From the Editor

There is something special about new vistas and the time of beginning. Who has not looked forward to a new job, a new semester at school, a wedding, a new home or a baby? I remember early years in school and how nice it was to start a brand new notebook and have a crisp, new page. The new year has always made me aware of beginnings. 2003 will be just that for needlepoint now. Our offices are housed in a brick building that was built in the 1970's. Of course, the architecture and furnishings reflect that time with heavy furniture, wood paneled walls and a large hand-stitched needlepoint rug in the center of the floor. What a contrast to our growing bank of computers, copiers, fax machines and many other electronic miracles that are necessary for our work. In our whirlwind "electronic age" it seems like a device is obsolete by the time it is unpacked. However, we are keeping up! We are moving on with exciting new computer systems and equipment. That "thing" I stare into at least eight hours every day is no longer called a screen or even a monitor. It is now a "cinema display" and looks like it arrived here from another planet. It is made of polycarbonate (which looks like lucite), is only about an inch thick, but so wide that I can view two magazine pages at 115%. What a joy! I am already in love with this new "toy." We have many computers, both PCs for maintaining records in circulation and finance and Macintoshes for our creative work of composing a magazine. Our newest computer, a PowerMac dual processor G4 running Mac OS X, is new, blazing fast and has incredible memory. We will let you know later how we fared with this new system and with the new publishing program.

Communication is a good thing and helps us to better serve you. How we enjoy your letters and phone calls! We so appreciate all of your kind words, your ideas and suggestions and even sharing your problems in working a design. We also love it when we know that you are always so eager to receive your new issue. As soon as each new issue mails, we start to receive dozens of phone calls and emails to tell us that you have not yet received your new issue. I want to share with you a realistic schedule of when you should look for your publication to arrive. We mail from Richmond, Virginia on the 12th of January, March, May, July, September and November. If you live on the east coast you can usually start looking for your book to arrive at the earliest around the 21st; if you are in the middle of the country it will probably be around the 28th and if you live on the west coast it may be as late as the first part of the next month. If you have a domestic subscription and your magazine has not arrived in four weeks from our mailing date, then it is time to notify us and we will replace it immediately. Sometimes you may see our books in needlework shops before you get your copy in the mail. They are all sent out by our mailing house at the same time, but magazines sent in bulk packets to shops go by carriers other than the U.S. Post Office.

Winter is such a good time for stitching and our projects in this issue are just waiting for your needle. Peg Dunayer shares her innovative Home Sweet Adobe that features unique finishing methods that turn flat stitching into a dimensional box with a lid that can be removed to show your stitching tools. Kandace Merric offers one of her lovely stitched hearts, this one in time for the Mardi Gras celebration. We complete the final chapter of our fantastically popular Contemporary Bargello. Kudos to the talented Susan Hulme for brightening all of last year with this wonderful and colorful design. Be sure to send us good photos of this and other projects that you have completed so that we can present it in our "Finish Line" feature.

Joyce Lukomski

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Last Updated November 24, 2004