Ninety-nine Revisited

Quietly, so far, I have been participating in National Blog Writing Month. I'm not so sure that there's resounding participation that there once was, but I like the challenge of coming up with something entertaining every day for a month. I scoured the internet and came up with a list of 93 ideas in case I get stuck. Ninety three should do the trick, right?

Today's assignment has me looking back to my 99th blog post. This took place on May 6, 2004. It was a short post, so I quote it in its entirety:

Fellow blogger, designer and teacher, The Embroideress was featured in Fine Lines this quarter. I own some of her blackwork designs (although they remain unstitched), but I didn't know much more about her except that she lives round these parts. I found her teaching philosophy to be intriguing and sensible--teaching technique rather than "a project." I agree that teachers are doing stitchers a disservice with the usual approach but they're also doing themselves a disservice. I haven't taken a class in a very long time because I haven't really liked any of the projects that are offered. Why should I spend a load of money on a project that I could do without a teacher? The only real reason I would do it would be to spend time with stitching friends. But if someone were going to show me a technique, and perhaps send me off to make a piece of my own, that would intrigue me.

The assignment asks me what I would change about this post. (Pictures! Blogger had no pictures back then!) But what is more interesting to me is what has changed in the industry. First, and probably foremost, is that Linn Skinner, The Embroideress, is no longer with us; she passed away in 2012. Less importantly, Fine Lines is no longer with us. (I hunted around to see when they stopped printing, but the best I could come up with is this post from 2006 when I noticed.) As for the rest, I stand by my post. I still haven't taken a class in a long time but I'm starting to think there are no more new techniques for me to learn. I'm probably wrong about that. (And I haven't done any better in stitching those Skinner Sisters blackwork patterns that I have.)

Did I Miss Something?

It seems to me that if you are going to stop publishing your magazine, pull down your website, and fold up, you ought to tell the members of your group. Don't you think, Debbie Novak Crain?

Or is this a case that I'm the last to get the news on that?

When I'm being mean, and really, when am I not being mean? When I'm being mean, I like to think this mysterious George person made off with the cash. It's a tragic, embarrassing story that can be told about thousands, no hundreds of thousands, of women who put all their eggs in that basket.

Probably the reality is that like many small businesses it just failed. But how interesting is that? The other story has the word abscond in it. It's so much more dramatic!

Still, someone should have sent us a memo.