Maybe you haven't heard of BLOG's, but they're basically on-line diaries open for public display. We can't promise when we'll add to this...it'll be kind of on our whim...a little peek into a couple of weird minds...
9/4/08
"We have about a week or so to get ready for the big (new!) TNNA cash-and-carry show in St. Charles, Missouri next week. Of course our Garmin crapped out this summer, so I might have to go get a new one, so I don't get lost on the way (man, are those things handy!) I have about 1000 kits to finish putting together, and some supplies have yet to arrive. Weeks Dye Works tells me everyone is "FREAKING OUT" (meaning all of the designers, being creative types, wait until the last minute to order things and what-not.) Nothing like a mini freak out to inspire the creative juices -- that's why so many cool things come out at market time...all of those emotions running rampant (the major one being: PANIC!)
Kids are back in school -- have been for almost a month, so we're well into homework, schedules and lunches (I'm packing healthy lunches every day -- the school lunches have gotten even worse, and I hate having the kids come home starved, because they didn't eat the lunches I paid for...then they sit down and eat a bag of chips each before I come home!) They're much happier, and their friends are so jealous, they want to pack their own lunches. Graham says his tablemates tell him they wish they had HIS lunch instead of the hot one. :D
Wish us luck with TNNA -- will post as soon as we can. The Wrong Side of the Tracks piece is finished -- Sue did a great job on that one -- and we're glad so many of you are getting a kick out of it." -- Theresa
8/27/08
"Hello, everybody! It's Ellen! HURRAY!
Okay, guess what? I'm getting braces tomorrow morning! I'm kind of excited, yet kind of nervous. Mine won't hurt as much as most people's, though, because I got 4 teeth pulled a while ago, and am missing a lot of teeth at the moment. However, because I hardly have any teeth, I only had to have one spacer put in. I have one permanent tooth that failed to develop (my mom blames my dad's side of the family). My top wisdom teeth never developed either. So, I don't think that braces will be too painful.
My 8th grade open house is tonight! I'm so excited. I don't really like summer. It is soooo boring. There's nothing to do.. *YAWN* I can't wait to see all of my friends again. It's gonna be a blast. I get to see my new schedule, and make covers for all of my 3-ring binders, and meet all of my new teachers, and everything! I can't wait!"
4/10/08
"Hello, everybody! Sorry it has taken me so long to write again! I've been soooo busy! Ok, everybody, guess what?! My very first dance EVER is this week, so the other day me and my mom (aka Sue) went to the mall to find a dress for me to wear. (I loooooove shopping!!!) We tried a whole bunch of stores, but really couldn't find any that fit my school's dress code (the straps on it have to be 4 fingers wide). Plus, since prom is coming up, they were all really dressy. Anyway, we went to Maurice's, and we were helped by THE NICEST sales lady EVER!!! She walked us through the store and she found every dress in my size that fit the dress code, and we went in and tried them on. The first dress we tried on fit the best, and we bought it! It's soooo pretty! We also bought some matching earrings & a necklace to match it. I'm gonna have so much fun! I'm going with my best friends. I can't wait! YAY! Well, I'll keep ya updated on that! I've gotta get to bed now! Tee-Hee! Toodles! Luv Ya! - Ellen! Yay!"
4/10/08
"What the heck, I can write a BLAH-G, too. We've been having a crazy spring. Market season was incredibly good to us, and people are loving the WRONG SIDE OF THE TRACKS series that Sue designed. I have been working on two new pieces that feature birds that we'll release sometime soon. Graham, my 11-year-old, broke his finger playing CARDS the other night at the kitchen table. He was up-and-down, and up-and-down, and when he went to plop himself back into his chair, he caught his pinkie on the arm of the chair and broke it. No big deal, but I had to take him to several doctors this week. (sigh). And my oldest has to give an informative speech today, so he was up late doing his visual aid. And it's hotter than spring should be here -- it'll be 86 today, can you believe it? My friends up north are still looking at snow. And my azaleas are blooming like crazy, and I have new flowers in the planters out front, and well, it's just nuts. I always thought there was NO WAY spring could start in March, because it still looked like winter outside. Turns out that was more of a regional thing. It's summer here now, at least it feels like it." -- Theresa
1/25/08
"Hi there! My name is Ellen, and I am Sue's daughter. I was bugging my mom the other day because I was checking out their website and realized that she hadn't written anything for the blog since 2005! That's right folks, 2005. I was very surprised, because my mom is one of those MAJOR type A people who has to do everything as soon as possible, and without any mistakes. I think that any girl my age can definitely relate (By the way, I'm 12 years old, and in 7th grade). Anyway, I told her about it and explained to her that there are real people out there that are going to read the blog and get the wrong idea, thinking that she is too lazy to update it. And that's when my mom suggested that if I wanted it done so bad that I should do one. She talked to Theresa and they both agreed that it was a good idea. So, here I am, sitting in my basement, type type typing away! And it's all because she hasn't updated their blog since 2005.
So, about me. I am a very girly girl, and would absolutely love to be a fashion designer. I have a sewing machine set up in my room and use it often. I also absolutely LOVE to bead. I have a whole bunch of pretty glass beads that I use to make the majority of my jewelry. The rest of it comes from Claire's. Again, I think that every girl my age can relate. My mom hates Claire's, and my time inside of the store is very precious. I think she's insane. I mean, who can resist it? It's like there's some magnet attached to me, pulling me into the store! I guess that while I'm stuck to Claires, where everything is exciting, my mom is stuck to some place where everything is boring, like that Yankee Candle Shop. * YAWN * I hate that place. Well, I better go...... Thanks for reading! And, unlike SOME PEOPLE I know, I'll update my blog soon...... (HINT HINT, Raise the Roof designers!) See ya!" - Ellen
9/19/07
HEY! I woke up this morning and it wasn't even seventy degrees yet. Could it be fall is coming to the deep south? I miss North Dakota this time of year, because fall was always my favorite (hard to get psyched up for Halloween when the kids are still swimming at the pool.) We have some great ideas on the drawing board for market in February. And, we're in the latest issue of Just Cross Stitch's annual Ornament Issue (look for us on page 88). We designed a silly version of Santa (who you KNOW is a jokester -- any man that old who still plays with toys is cool in my book.) Love hearing that you guys are enjoying the Crabby Monthlies. The last in the series isn't far behind, and we have ANOTHER HILARIOUS!!! idea for another series for market in February.
Not much else -- hope everyone is getting some stitching time on the weekends and in the evenings. Take care, Theresa (and Sue)
2/8/07
Sue and I depart tomorrow for our first ever wholesale trade show! We're very excited to be showing our wares as designers in Nashville, Tennessee this weekend. I've got Coke and cookies in the car, and we plan on dressing up like pirates (since the theme of the show is Treasure Island.) Argh, matey, set sail for adventure!
3/9/06
We were just starting winter the last time I wrote, and now our snow is melting. Time flies! Sue and I had a great time running around at Nashville Market in February, feeling the linens, grabbing buttons, dropping off chocolates hither and thither. We have some really exciting things on the horizon -- an interview and article in Just Cross Stitch magazine (watch for the July/August issue), an exclusive kit with Hoffman Distributing, buttons designed for our designs...it's all good. We're stitching like crazy to keep you in patterns. Thanks so much for your support. - Theresa
11/16/05
"Darn, it's winter. It was 60 here on Saturday, and this morning it was 15 and gusty. Still, it's good stitching weather (then again, so is rain, hail, heat, humidity, etc....) Sue and I have been busy creating new designs for market in February. Several are finished, and ready for photography and chart printing. We both feel like we had a great year with our designs. We had so many! We have lots of other ideas brewing. We received an exciting note this morning from a cross stitch magazine...they want to feature us in an issue next year...we'll keep you updated. (We're VERY excited!)" - Theresa
9/20/05
"September is my favorite of months by far -- the weather is beautiful, geese flying overhead, the lawn is starting to slow down a little...it's a good time of year to stop and take a breath. We have three new designs coming out late next week (you'll see them in our Teases and Taunts section). We're stitching others, and I think we've fallen into a pretty regular rhythm. I now spend my Mondays at home either creating or stitching new designs. Those quiet days feel a little more like play than work, but we continue to get e-mails pressing us to get more designs out...we're working hard to do that! We love to hear your ideas. We can't promise we'll use them, but honestly, we use such a small fraction of the ones WE have ourselves (and that's probably a GOOD thing!) I hope you're getting time to stitch on something fun this month." - Theresa
8/10/05
"I'm having one of those streaks of bad luck lately. My car died in July and now my laptop computer is in the shop. My car had 178,000 miles on it and we were kind of expecting it, but I was still bummed out about it. My computer, on the other hand, is only 2 years old so I don't know what its problem is. I think they should put some kind of odometer on computers so that we have some way to gauge how much we've used it. Then we could talk about our computers like we do about our cars. "I got 16,000 hours on my old computer before it died and I never had one problem with it." Computers have become as popular as cars, so why not? There's always Consumer Reports to refer to, but they bring so many variables into the mix. Maybe I should patent that computer odometer idea and I could sell it to Bill Gates for millions! Can you imagine what that kind of money would do for my cross stitch stash?!" - Sue
7/22/05
"It's been hotter than blazes here all month, and my grass, water-logged for all of June, is now dry as a bone (the fortunate part of that is we don't have to mow right now!) I have been doing a lot of stitching lately, on this and that, and have finally designed July and August in my monthly series. I also am working on a Thanksgiving clothesline, which I think is really cute...it's called "Turkey Dressing!" We have a few new pieces coming out soon, one of which is in our Teases & Taunts page. Coming on the heels of that are Nautical Fence and Sweet Tooth...can't wait until you see them both. They crack me up!" - Theresa
6/2/05
"Theresa and I got back from the CATS show in Davenport, IA, a few weeks ago. We were gone for five days/four nights. We had a great time and at one point Theresa made me laugh so hard that Sprite actually came out of my nose! She does this hilarious voice that I call her "Swedish Milkmaid" voice and whenever she does it, I just crack up. We met lots of super-nice stitchers at the show and got lots of suggestions for new designs. We also met a few shop owners and that was really fun, as well. We went to dinner with the gals from the Silver Needle (a Tulsa, Oklahoma shop) two of the four nights we were there. There was a wonderful Italian restaurant called CENTRO (pronounced chen'-tro) a block away from our hotel. Their food was just to die for! We also sampled some wonderful flavored martinis which were fabulous, as well. The gals from the Silver Needle were a blast to hang out with and it was nice to get to know them. Saturday evening was spent taking down our booth and we even made time for "extreme car loading" in the parking lot. This was an unintentionalˆäsportˆäwe developed while goofing around on a wheeled flatbed in the parking lot. I wouldn't expect to see it in the Olympic games anytime soon, though. We made some great memories- "Ahhhright!" -Sue
6/2/05
(Side-note from Theresa regarding extreme car loading: Sue actually ended up falling, Starsky and Hutch style, off of the wheeled flat bed, rolling over, and landing on her back. A few small scrapes, but who could help laughing. It was great meeting everyone at CATS!) - Theresa
4/25/05
I have about five minutes until I split for the day, and it's cloudy out now -- drat drat drat! Our weather keeps teasing us with a warm summery day, and then we plunge back into yuck. My lilacs are going to be fantastic this year (I have one bush that's got pale purple flowers, the other one has deep purple flowers with white accents on the petals). Sue and I are completely freaking out, because the CATS show is coming up soon (we'll be in Moline, Illinois with all our stuff!) We're trying to get ready, and we feel ill-prepared, but ready for a new experience. - Theresa
Sunday, April 17th
Went shopping with my neighbor, Lana, today after church. We ate at Chipolte (my first time). We split a steak burrito filled with black beans, corn, tomato salsa, and seasoned rice. Man, was it delicious- I can't wait to go back! Once our tummies were fullˆäwe headed over to JoAnn's Etc. and spent over three hours wandering their aisles. My oldest daughter is turning 10 this June and she wants her room decorated with aˆäjungle theme. Lana and I found a ton of cool batik prints that will work great with a jungle theme without limiting the room strictly to animal prints. I can't wait to get the room started- I'm so inspired now! The plan is to send her to Grandma & Grandpa's house for a few days this summer and get her room put together "While You Were Out" style. It should be great fun! -Sue
4/14...Theresa
I'm just finishing up putting our site together, and I'm super-excited we now have our own space on-line. I had a FANTASTIC Rice Krispie bar today from the local grocery store (you know, the kind with chocolate/butterscotch frosting?) I'm going to have to run around the block to work that off later...or maybe if I stitch REALLY fast while kicking my feet?) My mom and sister are coming for a visit this weekend with little Henry, my 7-month old nephew. I can't wait to kiss those chubby cheeks. What I'm stitching right now...I just finished Sam's Socks, Shorts -n- Such...and I think it's my best one yet (but I think that every time, don't I?) I'm so proud of it! You can see a little piece of it on our teases & taunts page. Peace out!