Press

My mom is probably annoyed with me. I haven't even answered her email yet (which I'd better do right after I finish typing this blog post). She found out that I'm featured in the current issue of Where Women Create not from me, but from a phone call from the daugther of one of my grandmother's friends (are you following this?) in Arkansas. So, yes! I'm featured in Where Women Create, issue 1 volume 4. Well, it's not really about me so much as the space I work in.

I'll be honest: I don't really work from my laptop while perched on my kitchen counter. And, while I absolutely love to look at soft-focus images of perfectly dressed and arranged spaces, my actual work space is not so ideal. But, my actual living space -I try to make it look like a place I love and want to be in all the time. These photos were taken by Gale Zucker for Joan Tapper's book Craft Activism. All of these shots were taken in my house in Austin -where I am no longer. But, this is where Sublime Stitching started and operated from for about eight years (until I moved it into this little hut for a time before moving everything out to Los Angeles last summer.) 

I like that this magazine is about creative spaces and personal mementos. See the photo of my desk on the facing page? Wanna know what's on it? Okay, going clockwise from lower left:

• Class photo from my high school year book (no, not me), which turned into this drawing.
• "Old Time Quality Embroidery Service" sampler given to my by Faythe Levine (xoxo!)
• Wood wall hanging from Japan. Underneath it on the brown paper is a delicately written fan letter from Japan in 2003, inviting me to visit, telling me about the rainy season "tsuyu". It is so sweet I never want to misplace it.
• Below that, are collages I made.
• The small frames are abstract embroideries from a show at Giant Robot NYC
• Two Ryan Berkley prints.

So, there's a peek at a corner of my former space (more is in the magazine). Maybe some day (maybe) I'll take you on a tour of the new one. Maybe. If you're nice to me. I'd like to keep it all to myself for a while longer though, if you'll let me. >quietly shutting the door<

Related:

I love Uppercase magazine's Mess is More features!

My vintage painting collection featured on Design*Sponge

Wow! I'm blushing all the way to Londontown. Talk about a nice spread! There's a whole section devoted entirely to Sublime Stitching in the most recent issue of Sew Mag UK. Now, that's some love, particularly from a sewing magazine. They've featured Epic Alphabet Patterns, Forest Friends Patterns, my heavy-duty Tracing Paper, the Gold Dragon scissors, and this floss. Oi! Stop squinting at the screen. Here are the 5 Top Tips for Beginners I gave them:

1. Don't worry about getting it perfect from the start. Whoever gets it right the first time? (Not me.)

2. Find a patient friend who can show you in person. It's the best (and nicest) way to learn.

3. Start with a simple design and work it in just one stitch (back or split) and just one color (like red). Simple is stunning.

4. Don't make a t-shirt or jeans your first project! These are the most difficult fabrics to work on.

5. Keep your fabric taut on your hoop as you work. Loose fabric makes messy stitches (unless you're working in the sewing technique).

If you're in the UK and would like to visit one of my "stockists" (I love that term) to avoid international shipping charges, you can order online from RayStitch.com or waltz right on in to Make Lounge or try your luck at select Paperchase locations!

If you're in the US, well...you just stay right here with me. xo

Yesss. Pressss! Our friends at Sew Mag UK were very kind to let their readers know that Ray Stitch are now "stockists" of Sublime Stitching patterns! Lovely. Wonderful. Thank you! (Isn't 'stockists' such a cute word?)

Check back here quick! I'm totally gonna do a give-away of some gorgeous Mexican-inspired embroidery patterns that came with my copy of the mag! 

(It's Dutch, Mom. And yes, I google-translated it.) So long as I'm shamelessly blabbering on about my recent overseas press, let me keep on blathering that Sublime Stitching turned up in a new Dutch magazine, Flow. Lucky you, their first issue is entirely viewable online, although not readable by folks like me who don't speak Dutch. But, they speak my kinda language of gorgeously cute, inspiring and wonderful. No translation needed.

Special thanks to Nicole of Follow the White Bunny who tipped me off, scanned her copy, and is also featured on the same page with her very own embroidery designs!

Feeling like Russian Nesting Doll Embroidery Patterns, now? I thought so.

I have been really suprised by the number of you who have written in to say you saw my très exciting bit of press in French Marie Claire's Idées. One of you was super-nice and even scanned it for me! Thank you! I mean...merci beaucoup. C'est un rêve réalisé...(a dream come true). This seems like a good time to link to my Bon Voyage patterns, non?

(Jennifer Porter)

There have been some nice local write-ups about the Over and Under show currently hanging at Yard Dog here in Austin. The exhibit will continue to hang until December 6th, so if you haven't gone to see it, now's your chance!

Read the reviews:

Austin Chronicle

Austin American-Statesman

Wow - this was a surprise! Pick up the latest InStyle magazine (February) and take a look at the last page. Ginnifer Goodwin (Big Love, He's Just Not That Into You, Walk the Line) is a Sublime Stitcher! 

(See a larger image in our Press section).

Hear ye! Hear ye!

Announcing Sublime Stitching's placement in the Best DIY Business category of Venus Zine's 6th Annual Reader's Poll. Hooray! A big thanks to Venus Zine and to everyone who voted for us. (We have the greatest customers in the whole wide world.) The winners will be announced in the Winter 2008 issue which hits the stands December 1.

Living Creatively, the crafty online magazine based out of Australia, has posted a nice article on the Austin Craft Mafia. If reading it whets your appetite for more creative business advice, be sure to check out fellow ACM'er Jennifer Perkins' business classes at Craft-o-Rama here in Austin, Average Jane Crafter's excellent compliation of web resources for crafty businesses, and of course our own Jenny Hart's insightful "Crafting a Business" column on VenusZine.com.