Cross Eyed Kat hits a Milestone!

Last night, I was working very dilligently putting patterns together for the online show orders when something crazy happened - I ran out the big bags that I put the charts in. Luckily, this didn't happen until I was done making all the charts that I needed to make, but this is a very important milestone. Running out of big bags means that there over 2000 Cross Eyed Kat charts have been produced! Now, there are some sitting in my storage tubs in the craft room, but I'd estimate that there are less than 150 in the tubs, so a large portion of that 2000 are in circulation. And that's not even counting the half-size designs and the single page designs like the Fantasy Faire charts! I'm not sure I ever thought about how many charts would go out there in two and a half years. I'm very happy to hit this milestone. Now if we could just make a profit... :)

Putting charts together took way longer than I thought it would last night - of course, I did watch Heroes as well. It probably took longer because it was several different charts (the three new releases, and the covers had to be tweaked because it was a first printing), instead of just one print run. Tonight I'm off to the post office, which will feel good. I also hope to get some charting done tonight! On the other hand, I'm also trying to finish Blue Thing #2 aka the blue sweater. It only has 6 rows left (long rows), some grafting and sewing up the sleeves. I try to only stitch on it at lunch.

The LNS is open late tonight and it is across the street from the post office. What are the odds that I'll have to stop in? I'm thinking pretty good.

First: Shannon L. - Contact me so that you can get your prize! New blogger ate your email!

Now, pictures of the finished Blue Thing:

Pictures of Blue Thing #3 are, unfortunately on the other computer. It has the "It's a Boy" fully stitched, and the border, hand and foot all done in DMC instead of in Weeks Dye Works. The date is stitched in US format (e.g. January 30, 2004) and the weight and lenght are in English units.

Also premiering are Fiber Fobs:

And Fab Fobs:

Why so many fobs? Well, because stitchers have such large scissor collections - here's a perfect way to justify them all. A fob to designate a pair of scissors for every fiber and fiber activity! The "No Paper" design can be made into an individual fob or used on the back of any of the others! These were fun to design and I had fun picking out backing fabric and cording for each of them. And my model stitcher did a lovely job doing them super-fast, too!

Now it is time to move on to some new designs! Or so I hope! Still some things left to address and ship out after the online show. The process never ends.

Above the flood

If you didn't guess from last week's trivia's questions, I spent a good portion of last week in Kansas City (on the Missouri side). I was attending the National Society of Women Engineers Conference. It was my first time to attend the conference and it was quite amazing! Consider gathering a couple thousand collegiate and professional engineers of every flavor in one place and then offering sessions on technology and career development. The lines for the bathroom were a bit long, though. Kansas City was a bit cold and dry for me. I also managed to get myself lost a couple of times in the myriad of highways (that end mysteriously before you turn left to get on again?). I ended up in Kansas (the state) at least once by accident. Unfortunately, my conference kept me too busy to visit any LNS's or LYS's in the area. I did manage not to get delayed by rain coming back to Houston. And then it rained and rained and rained. Luckily no flooding in our area. This morning, it wasn't so much foggy as it was a migrating mist. As I was driving into work, I saw some strange things on the grass. If it had been cold, I would've thought they were patches of ice, but it is not cold enough for ice. I wondered if they were little bits of plastic, but they looked too perfectly star shaped for that. When I got close, I realized that they were cobwebs, hanging flat in the tall grass, covered in dew droplets.

Trivia contest winner: (drumroll please) Shannon L.!

Below are the unanswered questions (and answers):

Question 13: What was the first word said from the Moon?
Answer: Houston

Question 14: What Shuttle Mission is scheduled to launch on July 1, 2006?
Answer: Discover’s STS 121

Question 15: Nasa Rd. 1 outside of Johnson Space Center was briefly renamed for what Astronaut in 1998?
John Glenn (It was named John Glenn Parkway from October 13-November 13, 1998)

Question 16: The Astros currently play in Minutemaid Park - what was the previous name of the ballfield before it was called Minutemaid Park?
Answer: Enron Field

Question 17: How many times have the Astros appeared in the World Series?
Answer: once

Question 18: In Superman II, what do the evil Kryptonians mistakenly think Earth is called?
Answer: Planet Houston

Question 19: What two universities did your favorite designer (ok, the designer who writes this blog) get degrees from?
Answer: Texas A&M University and Georgia Institute of Technology

Question 20: What are the mascots for those universities?
Answer: TAMU: Reveille (a collie); Georgia Tech: Buzz (a yellow jacket)

Question 21: Which was established first, Texas A&M or the University of Texas?
Answer: Texas A&M

Question 22: Which UT is older?
Answer: The University of Tennessee

What musical contains the song that contains the line "Everythings up to date in Kansas City/They've gone about as far as they can go"?
Answer: Oklahoma!

What American city is second in the world for number of fountains (after Rome) giving it the nickname "City of Fountains"?Answer: Kansas City

In other news, I entered a haiku contest on another blog, and although I didn't win, I did get honorable mention (top 30 or so out of 400+ isn't too bad, I think), so here's a link to the winners: http://www.januaryone.com/archives/2006/10/haiku_you.php#more

Now that the online show is over, hopefully I can buckle down on some new designs! I have wonderful plans, but we all know what happens to the best plans!

Trivia Contest and the Online Show

One last chance to answer unanswered questions in the Trivia contest! I know there are some in the archives - although you may have to hunt for them. Post answers in the comments or email them to me if you can't post comments due to blogger problems. Contest runs until the end of the Online show. Winner get their choice of three Cross Eyed Kat charts.

Final questions:

What musical contains the song that contains the line "Everythings up to date in Kansas City/They've gone about as far as they can go"?

What American city is second in the world for number of fountains (after Rome) giving it the nickname "City of Fountains"?

Good Luck!

Finished stitching - now what?

Somehow, in the middle of a hectic weekend, I managed to finish stitching Blue Thing #3! That only leaves one blue thing left to work on, which is the sweater! Yay! I also managed to get my photography done and my virtual booth set up in time (not early, but on time). I still have to stretch Blue Thing #3 and frame both #1 and #3 for chart photography, work on the three new charts, print charts for a new order that came in, order bags, and some other things that I know I'll think of along the way. However, the most important stuff for the online show is done! So be sure to check out my booth at http://www.needleworkshow.com starting Wednesday night! Meanwhile, it is time to get to work on some new designs!

This weekend, I had an interesting experience. I went to a National Portfolio Day with my sister, who is interested in attending an art-centric college. Now, this is not something I had ever seen before, having majored in engineering in college. So imagine, if you will, a hotel ballroom filled to the brim with budding young artists, toting portfolios of their artwork around, some large boxes, some small, all waiting in lines to have their art reviewed by representatives of different art schools. I'm still a bit fuzzy on how this all fits into the whole process of getting into a college, except that each reviewer took notes on the budding young artists after critiquing the work. It did lead me to wonder what there was a review group for budding cross-stitch designers? Would we still get diversity or would the review group look for the same things? Would it help turn away people who aren't ready yet? In fact, we do have a review group - the end consumers who buy product and before them, the shop owners and the distributors who decide what goes into the marketplace. Our reviews are done by the toughest critiquers of all - marketplace economics - where a bad design review doesn't just get hurt feelings, it can loose money.

The week in summary

My apologies for not posting, it has been busy around here. A report on my activities:

First, we went to Waco. I realize this sounds contrary to getting any work done, and it was for the most part, but there was this bike ride, and things just went from there. I did get some knitting done. Then we had to help some friends move. This was also contrary to getting real work done, but what can you do?

So what did get accomplished? Blue Thing #1 was stretched and photographed for the Needlework Retailer ad. Some more Blue Things came into existence:

Mostly this was just finishing work, and the hat had already been started. The in-transit models arrived and much finishing work was accomplished - here's a teaser:

The virtual booth is about half done - I'll see what I can do tonight and Sunday (sorry Cindy).

I still need to order bags and take a picture of Model set #2 for the chart cover, finish blue thing #3 (other version of #1) for the chart cover and work on making charts (oh, yeah, we have to have finished product to sell!)

Did I mention that my parents are coming into town this weekend and we have other company? Anyway, life goes on. Sometimes a little sleep is sacrificed.