All About Cross Stitch

Archive for the ‘Contests’ Category

Wow!  Every year the Showcase gets better and better!    This year we had nearly 500 entries.

Our panel of over 30 judges did a fantastic job.  I’m glad that I didn’t have to pick!  I know that one day, I would see a project and think “Oh, that’s my favorite”, but then another day, I would see another one that was my “favorite”.

Each and every single project that’s entered represents a true work of art.  Whether small, medium, or large, each project has a stitcher behind it.  From carefully picking a complimentary fabric/pattern combination to crossing each “X”, they are all winners!

For the 2009 competition, our judges have selected the following winners: Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve had so many amazing entries once again this year. I can sit and browse the entries and totally lose track of time. LOL The judges are in for a tough job!

If you have visited this year’s Showcase, you can go there here —->2009 Silkweaver Showcase
There are total of over 450 entries, which are divided into 3 categories, which is based on the stitch count of the design. Browsing these designs will certainly inspire you to want to start at least a dozen more stitching projects!

Here’s a tip that is often overlooked:

Read the rest of this entry »

In her posted comment, Melanie says it best:

““Magic juice” is used by Jack Sawyer in the novel “The Talisman” to travel to and from “the Territories”; it is like wine, in a dead-grapes, nasty, Stephen King kind of way! ”

Yes, this is indeed where the inspiration for the fabric name came from.  Matt (my 18yo son) and I have been listening to this recently.   We were reviewing new colors and starting to brainstorm names and when he saw this dark one, he said “That looks just like what I picture Speedy’s magic juice to look like!”  (Speedy is the person that gave Jack the magic juice) in Stephen’s King’s “The Talisman”.  I told him that was perfect, and so it was named!

Melanie, Barbara and Caroline all have won themselves a fat quarter of this new color.  I know we said we’d draw one at random, but…. it was just so much fun we decided to reward all 3 winners! 

Wow – so many good ideas! But not quite any bullseye guesses yet. 

Here’s a couple of hints:

1) Don’t think fruit.

2) Suzanne’s guess was probably the closest by relating it to literature.  The reference did come from a book, but it was present-day writing.  (Audiobooks are great for long periods of time at the serger!)

So, keep the guesses coming!  This is so fun!

Naming new colors is always something that is a fun thing to do and quite honestly, can be difficult sometimes.  We have to be careful about trademarks, other manufacturers’ names, and making sure the name won’t give an impression of some other type of color.  For example, I was recently talking with someone about “Scattered Leaves” and he told me that when he saw the fabric, he was surprised, as he had envisioned it as being fall-type colors.  However, we came up with this name because it reminded us of green leaves being scattered about on the ground.

Peach Orchard was named such because of the mixing of peach tones and dark leafy greens, although another idea for this one was Pumpkin Patch.

Occasionally, we have “Name That Color” contests, and those are always great- stitchers have great imaginations!  Some of our colors such as Romantic Interlude and Jungle Boogie came about from these such naming contests.

But this time, we want to have a reverse ‘Name that Color’ contest of sorts!     We want to see if YOU can figure out why we named Magic Juice what we did?  This color never even had any other names considered – we saw it and we KNEW this name was perfect!  So, what do you think?  Leave us a comment here or drop us a note through our Contact Form on the Silkweaver website.  We’ll take entries for a while.  If no one has come up with the answer in about a week, maybe we’ll post a hint or two.    And before you go running off to Urban Dictionary, I’ll go ahead and tell you that no, we weren’t drinking anything when we made this color! 

If there is more than one correct guess, we’ll pick one at random.  The winner will receive a FREE fat quarter of Magic Juice fabric!