Image Converter Software

I've spent hours downloading and rejecting free image converter software. I need a program that will allow me to convert my JPGs to PDF files so that I can put my free charts into PDFs to offer here for my blog readers.

Nothing has worked with my computer. I'm running XP and using Firefox browser.

I have downloaded the free trial of Image Converter Plus. This seems to be exactly what I need, except that it costs $49.99. Does anyone out there use a good free or shareware program?

I have another freebie chart nearly completed. I know the JPGs that I've put up are not the best quality. I'd like to be able to offer my designs as PDFs.

"Just Cross Stitch" Received

My gift subscription to Just Cross Stitch magazine began. The Jan/Feb 2010 issue arrived first, then the Nov/Dec 2009 issue.

I did not find much in the Nov/Dec 2009 issue that I liked. I do not understand why the editors allowed two similar designs to appear in the same issue, i.e. the poinsettia design and the Xmas anemones. Both are red and green floral designs, very similar in feel. Oh, and then there was a red amaryllis in a planter with the word "PEACE" AND a wall motto of the word "PEACE."

There are some religious designs that I will not stitch and some that I will adapt by leaving off the verses.

I loooked through my Just Cross Stitch magazines from the early 1990s and I find them to have a greater variety of designs.

JCS has put online one digital issue, perhaps to see if they can compete with the established digital cross stitch magazine. I don't think they realize that stitchers want contemporary designs. If they offered the types of designs that people pay big money for on ebay, or buy in these "limited editions," then they would get more subscribers.

The majority of stitchers today do not want these designs that slavishly imitate realistic pictures--these designs that require a complete back stitch outline.

Anyone can look at blogs and see what people are stitching. The samplers , the primitives, the LHN, CCN, The Prairie Schooler, the Quaker designs and many more are preferred styles.

After my year is up I plan to ask for "Samplers and Antique Needlework" quarterly.  

Free Valentine Cross Stitch Chart

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This is a free chart that I designed. I downloaded a free PDF software but it is not working. You need to right-click on the image and save it to your computer. On printer set-up, you will need to shrink the image to fit an 8 1/2 " X 11" paper.

Mine is stitched on 28ct. white Monaco. The picture was not taken in good light. 

Get started on those Valentines!

A Sparkling Peacock Pinkeep

This is a pinkeep stitched with a combination of DMC floss and a strand of sparkly blue thread. It is on hand-dyed Lugana. The design is from a Dover publication(I will post the title later).

Happy New Year!

This is a downy woodpecker at a homemade feeder that I set out yesterday. It has been visited also by juncos, a red-headed woodpecker, tufted titmice, chickadees, cardinals, blue jays, and a flicker.

I did not finish all twelve biscornus for 2009, only ten, but will have the last two finished and posted by tomorrow. I have eleven left (gave one away as a gift). I was trying to finish them last night but it was too much, and so I put them aside. Now I will have something new completed for today, New Year's Day.

My watchword for this year: FOCUS . . .

that is, to focus my attention on various things I want to accomplish for the day, the week, the month, etc.  I have goals for a lot of projects(not just x-stitch), ideas, and activities to implement this year. Some of them will require only 1/2 an hour at a time, while others will require more time.