Pretty Scissors

I love scissors! In fact, I have a passion for them and own far too many pairs. Some of them are wonderful because they are so good at my needlework chores: I have a favorite pair of Dovos with blades so slender that they make the chore of ripping easier; I have traditional Ginghers for cutting meshes when I do Ruskin. And I have all sorts of others poised for snipping threads at all kinds of destinations around my house, in short wherever I might light with a canvas in my hand.

In addition I have collected scissors for, well, forever.

In the last few years I have been making sewing cases and using some of my scissors in them. Now I have started making scissors fobs. Stitched ones, beaded ones. They're fun to do and decorative too.

When my students started asking about scissors for sewing cases, I also started surfing on eBay for pretty scissors and posting the listings on my website. A way of chasing scissors without having to own them all myself. My website followers have reported that they have bought many of the pairs I have found on eBay and it is always exciting to hear that a sweet pair has found a nice home.

So I surf. Often when I should be doing other needlework chores, like more kits, more packets of beads, corrections to my instructions masters, and of course Mail Jail (which is forever, even when I am not having a sale).

On my website I post the listings, sometimes with a bit of editorializing, sometimes with the progress of the auction, always with the auction results. Lately I have found some wonderful pairs! In fact there are a couple of memorable pairs on my eBay page right now.

Ahhh, temptation!

Enough about scissors for the morning; back to work on chores. Faint panic sets in this morning as I watch the dawn of the final day of June. Half the year is over.
Gay Ann

A Technique Called Goop

This morning I posted a new Techniques Column.
Essentially it is on what I call 'Goop' and my column suggests one way we might all avoid the concept.
For quick reference:

www.GayAnnRogers.com.
Click on 'Techniques' then scroll down and click on Techniques 11.

Gay Ann

Tomorrow: A New Techniques Column on My Website

One time I was having breakfast with a number of needlework friends at our very favorite breakfast haunt (best Eggs Benedict in all its variations around, but that's another story).

Much of the discussion was about painted canvases for needlepoint, and one friend turned to me and made a comment that I didn't do painted canvases, therefore was rather left out of the discussion. I realized then something I hadn't thought about before: my friend sees a dichotomy.

I don't see the dichotomy. Painted canvas or counted canvas, it is basically all the same to me.

I suppose that's from my designer point of view. I suppose the difference comes in that the stitcher has more obvious latitude on a painted canvas to choose stitches and threads, and it is precisely that latitude that is the subject of my Techniques 11 column.

Tomorrow morning: www.GayAnnRogers.com and click on Techniques, then on Techniques 11.

Gay Ann

A New Techniques Column on My Website

It has been nearly half a year since I have written a Techniques Column on my website. I think it has been so long because I have been mired down in writing instructions booklets and didn't feel like writing any more than I had to. But this morning I woke up in the mood to catch up on Techniques.

My new Techniques Column is on the weight of thread. As I look at needlework past and present, I think much of technical success depends on the weight of the thread the stitcher chooses. We all recognize when thread is too thin, but too often we miss noticing when thread is too heavy. My column this morning is on assessing thread weight and constant testing. Like most of life, there isn't any magic answer, just toil and practice.

I have found over the years that very little is set in needlework. I know any number of needlework teachers who think up formulae and pronounce on their perfection, but the best of the needlework teachers I know say the opposite: most of good needlework is a matter of trial and error and a lot of tinkering, and so it is with thread weight. A couple of my experiences with thread weight and why I find it very important is the subject of my new Techniques Column this morning.

For quick reference: www.GayAnnRogers.com, click on 'Techniques', then scroll down to 'Techniques 10'.

Gay Ann

Townhouses on View

I am newly home from EGA's South Central Region Seminar in Dallas. I had a super time there and one of the best treats for me: I saw some FINISHED Townhouses from my recent class at Shining Needle Society. The townhouses and their stitchers are on my website's home page; on 'Townhouses' I have just posted more photos of the insides and backs of the Townhouses too.

I enjoyed seeing the Townhouses in particular because of the color changes. I suspect the changes were inspired by my colorizations of doors and windows, a little added bonus to the class.

It has been a bit of a journey, learning PhotoShop. I have been working at it for just about a year and a half now and the learning curve has been a bit steep but very worthwhile. What I love best about the potential of PhotoShop for me: I can now colorize my designs in a way I could only dream of in the past. I hoped if I colorized my designs, that my students will see all the potential for creative use of color and be brave and inspired to try the changes.

And now, with the Townhouses in Dallas, I saw the fruits of my labors. It was all so rewarding!

Now I have some new colorizations coming shortly to my website: I colorized Echoes of Elizabeth and soon will post the colorizations along with the original. I like the colorizations so well that I am going to buy more thread, take it to class with me and see if I can talk a student or two into trying the changes. I will let them swap threads and enjoy watching the results.

So here's to PhotoShop, many more lessons and more and more uses for this great program!

And new for me? Illustrator has arrived in my life. Illustrator is leg 2 of my dreams for my website, and along the way, guess what: 25 years of hand-written instructions have come to an end. I've produced my first set of instructions on MacSoph, my computer. Illustrator rocks in the life of this aging designer.

Always goes to show you: new tricks for old dogs are possible.

Gay Ann

Some of my proudest moments in Stitching Elizabeth 1

For a couple of weeks I have been writing about my experiences stitching a portrait of Elizabeth 1 (currently on my website's home page).

Tomorrow morning I plan to continue my series on stitching Elizabeth 1 by writing about my proudest stitching moments.

So often my proudest stitching moments happen not when I use a difficult stitch but when I manage to convey a certain effect by choosing a stitch well. Sometimes this happens with the simplest stitches I know, and such is the case with one of my favorite parts of Elizabeth 1.

I have long said, it isn't the number of stitches or the level of difficulty that sets apart a piece of needlework; it is the skill in using the stitches to achieve certain effects. I wish I could say it is all skill, but it is usually the result of a lot of experimentation and a measure of good luck. Actually more than a measure of good luck.

For my series, visit www.GayAnnRogers.com and click on Elizabeth 1.

Gay Ann

Looking Ahead and Dreaming

The Queen is in place on my website homepage now, and the small story of my surprise is in News&Views.

I am looking forward to our class at Callaway where Carole Lake and I are teaching the Queen. I hope we have a rousing good class for it is my final 'travel and teach' job at a seminar. Yes, after Callaway in January I am retiring from 'face to face' classes and turning to the internet.

I am a great believer that fantasy is the first component of creativity, and in the last couple of years I have found in the computer all sorts of fantastic opportunities for fantasy. I want to pursue them! I look forward to staying home with DH and MacSoph (my computer); I look forward to lots more classes at the Apple store and lots more ideas for my website.

Yes, I will miss seeing people face to face, but the computer has some great advantages. Face-to-face classes last 2 or 3 or 4 days; cyber-classes last for months. The months allow time to try a technique, think about a color, ask a question, solve a problem. Maybe, on down the line, there will be a way to combine the two. Who knows.

So here's to time to dream and see what I can do, both with needle and with computer, and hopefully a combination of the two.
Here's to more PhotoShop, some Illustrator and maybe some Flash. Here's to a magic gate, a poem, a castle and an alternative world.

I can't wait!

Gay Ann

If you would like information about Callaway Needle Arts School, here are some links.

To see all of Callaway’s offerings for January, click on the link below:
http://www.callawaygardens.com/needlearts

Or contact Pat Callihan at pccalli@callawaygardens.com

A Big Surprise indeed for me -- tomorrow morning

A short while ago I had a terrific surprise and I will post the story of my surprise on my website tomorrow morning.
It has to do with a piece I stitched last year.

More about it in a couple of days.
Gay Ann

Taking a Class from Betty Chen Louis

Today is the last day to enroll in Betty Chen Louis’ first online class.

For some time I have been urging people to take Betty’s online class, in fact I have been strongly urging them to do so. The project is small and therefore stitch-able, and the lessons are so important.

So important for in Betty’s lessons lies a shift of emphasis, a way of reorienting how her students see needlework. While stitch and thread are important parts of a successful piece of embroidery, they are not the only parts. They aren’t an end in themselves, they are the tools. It isn’t about the stitches and threads; it’s what you do with the stitches and threads that matters. And nobody currently working in my needlework world is more aware of it nor more able to access it than Betty Chen Louis.

That’s why I have been beating the drums and urging people to take a class from her.

And once again:
I should have said in the beginning: I have no financial interest in Betty’s projects; I just think they are extraordinary.

Gay Ann
(posted also on my website today).

More of Betty Chen Louis on my Website

This morning I added another page of needlework designs from Betty.
For quick reference: www.GayAnnRogers.com and click on 'elegant embroidery' on the yellow navigation bar.

Here is another opportunity to see more work by the person I think is the best designer/teacher now working in my world of needlework, so don't miss the opportunity to study her sense of line and color.

As you look at her work please take a few minutes to notice the following: the transitions of line and color in her work, the flow of the design elements, the relationships of the elements one to another and her unequaled sense of the interaction of positive-negative space. All of these are things that help make her work so elegant and graceful. Put another way: the elements of Betty's designs live so comfortably in their space.

Please take some time and visit and revisit, learn and study her work. Most of all, enjoy.

Gay Ann

Betty Chen Louis on my website

Late last night I posted some of Betty Chen Louis' needlework including the Cityscapes she will teach of the Embroiderers' Guild (EGA) at their national seminar in San Francisco in September.

Seeing the collection of Betty's Cityscapes is a must, as IMHO they are some of the best contemporary embroidery. She is the mistress of line and color in our needlework world and if you look at her work you will instantly understand why.

Betty has taught at almost every national seminar for the past gazillion years and now for the first time, she is offering a class online through Shining Needle Society. Her classes aren't like the majority of needlework classes where we show people how to recreate our projects stitch by stitch. Betty's classes always go a step further by incorporating work on design even when students are recreating what she has made.

I am excited to see the opportunity come to Shining Needle Society and our online needlework community.

Gay Ann

Op Ed: The Power of a Photograph

In the past couple of weeks I have posted photos of work by three people who are teaching at EGA's seminar in San Francisco this September. The idea began because a friend of mine pointed out that some of the photographs in the seminar issue of Needle Arts were unclear to say the least. The problem is, many people planning to attend the seminar choose their classes by the photographs of the projects, and how likely would a person opt for a class that looked like a yellow glob instead of a delicate piece of whitework?

I chose three teachers whose projects looked less than sparkling in EGA's online and printed seminar brochures; I asked if they would like to send me photographs, let me try to fix a few and then post them on my website. I was hoping to help a bit.

To correct the color cast of one of the worst photos, that is take away the yellow cast of the photo, I literally clicked on three buttons -- it took less than a minute. Such is the power of a digital camera and a computer with photographs these days.

So why aren't the seminar photographs aren't better quality? I haven't a clue. I just know that after untold amounts of work on the part of a teacher who designs and stitches a project in the best faith her work will be presented well, a photograph can do real harm to a seminar class.

I hope you who read this column will go and have a look at Jane Ellen's, Carolyn's and Sara's work on my website. Their work is wonderful and deserves nothing less than a sparkling presentation. My renditions of the photographs are far from perfect, but they do get the point across that the work is beautiful and delicate, and after all, that's what the photographs need to convey.

To see the photographs go to www.GayAnnRogers.com and click on 'Jane Ellen' and 'Carolyn'. Sara's beadwork is on my homepage.

Gay Ann

My New Heart and Colors

For four days now I have been posting colors for a new heart I finished stitching a short while ago. I have posted a new version on my home page each day, then after a day on my home page I move the heart to a page called "My New Hearts". On this page is the whole collection.

So how many colors are there? I am afraid to count.

I used this heart to learn about a color changing aspect of PhotoShop which I found difficult, so I had to practice and practice. Each practice I made a new heart.

It has been a long haul, learning PhotoShop, but I hope it will prove worthwhile for my students and followers. If I can use it well, it will be the best tool I have found for showing alternative ways of looking at a piece of needlework.

All too often in needlework, we get fixed on a single way to do a design, as if the mistakes we make have to be ripped immediately and corrected to look just like the model; in reality, there are as many ways to do a design as there are people stitching the design. We just have to convince our little needlework world that bringing a bit of yourself to your needlework world is a worthy goal.

So onward and upward with PhotoShop, and onward with more and more heart colors, as I hope it all makes a valid point.

Gay Ann

A New Hearts Project: Undertaking a New Design

Several days ago I started a new project on my website and in my general classroom at Shining Needle Society: 2 new heart designs.

One of these new heart designs will have a twist: I will ask the people in my Shining Needle Society to help me design it.

Our first undertaking: I asked people to suggest themes for the new hearts. After a small bit of editing, the list is now 26 themes long and is posted on my website, www.GayAnnRogers.com, click on Stitch Gay Ann Stash. Now the people in my classroom are voting to narrow the list to 5 subjects.

So how is it going? I have 2 leaders who emerged quickly, but after yesterday's vote, 4 of the subjects are now nipping at the heels of the leaders. Today should be interesting.

Once I narrow the list, I will ask people to vote again and choose the topic of the heart I will design.

Then all along the way I will ask for advice. For example, I may do two drawings and let the group choose which one they like better. Then I will seek advice on choices of threads and stitches and we will see how it comes out.

I must admit, I look forward each day to seeing how the vote is going. Tomorrow I will know the answer.

So what is the purpose of all of this? Too many people think a design emerges complete and finished and ready to stitch. I am hoping people will see that the design process is the opposite: not just one single correct choice, then a bunch of wrong choices, but many choices of merit. Choices all along the way. The choices aren't over till one takes the final stitch.

If people begin to see this process perhaps they will bring some of the freedom of choice to their own needlework. I can always hope.

I hope this is an adventure in more than a bunch of stitches and threads on a fixed and static design.

Gay Ann

My Hearts Sale Ends Tomorrow

For the last couple of weeks I have had a small sale of hearts (four of them to be exact) on my website. It finishes tomorrow at 6:00 pm or as soon as I take it down. I say 'as soon as I take it down' because DH wants to go to the movies at just about the time my Hearts Sale is supposed to end.

Someone asked me why I don't keep sales going on my website all the time; my answer is a simple one: Time. There is another component too: Organization. The two are linked together, as in, it takes a lot of Time to stay Organized and keep on top of these sales. So I do them, but not all the time.

I enjoyed my Hearts Sale and have started thinking about next year already. I finished one new heart this February and have some more drawings set to go. Hearts are fun to stitch because they don't take months and months; usually I start one and in a few evenings it's finished. It takes a few days to write the instructions and then I can move on to another.

So how do I plan to end my sale? By announcing next year's Hearts Sale and asking for a bit of help. I have been at work in PhotoShop and have a question I hope my classroom at Shining Needle Society will help me answer. All for Monday morning.

Meanwhile, the Time Factor is rearing its ugly head: on with four months of writing instructions for seminars.

Gay Ann

A Surprise on Monday Morning

On my website I will have a little bit of a surprise in the morning: I will uncover 4 windows on my home page (www.GayAnnRogers.com).

Most of my followers have figured this surprise out, but they can't guess which ones because some are new.

Happy Valentine's Day on Queendom Website!

Gay Ann

Callaway 2010 and 2011

I had not realized how long it has been since I posted on my blog. I promised somewhere along the line that I would write here more frequently and I see I have done just the opposite. Maybe this year I will be better about it all.

Catching up on my life: after E-Week last fall, I mailed out a ton of Townhouse instructions for people signed up for the class at Shining Needle Society. The class doesn't start until next month, but we did an 'early-registration-start-the-Nun's-Stitch' month in December. I ran it right along with my 'Stitch Gay Ann Stash' program for Shining Needle Society also.

After I mailed Townhouses, I had to start on Callaway preparations. I love to go to Callaway! It is my favorite needlework venue. I am not the only needlework teacher who feels this way -- in fact most of my long-time peers love it best. There is something so relaxed and wonderful about Callaway. The whole setting is informal and beautiful, friendly and hassle free.

This year at Callaway I took photos and posted them on my website in hopes of giving people a feeling for the ambience there; then I had permission to post next year's classes, Callaway 2011, and I just finished posting them. As usual, Callaway seems to have the best of the year's offerings -- go have a look and see if you don't agree:

www.GayAnnRogers.com and click on 'Callaway 2010'. If you scroll down, you will find 5 pages of photos for next year's classes.

Next year will be special because it is the 40th Anniversary for the Needle Arts School.

I am newly back from Callaway 2010 and am transitioning into a winter and spring of writing instructions. I have a full plate with classes for EGA in San Francisco and for Callaway next year. Right now it looks like I will be busy writing instructions for about 4.5 - 5 months. Yikes! I had best get busy.

Gay Ann

Transitioning out of E-Week and Back to Normal Life

As a part of E-Week in October I posted my Townhouse Sewing Case, soon to become a class at Shining Needle Society. I first taught the Townhouse at EGA's 50th celebration seminar in Louisville, then at Callaway. I look forward to trying a cyber class. Although I have had my ongoing classroom at Shining Needle Society for 2 years now (just past the second anniversary), this will be the first time I have taught a class online. I am hoping my students will help me do it well by making recommendations.

I am curious to know what people like and dislike about online classes and would be happy to hear any opinions, along with suggestions how cyber-classes might be improved.

Technology has come such a long way toward helping the prospects of online activities. I realize I am such a beginner at this whole technology game. I keep trying to learn more about it and one of the highlights of my week is going to Apple's classes.

Last week at my Apple class there I showed several people the most awesome thing I have found connected with needlework online: Tricia Nguyen's animated needle! I hope you will go and see her needle make a stitch. As I said, it is awesome!

Here are the links to the animated needle:

http://thistle-threads.com/animationtest/animationtest.html

It is also in the middle of the movie on this page:

http://thistle-threads.com/teaching/projects/onlineclasses/goldworkmasterclass/teach_goldworkmasterclass.html

The animation was done by Tricia's brother a freelance computer animator and also an embroiderer in his own right. His company, Smudge Animation, is doing animated needles demonstrating 28 different stitches for her upcoming Tudor and Stuart Master Gold Work class.

I would love to take the class just to watch those needles!

Gay Ann

Mail Jail: maybe not forever after all

Mail Jail, at least E-Week Mail Jail, may not be forever after all. I am almost at the end! If I stick with it through the weekend and I have no bumps in the Jail Road, I should finish next Monday.

Then I plan to do some serious stitching!

I am working on a chatelaine right now. I had an idea for how to make the chatelaine chain and I can't wait to see how it works. I have been following my own 12 Stitches a Day program to get through it and it amazes me how much stitching my little 5-minutes-a-day accomplishes! I should finish the stitching for the chain about the same time I finish E-Week.

As soon as I am out of Mail Jail, I will plan a special week of stitching assignments for my class at Shining Needle Society. I can't wait to try this and see if people follow it. It should be a very fun game!

More about it when E-Week Mail Jail finishes....

Gay Ann

Mail Jail is Forever

I just finished E-Week, my big sale of the year, and now I am in Mail Jail. If I could wish for one thing in my life I would wish for organization skills. I look at my friends with their perfect files and lists and I sigh. Somehow I missed the Organization Gene. It just isn't there.

Here is a typical example: I haven't emptied my purse yet from seminar in Pittsburgh. My plane ticket is still in there and so is my paycheck. I need to empty it and sort it all out and at least deposit my check. So what am I doing? Writing this post instead.

Poor MacSoph, my computer. She isn't organized at all and the Apple tutors, those I have regularly, have given up. They don't bother to teach me organization any longer because they say I don't do it.

So now I have E-Week Mail Jail which is my low point each year. I am doing better this year but it is far from the way my organized friends would proceed. Take for example my friend Julie who came to help me. She gave me some suggestions about the way it should work, but I fear I am light years from that point. And Pat, to whom I sent two copies of Cranfield House by mistake, suggested many of the same things Julie talked about. They both mentioned terrifying concepts like spread sheets and QuickBooks, etc. etc.

One time Julie (who loves organization) told me I should quit worrying about it, that I have a creative brain and creative brains don't think in columns. Is this a plausible excuse? The problem is, it still doesn't solve the problem, so on I go.

Back to Mail Jail. Mail Jail is forever. Alas, so are mess and disorganization.

Gay Ann