Simple Joys

Simple joys lately have been checking off items on my punch list of "to dos" for my work-in-progress web site, but the Simple Joys Pinkeep above is one of three brand new Stacy Nash cross-stitch patterns we just received, and they're loaded up on the web site and ready to ship.   You'll have this one made up in plenty of time for Valentine's Day.   I will be working to get the rest of my Stacy Nash inventory loaded this weekend, so don't fret because all you're seeing are the three newest patterns right now!

Next week watch for a couple of other designers to debut their new reproduction-inspired cross-stitch patterns, primitivebettys and Country Stitches.   Cross-stitch is having a resurgence in popularity and renewing a love for all things old-fashioned.   What I also love about all these designs is that they have a definite feminine feeling while still being primitive.   I know you'll love the new designs - watch this space for more news on these and other goodies we will have coming in the weeks ahead.

Back to work!   Enjoy your weekends, 'til next time,

Pardon our Appearance During Renovations!

Every move has it's settling in pains, and for me it's trying to get my web site back to where it was when my old web host pulled the plug! I wasn't quite ready to make the switch but my hand was forced on Monday night so I have a web site that we'll say is "under renovations" for a while! I'm working to get all my newest products uploaded first, then will begin stocking the Sale Bin and have a proper "Grand Reopening" web site launch with a sale!

That said, you may want to sign up for my Sale Notifications mailing list so you'll know when new items have been added. There is a sign-up box located on my What's New page for your convenience.

Just a reminder, during "renovations" orders can still be placed, and the great thing is that now you have a choice of payment options, no longer forced to use PayPal if you don't want to. Your order can be safely and securely processed using your credit card directly with our new system and is fully functional right now.

Also, we have a brand new Search feature that you'll really like - try it out! For example, if you enter the word liberty you'll get a screen showing all the items that have that name as part of their title. So, if you know the name or even part of the name of a pattern or book but not the designer you'll be able to find what you're looking for. You've been asking for this for a long time and I'm thrilled to finally be able to have this feature for you!

Thanks for bearing with me during this time of transition - the New Year hasn't started out wonderfully, but I'm trying to make lemonade out of all the lemons I got for Christmas! I hope you'll come out and visit my new site - your comments are welcome!

More about the new features in coming posts. Have a great day and hope to serve you soon!

I'm Still Here!

Even though it doesn't look like it - you may be getting a "This web site has been temporarily disabled" message when you go to my web site, but this really is temporary! I'm still here! My now-previous web host cut me off abruptly Monday night and I had to scramble to have my "pointer" changed to my new web host, even though I'm "not quite ready for prime time"! Many products still need to be added to my site and I have lots and lots of work to do. It's a mess and will take some time to repair. Please hang in there as I do my best to recover and hopefully I'll be fully back online again very soon!

Wendy

Flip Flopping

Nope - not talking about the 2008 political campaign, but it looks like my web site is back to it's newest version this morning. I'd love to know what's going on! Communication is next to nil but at least "Merry Christmas" is gone again! Wonder if it'll be back? Nonetheless, I've resigned myself to working this weekend to get my new site to a resonable state so I can officially cut over. I don't want to be left without a site all together!

Please know that orders can still safely and securely be placed on the site - these web hosting problems have not affected the shopping cart at all, so I wanted to lay any fears to rest!

Feeling a bit more alert after my minor concussion earlier at the beginning of the week. Rest and time! This morning we're dealing with another storm that had us getting rain along the coast, but the rain was on top of ice - I was pretty petrified to try and get to the car, but it was slushy so I was lucky! Hubby runs for the car so his hair won't get messed up (groan...)!

'Til next time all, stay safe and have a great weekend!

Merry Christmas - Again!!

Well, looks like it's Christmas at Simple Folk - AGAIN!! Boy, that concussion must have been worse than they said - I missed a whole year! My still-current web host appears to be having continuing problems as I'm back to a version of my web site that was up at Christmastime, even though we all got an email message saying that things were "looking good". HA!

So, in my diminished mental state I'm forced to put it into overdrive here and try to get some semblance of a new web site up and running sometime this weekend. I guess I should consider myself lucky - a friend told me her site was completely lost in this holiday horror show! She has no choice but to start from scratch elsewhere. What a terrible beginning to the new year! I hope I can be back to somewhat normal pretty soon, but this new software is set up completely different and it's taking me some time to learn it.

I'll post a notice when my new site is online so you can have a look! I'm concentrating on getting my newest items loaded first, then all my older stock little by little after that. So much to do! As they say, I've got miles to go before I sleep, but sleeping is exactly what I should be doing - Oy!

'Til next time,

Minor Concussion!

That's what the doctor said yesterday. I took a bad fall on snow-covered ice in our apartment's parking lot Monday morning during a snowstorm and my head hit the pavement. I was sure I cracked my skull but apparently didn't. How scary it is to fall! It happened so quickly, my foot went out from under me and before I knew it I was on the ground. I seemed OK until later in the afternoon when my neck began killing me - got a good whiplash from the fall. The next day was worse. Seems there is some swelling going on which makes the back of my head feel tingly. Ibuprofen and rest is about all that can be done, but I have had a little mental confusion, which should go away soon. Now I'm scared to death of that parking lot! I ended up staying home from work (I work full-time too) on Tuesday, and the only good thing was that I was able to stay in bed under my cozy LL Bean flannel sheets and watch "The X-Files" all day on the Sci-Fi channel! That was one of my favorite shows when it used to be on prime time. Scully and Mulder trump HGTV any day! It's like the original "Star Trek" series - I can watch those episodes over and over.

So, that's how I began my week! I'm still exhausted and have been having weird dreams - last night it was being somewhere with a bunch of people and running from a lava flow from a volcano that had erupted! I wish I knew where the heck that came from!

On another subject, I'm expecting three new patterns from Stacy Nash and a new booklet from Notforgotten Farm very soon. All that new web site work needs to be done too, but I just can't do it all right now. Maybe this weekend I'll try to catch up there and I think I must - I may not have a working web site soon as I could be shut off with my current web host at any time now. When it rains it pours!

Stay safe yourselves, and tread gingerly on ice! We had a lot of thawing and re-freezing and I think I stepped on a spot where I thought it had melted. I hope I don't make that mistake again!

'Til next time,

Domestic Goddess Day!

So I have this huge job of building a new web site on a new web host using a web site builder program that has a "ginormous" learning curve...   I spent many hours on Saturday tweaking my new web site to try and get it ready for a near-future launch, making some, but not a lot of progress. I ended my work for the night in time to watch our beloved Pats increase their incredible winning streak to 17-0.

Faced with another day of work and thinking about everything I have yet to do on this web site it became overwhelming. So, I decided to have a "domestic goddess day" and spent most of it in the kitchen making a wonderful "Winter Minestrone" soup and an equally wonderful carrot cake that called for a jar of baby food carrots to keep it moist and rolled oats for a bit more nutrition. These two recipes came out of the current Cooking Light magazine, which you should all run out and get! My husband said the meal of soup, a lovely 12-grain batard I got from the grocery store and the carrot cake (sans the high-fat frosting) for dessert was "probably the best meal we've had in Maine!" Wow!! That's high praise coming from my picky husband! I added some mini-meatballs to the soup to give it a little more substance, kind of like those found in Italian Wedding soup. I think that was just the right touch.

Well, I still have all this web site work to do, but will defer that to the work week. Hey, we all need a day off once in a while, right? It felt great!

'Til next time,

Lost Contact!

For the past several days I have not been able to receive email that you may have been sending to me at any of my "simplefolk.com" email addresses, more fall-out from my beleaguered web host's issues since a few days after Christmas. Just this week I was once again able to update my web site after being "locked out" for almost 2 weeks, but it seems we've traded one problem for another. I have put a button on my web site that can be used for emailing me temporarily until I've moved off to my new web host's server. This email will go directly to my personal email account. As long as I have my internet connection I'll get it!

It has been a quiet time for any new releases. Several of the designers whose patterns I carry have taken some well-deserved time off for the holidays, but we're beginning to see a few new items coming for spring. Soon we will see new things from Stacy Nash, Notforgotten Farm and Country Stitches, so stay tuned for some new, fresh designs to get us through the "dead of winter"!

We can actually see some patches of green grass through the snow up in Maine with the warmer temperatures we've had lately, but more snow is forecast for Monday. Oh well, we knew it would come sooner or later! Winter has just begun, after all.

If you're a New Englander and are interested in quilt-related happenings you may want to sign up for the newsletter I produce, Quilt Fun. In it I list quilt shows, exhibits, events at the New England Quilt Museum in Lowell, Mass. and other information. The quilt show list is beginning to grow for the new year - you may find an event or two that will sooth your winter cabin fever!

I must return to working on that new web site. I hope to be cut over by the end of next week. Wish me luck!

'Til next time,

With Fingers Crossed!

For how long is anybody's guess! This evening I've finally been able to take the crow's Santa stocking cap off and put the Christmas decorations on my What's New page away for the season after about a 2 week period of not being able to get into my web site to make changes. I've even had to refund money to customers who purchased patterns that we'd sold out of but I had no way to update the site with that information. Now that I'm able to get into my site again I'm working to update what I can, as I don't know how much longer I'll be on this web host before I'm cut off.

The good news is that I'm working to get my new web site up and running sooner rather than later, so watch for an announcement about that.

Quilt show season is beginning to blossom and I've applied to vend at a few shows so far - the Amoskeag Quilters Guild's show in Manchester, NH April 2 & 3 and will be applying to vend at this year's big Images show in Lowell, Mass. in August. Perhaps I'll see some of you on the road this year, and hopefully a few more events will be added to my dance card in the upcoming months.

I'd better get back to work on that new web site! Take good care all,

Still Locked Out

Pardon my language, but that's about how I feel right now! After being locked out of my web site since shortly after Christmas, I'm pretty steamed! This blog has been one of the only ways I can communicate what's going on to people as my What's New page can't be changed right now. Over the holidays I was hoping to do some overdue work on my site and post new products but have been unable to do so. The web site is still functional and orders can be placed without worry, I just can't do any updating until my web host is finished with their server upgrade or whatever it is they're doing. But - I am working to switch to another web host and will have a new web site ready soon. It will look slightly different but will have lots of great new features that I'm excited about, so stay tuned for an announcement on when that changeover will occur!

I hope you all had an enjoyable New Year and are settling in for what I always call "the dead of winter". The end of the holiday season is always such a let-down! All the months of preparation, picking out just the right gift for everyone, planning or going to parties, putting on dinners, spending time with family and friends, and then the day itself is almost underwhelming! Now we sit, buried in snow up here in Maine, dreaming of spring! A few more months of cold and messy junk! I'm anxious for the time when my husband and I will begin seriously looking for a house to buy so we can move come the nicer weather. Hopefully this house will have room for me to turn into a studio/shop space where people can come and visit. I am anxious to be able to have a place to sew again as well as get back to dyeing my wool, I miss doing that very much! I have other hopes and dreams for this new year but I'll keep those to myself until I can actually start putting them into action!

Do stay warm and dry wherever you are, until next time,