November 20th, 2007 by Loretta
Just a quick note to mention that Stacey (jeremyagain on the boards) has joined us in the Stitching the Night Away blogging network and is going to be authoring a blog about finishing techniques! I’m hoping to continue to grow this idea and have a variety of blogs with different authors. I’d like to again thank Stacey and all of our volunteer blogging guinea pigs friends for their hard work and for helping me get this part of the website off to a running start.
Stop by the Finishing Techniques STNA blog and say hi to Stacey and check out the ideas that she’s already posted.
Technorati Tags: blogging network, finishing techniques, finishing, stitching
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October 26th, 2007 by Loretta
Maybe someday. It’s something I’ve always wanted to add to the site. I haven’t done all the number crunching and market research necessary yet. But, one of the things holding me back was a space where I could actually get wild and dye things … and not just in my bath tub. I can now go outside and line up some buckets and get to dying! And I have three bathrooms now, so if I decide to use one to dye floss all day then it’s not a big deal, the family will survive! So, what do you think? Opinions, thoughts, anyone want to volunteer to come over and help me a dye a few batches of fabric and threads? Now that I’ve said it out loud, I should add that I don’t think I could handle being a full fledged fabric shop like Silkweaver, Sugar Maple, and Stab and Stash all do. There are so many lovelies out there already, I don’t think I could keep up and I definitely don’t have the room for a massive inventory. But I would be willing to offer some pretty things on a week to week basis.
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October 2nd, 2007 by Loretta
Happy October everybody! I love October, the leaves are changing, the weather is nice, and Halloween is just around the corner. It’s my favorite time of the year.
I’d like to announce a few things about the site changes so far. You’ve seen the new home page is up. I’m working on getting the internal pages changed over. I’m completely re-doing the gallery and free cross stitch patterns areas and adding pdf files to the patterns download options. That one is going to take awhile, I’ll announce them as I go along so that you know what’s ready and when.
And we also have some blogging additions here at Stitching the Night Away. The site is being expanded into a network of craft blogs. I’m very excited to have three volunteer blog authors to help me get this process started. This is sort of a test run to see how it goes, and hopefully we’ll be adding more topics in the future. Our newest blog additions are;
Craft Painting ~ I’m sure many of our message board members will recognize Becka from the message board. She does some really great painting work!
Soap Making ~ And I know you recognize Angela as the fixer of the broken message boards! She’s also pretty good at making soap. And no this isn’t Fight Club, there will be no dynamite making!
Kid’s Crafts ~ Mrs. Lisa is ready to help your kids expand their creativity and grow their minds.
There you have it … our first three additions to the STNA family 
Hopefully there will be more in the future. Fortunately we just need hosting space and don’t have to invest in any Arizona luxury real estate or buy an internet cafe or anything crazy like that! LOL
Please stop by and visit our new writers, subscribe to the feeds for each blog, leave some comments and make them feel welcome. If all goes well we might add one or two more in January. Happy blogging!!!
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September 24th, 2007 by Loretta
The new home page and look of the main site is totally live. I’ve only been working on it since April. Good thing I don’t have to do an employee self evaluation, I’d have to say I was a slacker -lol-
You may still encounter further internal pages in the old not so pretty style of the website. The gallery, articles, and free cross stitch patterns section still need to be revamped. Most of the upper level pages are done, and some probably won’t even be used anymore but they are still there hiding in the shadows! If you’re browsing around and can’t find something let me know and I’ll make sure I didn’t delete it on accident! LOL
Also by popular demand I’ll be releasing the free cross stitch patterns in pdf format as well. So watch for those to be coming out soon, and maybe even a few new designs might sneak their way in.
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September 22nd, 2007 by Loretta
I thought you might like to see a sneak peek at an upcoming design from Stitching the Night Away. This set of 3 Holiday Ornaments was stitched by myself and Stacey, and then Stacey did the actual finishing work as well. These use all Kreinik threads and are stitched on evenweave fabrics. If you prefer aida fabrics you should be able to stitch these designs on those as well. All a matter of preference. The Kreinik threads give the ornaments a little extra sparkle and pizazz. Pictures don’t do the threads justice, they are much better in person.
Charts will become available sometime between now and December 1st. Happy stitches!
Technorati Tags: holiday cross stitch, christmas ornaments, christmas cross stitch
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September 22nd, 2007 by Loretta
A group of stitchers on the message board here have decided to create a challenge to themselves. They are really loving challenges lately, we’ve got a “no stash buying challenge” going on and now we’ve got a blog every day challenge. And there are discussions of a UFO finishing challenge going on as well. Honestly, you all inspire me to want to get more things done. I am pretty good about blogging frequently, but not crafting frequently. LOL Go figure. Join the stitching bloggers of the board in their challenge, and get in on our blogroll while you’re visiting.
And my apologies if you had one of our single color STNA blog buttons and it vanished suddenly. I forgot about those when we did our recent server move! I’ll be making up some shiny new graphics for you later this week. In the meantime feel free to grab one of our other buttons from the message board. I’ll make an announcement when new ones are ready.
Technorati Tags: blog challenge, stitching bloggers
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September 17th, 2007 by Loretta
Our last poll provided me with such great input about the magazine advertisements. I have a question about free pattern files that I’d love to get your feedback on. Please vote on the poll and leave a comment with your thoughts. I am considering making a change to how the free patterns are stored here on STNA and the feedback will really help with that decision in one direction or another.
What type of freebie file do you prefer?
Thank you for taking the time to vote and let me know your thoughts, this process is to help us improve the site over all
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September 17th, 2007 by Loretta
We’ve been talking quite a bit about blogging and stitching on the message board lately. So much so that we’ve created a special section of the forum for blogging stitchers. And to go along with that we’re starting a blogging stitcher’s blogroll. Come post your url on the forum to be added! You do need to be a message board member to post a message there, so if you haven’t registered already now is good time to get signed up! I promise we aren’t mean to the newcomers -lol- We might try enable your stash buying though.
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September 11th, 2007 by Loretta
Just a little something I’m curious about. I was considering placing an advertisement in this area to invite stitchers and crafters to our message board community here. I’ve thought about it several times in the past, but I’ve never actually gone ahead and done the placing of the ad. I know a lot of times there are a lot of junk ads in the back of the mag, business scams, and MLM ads are finding their way into them. So, I am just curious if you take a peek at those ads to see if there are any good freebies or something new and exciting that you want to check out. Also, do you go to any of the websites that you see there? Vote in the poll and leave me a comment with your thoughts about these little ad sections.
Do you look at the classifieds in the back of your stitching and craft magazines?
Thank you so much for taking the time to vote and let me know what you think. I truly do appreciate it.
Technorati Tags: craft magazine, craft classifieds, stitching magazines
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July 27th, 2007 by Loretta
I’m sure some of you will think I’m crazy and I probably am, but I’m thinking of expanding Stitching the Night Away into an entire network of little crafting blogs. I would of course have to find other authors as I am not that well skilled to write about everything all of the time. I can write about quilting from a newbies perspective, but I’d like to find a skilled and accomplished quilter to offer their advice too! So that we can become a valuable resource for all crafters and not just cross stitchers.
There’s a bit more market research to do and authors to find, and plans to piece together, but I think it may just become a reality. I’ve been writing up some plans in my offline time and it’s starting to make sense on paper. Stay tuned 
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