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

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!

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"

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!