Drawing Number 5

It has been a very busy week and weekend here so I'm a little frazzled tonight and not feeling very inventive so.....I'm going to offer the same prizes this week as last. (I hope no one will be disappointed.) I have another one of the Scissor Case and Fob Kits and another of the Pattern Maker CDs. So if you really wanted to win one of these prizes, you have another chance! Once again the winner of next Sunday's drawing will have their choice between:

Beaded Ribbon Scissor Case Necklace and Pincushion Scissor Fob Kit

The kit contains: Jacquard Ribbon, Fusible Fleece, Fusible Lining, Seed Beads, 2 large Decorative Beads, Rattail cord, Nymo Thread, Beading Needle and 2 pins.

Or

the Pattern Maker for Cross Stitch Starter Level CD which includes 150+ motifs and alphabet from Kooler Design Studio.

Leave a comment on this post to be entered to win the Scissor Case & Fob Kit or the Design Software CD - the winner will get to choose which prize they prefer. I'll announce the winner next Sunday evening (December 21, 2008) so be sure to check back to see if your name was drawn. The winner will need to contact me with their mailing address and their choice of prize so I can send it on its way.

Thanks for stopping by!

The Winner of Drawing Number 3 is........

Kany! Congratulations! Please send me your mailing address so I can get it in the mail to you!

Drawing Number 3

I decided to offer another chance for a Pattern Maker CD this week. I think these are so cool and useful! (I will offer something different next week - just for a change!) So, if you missed out before, try again!



Leave a comment on this post to be entered to win a Pattern Maker for Cross Stitch Starter Level CD which includes 150+ motifs and alphabet from Kooler Design Studio. (Same design software as before, but with a different collection of pattern motifs.) I'll announce the winner next Sunday evening (December 7, 2008) so be sure to check back to see if your name was drawn. The winner will need to contact me with their mailing address so I can send it on its way.

Drawing Number Two

I ran across these design cds on clearance sale and I just couldn't pass them up! Even though I didn't need them myself, I thought they would make great gifts for exchanges or in this case, drawing prizes. So, of course, in my usual "reasonable" fashion, I bought all they had left! So I will be offering several different ones as prizes here. There will be some other items, too, but I think these are a great opportunity for others to try their hand at designing - but be warned - it can become addictive!





Leave a comment on this post to be entered to win a Pattern Maker for Cross Stitch Starter Level CD which includes 150+ motifs and alphabet from Kooler Design Studio. (Same design software as last week, but with a different collection of pattern motifs.) I'll announce the winner next Sunday evening (November 30, 2008) so be sure to check back to see if your name was drawn. The winner will need to contact me with their mailing address as soon as possible.

This Week's Drawing

Have you wanted to try your hand at charting your own designs? If so, you may be interested in this week's drawing. Leave a comment on this post to be entered to win a Pattern Maker for Cross Stitch Starter Level CD which includes 150+ motifs and alphabet from Kooler Design Studio. I'll announce the winner next Sunday evening (November 23, 2008.) so be sure to check back to see if your name was drawn. The winner will need to contact me with their mailing address as soon as possible.

Cross Stitch Design Software

Clare left a comment the other day asking about cross stitch design software but since I don't have her e-mail address and because others have asked me about it also, I think I will take a few minutes to answer here.

If you think you would like to design your own charts or even if you just like to personalize your projects, it's a great idea to get your own charting software - it is so much easier than the paper and pencil method I used to use. I use both Patternmaker and PCStitch both regular and professional versions. Each has advantages over the other so it depends on what I'm doing as to which version I use for a given project. Most of the time I use PCStitch Pro although I actually liked PCStitch 7 better. Both companies offer free trial downloads. Before you invest any money, I would suggest trying them out to see which one you like best. Patternmaker's trial version is a full version but for a very limited time (4 days) and PCStitch's is the full version but the Save feature is disabled, and you can print unmodified designs only. You might be happy with just the PCStitch Lite version which comes on the CD with the Pattern Pieces.

In the meantime, here is a link to Stitch - a completely free program that may work just fine for you. If you just want to graph things by color (not necessarily the actual DMC color numbers, etc, but by sight) this little program may be all you need. It is available in several languages as well. I have played with it only slightly, only because I already have the other programs and am used to them and haven't invested the time to do more than just try out the free program. However, it seems to work well.

I know there are other programs out there but I haven't tried them. Anyone have a different version they can recommend? I'm interested in the one that prints as virtual stitches on what looks like actual fabric, but I don't know which program that is. Any info would be appreciated.