Copyright, Upcycling, Junior crafting and Easter madness

Copyright

Since my last post, things have been really busy here in the Wilson household.  It’s been a struggle to keep up with the various emails from stitching groups and from friends.  One topic that has caught my attention however, has been the debate around copyright infringement.

The original article, written by Nicole at Northern Expressions Needlework (http://northernexpressions.blogspot.co.uk/), discussed the perils designers face with regards to designs being copied and passed on to other stitchers.  Nevertheless, a debate has been sparked between Nicole and Laurylyan from Perles de Soies (http://perlesdesoies.wordpress.com/2012/04/01/what-is-right-what-is-wrong/). 

In response to both blogs, I have to agree with Nicole.  If it was not for designer’s we stitcher’s would not have the opportunity to spend our time enjoying the pursuit we do.  Yes, some stitchers can be creative and enjoy designing, then again, for stitchers like myself who do not have the time or the creativity to design our own patterns or charts this can become detrimental to our hobby.  More and more designers will stop designing due to the copyright infringement of their designs.  Nonetheless, this topic, I feel, will continue to rumble on for the time being with many mixed views.

Upcycling

My cushions, momentarily, have come to a halt whilst I await more material to stitch my designs on.  After searching online I found a good site here in the UK where I was able to purchase aida on a roll at a very competitive price.  The company, Superstitcher can be found at http://www.superstitcher.com/default.aspx and ships to the UK and rest of the world with competitive shipping rates. 

Although this part is not upcycling, whilst waiting for my delivery I have spent a happy hours trawling around the local car boot sales purchasing curtains to use for material.  By purchasing cheap but making sure the quality of the stock I have brought is good this has helped my start-up overheads.  If anybody is interested in crafting by upcycling materials one good blog to follow is CraftGossip.com (http://recycledcrafts.craftgossip.com/) which provides different crafting ideas on a daily basis



Some of my car booty curtain stash



Some of the material already cut into my templates

My best purchase however, had to be my beads which were on two hair bands which I got for 40 pence and the pink and blue lacing I got for £3.00 for the two and the voile for 50 pence each. 


It was amazing how many beads were on here and totall unique



Some of my other car booty haul

 I have managed to make one cushion with some of the material I purchased for mine and Natalie’s sewing day.  Whilst I have often cross stitched wedding samplers for other people, I never got round to doing one for Steve and me.  So I decided to spend some time making one for Steve and myself to commemorate our wedding; albeit almost 12 years ago.   Another cushion which is work in progress is for a friend of ours who recently got promoted at work. 


At last, apart from our marriage certificate, something to remind us of our small but lovely special day



Current cushion in progress


I also picked up a few more items for other cushions, especially for births.  The amount of different charms etc available now provides a wider range.

In regards to my cross stitch of the kids, that is slowly progressing. 

Unfortunately I had been experiencing bad earache, which made stitching and going online impossible.  However, after a couple of weeks of being in pain and miserable I found out that the bad news....it was not earache that was causing my misery.....but toothache!!! Thursday was spent plucking up the courage to get an emergency appointment at the dentist and having a back tooth painfully extracted. 

Whilst I can tolerate most things, when it comes to the dentist I must be the biggest wimp going and had to have Steve with me for moral support, yes even at 40 years old my husband had to come in with me.  All I can say is I am glad he supports me in whatever I do or end up having to do.

Junior Crafting

Crafting has also extended onto our youngest daughter Victoria.  Whilst my step-daughter is quite crafty, Victoria has discovered card making and spent a happy afternoon making an Easter card for her sister Natalie.  At the moment she is not sure about progressing into cross stitch, especially as she was finding sewing at school a trial, especially when it came to threading her needle......however she enjoyed a mini lesson on the sewing machine.

Victoria busy at work



Victoria with her finished piece



Easter Madness

The Easter holidays are now upon us and the first week of the kids being off school have passed.  Yesterday Steve and I went to collect the motorhome from storage to prepare for our first trip out this year this weekend.  It’s typical, recently we have experienced warm sunny weather and just as we start to prepare for our first outing.....the weather has changed big time!!!!  Hopefully the kids and our Labrador Evie will enjoy being away from home but I foresee yet another week of no internet or stitching, however I am sure I will survive it after the past couple of weeks.



Evie sunning herself whilst away in Wales



Finally, I wish everyone a Happy Easter and happy stitching.