I spent many hours today updating the Funk & Weber Designs Web site. Thanks to the Needlework Nutshell newsletter, I do quick monthly updates of the home page, if nothing else, but it’s been several months since I updated more thoroughly. Notice I said “more thoroughly” and not “thoroughly.” Ahem.

I like updating the Web site: I like writing XHTML and CSS code; I like composing text; I like mucking with the look of the site. It’s a puzzle, so what’s not to like?

So what did I update? Well, I updated the 2008 Bookmark Challenge Kit for retailers, and I posted the 3 Needle and Thread: Stitching for Literacy bookmark patterns that we released at the January NeedleArts Market in Long Beach. This Book, Book, Book! pattern is the companion to the Read-It, Read-It pattern. Together, they are our Tribute to Librarians, representing the joke:

A chicken walks into a library and says, “Book, book, book!” (Say it like a chicken, of course.) So the librarian gave her a book. The chicken took the book outside to a pond where a frog asked her to, “Read-it, read-it.” (Yep, say that like a frog.)

Yeah, we released them in reverse order. And the problem is…?

One behind-the-scenes note on this pattern is that I had to stitch the brown panels on the counter three+ times before we came up with a color combo we liked. That’s three times that I did the whole counter, plus a few rips in between. And once again, I drafted the general idea for this then Mike took over, cleaning and fancy-ing it up. My vision of the back side is the chicken looking up at the counter from way down low, a kid’s-eye view.

You’ll have to visit the Web site to see the others, or wait for them to turn up here in another post. They will.

As with all Needle and Thread: Stitching for Literacy patterns, we will donate a minimum of 10% of profits from the sale of this chart to a literacy nonprofit. The chart is available at independent needlework shops.