DESIGN 2015

What is DESIGN?

DESIGN is a somewhat recursive acronym and stands forDesigner Everybody Should Instantly Get to Notice. How clever of me, right? Right? Okay, moving on. It's also a monthly blog challenge for cross stitchers (or possibly other crafters as well). Each month you get to present a designer of your choice, be it your favourite or someone you just discovered, you only need to have an ongoing WIP by them - and answer a few questions about them. Easy as that.

Why participate in DESIGN?

I've been stitching since early childhood, but growing up in Germany, my choices of designs have always been somewhat limited - cross stitch is not very big here, and there are not many options: A few books (mostly florals), some kits (Anchor or Vervaco, if your lucky, but mostly smaller ones) and lots of tablecloths, and that's about it. It was only about a year ago when I had the idea to check was the internet has in store in terms of stitchy stuff - and, oh, the things I have seen! My friends here from NCCIH soon introduced me to Teresa Wentzler and her wonderful fantasy designs, I was amazed and vowed to stitch all of them and to never stitch anything else again - I vow I have often broken since, because when I took it I had no idea how many more wonderful designers are out there - there have to be thousands, and new ones every year, and I'm discovering more and more I really love all the time. So the declared goal of DESIGN really is to spread the word of those designers you love, and get to know what others might love; maybe there's something new for you to enjoy as well! 

How to join and participate?

If you want to join, just shoot me an email to designofthemonth@gmail.com and I will add you to the list of participants. You can join at any time during the year, but please understand that you might not qualify to the possible yearly giveaway (see below) anymore if you join too late. 

After that, you can participate each month by posting your monthly entry (see below) to your blog, then sending me another mail with the link to your post, your name, the designer your reviewing and the month your entering for. The deadline to enter and be eligible for the monthly giveaway (if any - see below as well) is the last day of each month, but if you just want to have a full set of twelve  you can also enter later and still have it count for the month you want.

You can also participate if you don't have a blog of your own - in this case, send me the text and any pictures you wish to include directly per mail, and I will include it in the list of monthly posts somehow!

What do I have to do for each month's post?

First, you need a WIP by the designer you want to talk about. Doesn't matter if you only started working on it or just put the last few stitches in - you only need to have worked on it at some point during the year. Then write your post, including picture of your current work and the following questions, interview style:

What project are you talking about this month? - Please include the full name of the design, designer and artist (if applicable), and a link to what the design will look like when finished, if possible from the designer's own homepage.

Have you stitched a project by this designer before?

Would you buy/stitch a design by this designer again? Why/Why not?

What made you choose this particular design/designer?

Did you notice anything that distinguished this designer from others? - For example specialty stitches, fractionals, much/little 'confetti', beads, special fibers...

Feel free to add any other information you want to share in your post.

Will there be any give aways?

I hope there will; I'll try to have at least one (paid by me) at the end of the year, with a possible bonus for participants who entered every month.

I will try to have some during the year as well, but I'm kinda new to the whole business of organizing a group like this though please don't expect to much.

What if I can't afford twelve different projects in one year?

If you can't or don't want to work on twelve projects and participate each month, that's no problem at all - everyone can participate as often or as seldom as they want to. That being said, I highly recommend to try doing as many projects as you can - many designers will offer very small designs that don't take much in terms of time and resources and which can often be stitched with leftovers from other projects. Also, many designers offer such small (and sometimes bigger as well!) projects for free, so people can get a feeling for how their patterns look like. Checkhere for an (incomplete) list of those freebies.

I'm a designer myself, can I still participate?

Of course you can - and even in one (or both) of two ways: You can join as a regular participant, but if you'd like to do a little promotional work as well, please contact me about that and I'd love to have a little interview with you that will then be shared with all the participants. Should any designers sign up for this, I'll also post it in advance so people can sent in questions they'd like to see answered in the interview.

While by no means an obligation, it would be GREAT if you could also donate a prize for a monthly giveaway after the interview *wink wink*.