Stitchtastic: June 10 Newsletter

Summer's here......was it?

Hi all, I'm writing this during the first hot spell of the year,
well, the first one where I've had the chance to sit with my bare
feet in a paddling pool.....there's nothing better! I wasn't
stitching at the time but the thought did cross my mind that I may
very well do that if we get some more summer later.

In this newsletter we're focusing on social media (that's
facebook to you and me, plus twitter and some others too) and also
looking at the story of one stitcher's journey through our Lewis
Hamilton design. One thing following on from our last
newsletter, where we looked at stitching on a plane.

I'd like to say hi to Jenny, who sent me a lovely e-mail after my
article last month about my experiences attempting to stitch whilst
on our way to America. She told me about one of her friends, who has
taken a small cutter onto flights quite recently with no problems.
Whilst I can't guarantee that your own airline will allow you to
stitch on board the flight, the evidence is certainly building up
that you'll be able to stitch on board. Which really helps with the
boredom! Talking of stitching and planes, my Spitfire is coming on
well, I'm about three quarters of the way through and I hope to be
able to show it to you next month, all being well.

Our Lewis Hamilton design, beautifully completed by Kelly for her
friend Jade.

Kelly, Jade and Lewis

A couple of weeks ago I had a lovely e-mail from Kelly, who had
been working extremely hard to complete our Lewis Hamilton design
for her friend Jade. She sent these brilliant 'action shots' so that
I could see how she had stitched the design.

I love watching other people stitch, because everyone is
different. These photos are the next best thing, I can see for
example that Kelly likes to complete a large chunk of a certain
colour before moving on to the next one, and that she is happy to
start a second page of her design even if the first page still has
some stitching left to complete on it.

I really envy Kelly for this. I'm really weird about my stitching
and I have to finish a page of the design before I can move onto the
next page. Kelly's method is so much more efficient than mine!

Kelly says her friend Jade is Lewis' number one fan, and so she
worked night and day to complete the stitching in time for Jade's
birthday, working until 2am the previous night to finish - that's
friendship for you!

Apparently Jade absolutely loved the stitching, which was
obviously a relief to Kelly, we've all stitched for non stitching
friends and worried about whether they'll like it, after we've put
in a lot of hours, far more than if we'd simply shopped for a
present.

Well done Kelly, and good luck with your next stitching project.
If anyone has been inspired by Kelly's brilliant job, have a look at

http://www.stitchtastic.com/product/mclaren-hamilton-f1-caricature-cross-stitch-kit.aspx
.

Stitchtastic on Facebook!

I'm fairly new to Facebook. I've had great fun working out all
the different options and was delighted when, after our last
newsletter, some of you clicked 'Like' for our Stitchtastic facebook
page. Now we need more of you! I've put up lots of pictures of my
stitching, plus some of our fans are starting to add their own
pictures too. If you click 'Like' on our facebook page, you may have
the honour of appearing on the Stitchtastic website (don't let that
put you off!) and you'll hear all the latest news before anyone
else. You can link up to other stitchers who have completed our
designs, and compare notes! Search for 'Stitchtastic' on the
facebook search and get chatting! You can contact us that way with
any stitching queries you may have, or just show off your work. You
never know where it could lead to - maybe a starring role in our
next newsletter!

One little extra treat - have a look at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBCJcL8Bd1I to see our first
cross stitch video! We started small with this production of 'How to
thread a cross stitch needle', but we have big plans to produce a
lot more 'How to' videos. Let me know what you think by posting a
comment!