as anticipated when I'm designing.  I considered releasing it separately as a Snippet, then decided to include it as a BONUS, as originally intended.

Speaking of things not turning out as intended, the frame we ordered for the BONUS arrived the wrong size. We were in a rush, so used the too-long frame, and tried to disguise it in our cover photo with some lovely vintage linens (see top photo). So there's a behind the scenes L*K snafu. Sometimes you have to be flexible, even in a very precise sort of business like cross stitch. Here it is (above) with correct frame...charming.

B53 Accept What Is Inspiration Boxer includes 32 ct. Lambswool linen for main piece, tiny pink buttons (for main piece and BONUS) and BONUS design. You furnish a bit of fabric from your stash for the BONUS sampler. 

S125 For We Walk by Faith Snippet

Our other newbie is a Snippet, using II Corinthians 5:7 as our text. I'm thinking about starting a series of Snippets with some favorite scripture...but where to begin? This verse jumped out at me a while ago while sitting at my computer, and a new design was born. We're including the sweet little heart/cross charm because we love it. 

Above is the cover as you'll see this Snippet in your favorite needlework store. Don't miss our little "20 years" logo which will appear on all our designs this year. 

***On a personal note, I had my second cataract surgery yesterday. I did my left eye 2 weeks ago, and returned to do the right eye yesterday. Clearly I'm seeing a whole lot better than I did yesterday (while sporting my pirate patch) if I'm able to do this post. 

What an interesting experience! I'm sure many of you have had this surgery and have your own stories to tell. I was surprisingly alert during both procedures and remember the whole thing - which the anesthesiologist said I would not. Clearly the anti-anxiety drug was working or I would have been more alarmed, but still...pretty psychedelic light show was happening in my surgical eye! 

Thankfully both surgeries were less than 10 minutes, so I didn't have too long to ponder what was happening. I refrained from chatting with the surgeon...didn't want to distract her. Now I'm off for my day-after visit with my doc, and see how this new lens is working. My kitchen counter has 2 detailed schedules of 3 rotating eyedrops for each eye, so hopefully I can manage that for the next month.

Meanwhile I'm facing the world make-up free for a few days. But the hope of saying goodbye to contacts forever is making me smile!

NEW for April!

We're super excited to preview what's coming soon...including a new Double Flip series for 2016!

***We don't have an exact ship date to shops yet, but we're crossing our fingers and planning to ship on April 18.

L*K Yearbook Double Flips!!!

What's a Yearbook Double Flip? We're doing another monthly series. It's been years and years since we've done a monthly series, and decided it was the perfect way to celebrate L*K's 20th anniversary in the needlework biz. And you know...we have the same 12 months every year...so this never goes out of style.

After considering lots of options, we decided to name this series Yearbook because it seemed fitting for our 20th year. And who doesn't love enjoying a good Yearbook? Check out pics from my Class of 1973 yearbook at the end of this post.

This time we're packaging our yearly designs as Double Flips - 2 months in one little leaflet. Because they're Flip-its, we're including a charm for each design.

Here's a couple fun facts about our new Yearbook Double Flips:

* We're using the same 12 antique gold charms we used for our original "A Year with Charm" Flip-its from back in the day. It was a fun design challenge for me to incorporate the same charms and it's a nice nod to our L*K Flip-it history.

"A Year with Charm" was the first Flip-it series (F1-F12), where we learned to put charms in tiny 1" x 1" sacks. We even pioneered using fugitive glue (Glu Dots) to attach the tiny bags inside each Flip-it. Twenty years later, we're still busy putting embellishments in tiny zip bags, "stripping" them, and attaching to Flip-its and Double Flips.

* Every Yearbook Double Flip month contains an L*K motif, previously seen in another L*K design. What does that mean? I thought it would be fun to "hide and seek" some familiar L*K motifs. Example: the little house in January previously appeared in F115 Snow Day. I tweaked the roof line and windows a bit, but the house is mostly the same. On some months, you can spot an exact "copy" from a previous L*K design. With 20 years worth of designs, there's a lot of territory to "borrow" from. And it's OK to copy yourself...right? Another fun little design challenge for me and a little "historic" note.

* Every Yearbook Double Flip contains a little house, and a "boxed" motif. I've been talking in my previous Cross Stitch Design 101 blog posts about how repetition is a great design tool. Here's a perfect example of using repetition in a design series. Each Yearbook Double Flip contains 2 months, so I included a house in one month, and a little "boxed" motif in the other month (check out the pics). It was fun to vary the style of the houses...there's even a schoolhouse and a log cabin! I also varied the shape of the "boxed" motifs, using all sorts of geographic shapes to outline a featured motif. Maybe this all sounds silly, but it's part of my design process, and how my brain works.

* Every Yearbook Double Flip has our little 20th Anniversary "alarm clock" on the cover. I designed a little celebratory motif for the recent Nashville Market, and decided to use it for 2016 designs. Fun reminder of 20 years and counting...

Yearbook Double Flips are coming soon! We're busy printing and assembling, but we plan to ship to shops everywhere in mid April. Contact your favorite supplier to pre-order.

A funny thing happens when you move...you find all sorts of interesting things you didn't know you still needed...like my Class of 1973 high school Yearbook!

I have fond memories of my time at historic Wichita North High School, and was thrilled when our daughters were able to attend the same school. The lovely old building was a few years older (and still not air-conditioned) but the 1929 building was still so pretty, sitting on the banks of the Arkansas River with it's own matching bridge. Hey...we were the only school in town who did canoeing in gym class while wearing those crazy bloomer gym shorts!

Thought you would enjoy my senior photo. Why wasn't I smiling? I was rocking the "Farrah Fawcett" layered look and seemed to be having a good hair day (1973 style). Who knows what high school angst I was dealing with back in 1973, or was the photo lady playing a trick on me?

Alas, this photo will haunt me for years to come in the 1973 Yearbook and hanging in the antique halls of North High. 

Farewell, hallowed halls of Wichita North High. I will still visit you whenever there's a North High Open House or a great basketball game. 

Hello...L*K Yearbook Double Flips!