Until then, maybe we’ll have Fix-It Fridays or something here. Or on the soon-to-exist Funk & Weber World blog. Somewhere.

History: I’ve long wanted to have a business called something like Solutions R Us where people bring me their problems, and I find creative ways to solve or deal with them. Mind you, I’m of the opinion that not all problems should be solved.

Current Event: When I woke up this morning and checked in with the Bracelet Basics class that is taking place right now, Harriet, working from the other side of the globe while I was dreaming, claimed she had a problem. Oh, boy! A problem to solve!

It’s true. I got excited. It’s not that I wish problems on people, certainly not people taking my class, but I really do enjoy the challenge and promise of adventure that some problems, like needlework problems, hold.

Based on her verbal description, written very well in her non-native English, my mind started whirring. We could do this, or this, or maybe this…what about this?! Without seeing it, I was sure we could salvage her work.

Then she posted pictures. I was…disappointed? Well, yes, I was disappointed on one level and happy for her on another. Harriet’s problem, it turns out, is not really a problem at all. She’s a meticulous stitcher; her bracelet, stitched in miniature, is beautiful. The “problem” is a perfectly normal occurrence that is taken care of in the finishing process.

That’s great news for Harriet, of course, but I was, in fact, disappointed that there would be no Fix-It adventure for me.

The Point: Since I was deprived of a perplexing problem in the Bracelet class, I was hoping maybe one of you would have one I can work on. In fact, if I can drum up some problems, I’d like to make this a regular feature, Fix-It Fridays.

We could make it a sort of game (surprise, surprise). If you give me a legitimate problem, and I don’t feel I can offer an interesting and/or viable solution, you win a prize! A Stump the Chump deal.

What do you think? Got a crafty problem you’d like help solving? Tomorrow’s Friday, bring it on! Post your problem as a Comment or send pictures and/or a description to me at

mail [AT] funkandweber [DOT] com

The address is in the sidebar, you know.

Note: I mention the title of this book three times. Each time, I link to a different review of it. The last link is to NPR and includes an excerpt of the book.

I recently read Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture, by Ellen Ruppel Shell. It’s a book I continue to think about weeks after I’ve read it and even while I read other books, and it’s a book that alters my behavior. I don’t think I need to explain the significance of that.

Today, I read an article at Publishers Weekly on whether children’s publishers are destroying rainforests. This goes hand-in-hand with the Cheap book. Books have incredibly low profit margins, much lower than other products, and full-color children’s books are expensive to produce. There is a tug-o-war between keeping costs down and being environmentally responsible.

Now let’s jump to the business of embroidery. We’ve watched our local needlework shops close one after another these past several years, and it seems we hear about another designer calling it quits every day. At the same time, we are overwhelmed with free patterns and tutorials on the Internet and Discount! Discount! Sale! Sale! Sale!

In the end, it all comes down to one simple question: What do we value enough to pay for?

We are not powerless to change things. In fact, as consumers, we hold all the power. Let’s wield it well.

I highly recommend Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture. While the subject matter could be depressing and the tone preachy and accusatory, it’s not. It felt like an adventure of exploration and discovery. Ellen’s got a somewhat dry sense of humor, and she respects and understands her audience because she’s one of us. It’s her adventure, and she takes us along. She made me laugh, and she made me glad I read her book.

The Embroider Me! Bracelet Basics and Beyond online class is back, July 19 – 25.

This is the pattern we stitch in class. If you order a class kit, these are the materials you’ll receive. If you prefer, you can choose your own colors and provide your own materials. I’ll tell you what you need.

Four lessons will guide you step-by-step from start to finish. Download instructions and diagrams (Adobe Acrobat Reader required), then participate in group discussions and ask questions in our private Yahoo Group. Basic knowledge of needlework techniques required: beginning and ending threads, reading a diagram, etc.

Once you’ve learned the bracelet basics, you can alter the decorative stitch, change fabrics and fibers, and add beads and charms to create an infinite number of one-of-a-kind, perfectly sized bracelets. And wait ’til you see the other things you can do with these techniques. This is my favorite edge-stitch ever.

The class pattern in different sizes and colors.

It’s going to be a blast! I hope you’ll join me. For further info and to register, visit the website.

Literacy and Stitching

by Linda Stanek

What is literacy, and how does stitching tie in?

Literacy is often thought of as being the ability to read and write. It’s also the ability to comprehend what you have read. As all of Bloom’s taxonomy is practiced in the process of stitching, just as it is used in learning to read and in reading comprehension.

Readers, especially emergent readers, must be risk takers. They must be willing to take chances on a word. Using phonics, contextual and illustrative cues, they often have to guess at the meaning of a word. If it doesn’t make sense in the context of the sentence (an evaluation), they must go back and look at it again, analyze, synthesize.

As their reading develops, they need to be critical thinkers, asking does this make sense? Do I think this is true? Who is the source of this information, and are they credible? They must evaluate.

As they develop as writers they must put their words on paper, evaluate them, try something different. They must be Creatives.

So here’s to Creatives who read and write. Who paint or draw or do scientific experiments. Here’s to the Creatives who design and stitch and cheer on others as they do the same.

Here’s to trying! Here’s to failing and trying something new. Here’s to encouraging others to try. Here’s to analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating again.

And here’s to you, for recognizing and valuing your creativity, for fostering creativity in others—especially children—and for caring about the literacy of our up and coming next generation.

Linda Stanek was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, and has always loved visiting the zoo. She spends her time taming stray cats and corralling words into stories and books—both fiction and nonfiction. She also writes for magazines, e-zines, and non-profit organizations and writes teacher’s guides for award-winning children’s books.

Linda has a B.S. degree in elementary education from The Ohio State University. She lives in Columbus with her three cats, Frankie (named after a Columbus Crew soccer player), Chloe (just because she likes the name), and Cubby (named after the Chicago Cubs baseball team). Beco’s Big Year is her second book.

Tip 1: Note, however, that not all collected bookmarks are used for CBW events. Some participants will continue to collect bookmarks for end-of-the-school-year purposes and summer reading programs, so don’t worry if you have some bookmarks that aren’t quite finished. I’ll let you know who’s still collecting when I get word.

Tip 2: Have you sent an image of your bookmarks to colleen [AT] loosethreadstitchers [DOT] com? Every bookmark you donate earns an entry into the Loose Thread Stitchers / Stitch Your Heart Out Bookmark Challenge contest that has stash prizes worth over $500 and cookies! Send your pictures to Colleen. And cc them to me while you’re at it so I can share them here. Two birds…one stone…ya know?

Tip 3: Do you know that Funk & Weber Designs has a couple of bookmark finishing tutorials on the Web? Well, we do. There’s one demonstrating how we finished the Read-It, Read-It design.

Another details the Going, Going, Gone! finishing method.

There’s a bit about Bookmark Baubles here.

And there’s a new profile of bookbands as discussed in the May issue of The Needlework Nutshell.

Tip 4: There’s going to be a new Bookmark Tip in the June issue of The Needlework Nutshell, and there’s a subscription form in the sidebar.

Tip 5: A whole slew of Bookmark Tips, explained and illustrated step-by-step, can be found in the Bookmarks 101: Simple, Smart, and Swanky Finishes online class. Dates of the next class will be announced here and on the Funk & Weber website.

Welcome to our Extreme Reader / Extreme Stitcher series where we profile people willing to go to great lengths to read and/or stitch.

Meet Lauren as she tells us her story.

Twenty or so years ago, we moved to Florida from New Jersey. One of the things we were not accustomed to was the power outages during some of the severe rain storms.

Late one afternoon, I was sitting in my living room stitching when the power went out during a storm. Knowing it would likely be a while before power was restored, I pulled out my little book reader light and clamped it to the stop of my stitching frame. My Dad looked on in shock and amusement. He asked, “You’re not really going to stitch with that thing, are you?!?” My reply was a resounding “Yes!” and I continued to merrily stitch away for the next hour or so until the lights came back on!

Can you imagine stitching with just a pinpoint of light? There wasn’t even a deadline; no rushing to get the project finished before the birthday cake was served or anything. Lauren is an extremely committed stitcher!

The card stock theme continues, though, with a tip from Gayle at Accents, Inc. in Metairie, LA (read: New Orleans). Gayle has participated in the Stitching for Literacy Bookmark Challenge since Day One. She also pitches in behind-the-scenes, tirelessly helping, brainstorming, encouraging, promoting, and on and on and on.

Gayle keeps a stock of 2 1/2 x 7 1/4″ vinyl bookmark sleeves that are perfect for holding and protecting bookmarks stitched on perforated paper. There’s a hole in the top of the sleeve to attach a ribbon or tassel.

Protection for hand-stitched bookmarks intended for kids…um, that’s a good idea, no?

And then there’s the pocket aspect–great for holding a list of the books that bookmark has marked. If the bookmark is backed with plain card stock, one could write book titles directly on it. The sleeve allows the bookmark to be easily removed.

I’ve never tried it, but I wonder if tacking a fabric bookmark to card stock would make it easy to slide into the sleeve as well.

If you’d like to give these sleeves a shot, give Gayle a shout

gayle [AT] accentsinc [DOT] com

and, of course, tell her I say hi!

At the Peak of Things

by Linda Stanek

The highest level of Bloom’s Taxonomy is Evaluation. Here, students appraise, compare, defend (yes, defend) and evaluate their work. But it doesn’t stop there. Creatives are forever cycling back through the upper echelons of the model—back to Analysis—how could it be different? How could it be better? Back to Synthesis—how can I make it happen? Back to Evaluation—do I like it now? What’s the good part? What’s the not-so-good part? And back to Analysis again. As an author, I can attest to this stage in my work—the rewrites, over and over and over again, until my family thinks I’m nuts, but I know…it’s not quite there. Yet.

Think about your own projects. Have you ever worked and reworked a project so many times that people around you thought you should just quit? Did you? How did the project turn out?

Linda Stanek was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, and has always loved visiting the zoo. She spends her time taming stray cats and corralling words into stories and books—both fiction and nonfiction. She also writes for magazines, e-zines, and non-profit organizations and writes teacher’s guides for award-winning children’s books.

Linda has a B.S. degree in elementary education from The Ohio State University. She lives in Columbus with her three cats, Frankie (named after a Columbus Crew soccer player), Chloe (just because she likes the name), and Cubby (named after the Chicago Cubs baseball team). Beco’s Big Year is her second book.

You know those window cards (greeting cards) made out of card stock where you adhere needlework between the layers of card? Well, what do you say we shrink that idea down, use funky shapes, and make window card bookmarks? You can stick the finished cards inside the book or add ribbons and/or threads to make a dangling bookmark.

I was tempted to postpone publishing this post because I haven’t yet made models to demonstrate the idea, but then I decided we might experiment with the idea together. (Read yesterday’s post for further inspiration.)

So, here’s a page of five possible window bookmark shapes. Feel free to make your own, of course.

You can print the page directly on card stock, or print it on paper and cut out the shapes to use as templates.

Cut two identical shapes along the solid line. Cut again on the dotted line on one of the pair. This will be the window.

Glue, tape, or sew a piece of needlework onto the back, centered (or not) within the dotted line shape. Add a ribbon or thread tail here if you want.

Glue, tape, or sew the window to the front.

This is another sandwich, but this time the needlework is the bologna, not the card.

Decorate the card with markers, glitter, embroidery, whatever. Or not. There is some super-cool card stock out there.

If you decide to undertake this experiment with me, please send me a picture of your finished bookmark. If you send me an image, I will send you a pdf file of a bookmark pattern I just made. It’s not a published pattern–and may never be published. Who knows. But I’ve stitched it, I like it, and I hope you will, too.

On your mark. Get set. Experiment!

Next Up

by Linda Stanek

Next up on Bloom’s model is Synthesis. This is where the ability to arrange, collect, compose, design, develop, organize, and plan takes place. (It’s also the place where writing takes place—important to me as a children’s author and someone who teaches writing in schools.) This is where creativity really takes hold. Now a student can create his or her own designs or alter one to suit his or her own needs.

As these higher-order thinking skills are put to use, there is also a higher likelihood of a poor outcome. After all, creativity means trying something new—it means being uncertain of the outcome. It’s an inspiration, or a hunch, but it’s not tried and true. There isn’t a rote right and wrong in this realm, and that scares many students. (It scares a lot of adults too!) This is where you expose yourself to being not-so-good—maybe even bad at something.

Instead of viewing a poor outcome as a bad thing, we need to encourage students to see every non-success as a learning experience. Creatives have the confidence to do it their way. We need to encourage students to bravely persist, knowing that this try is not their last shot at something—they can always go back and do it over again, differently, or scrap it entirely for a new and better project. We need to strip the shame from our unsuccesses and celebrate the attempts. It is in attempting something new—something untested and unknown, that we are Creatives.

Can you remember a time when you tried something new and it was a disaster? Maybe you changed the color scheme on a stitching pattern or used a different fiber. Or was it a new twist on an old recipe you were cooking? What were those experiences like? How did you feel about them? How did you handle them?

Linda Stanek was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, and has always loved visiting the zoo. She spends her time taming stray cats and corralling words into stories and books—both fiction and nonfiction. She also writes for magazines, e-zines, and non-profit organizations and writes teacher’s guides for award-winning children’s books.

Linda has a B.S. degree in elementary education from The Ohio State University. She lives in Columbus with her three cats, Frankie (named after a Columbus Crew soccer player), Chloe (just because she likes the name), and Cubby (named after the Chicago Cubs baseball team). Beco’s Big Year is her second book.