NEEDLEWORK PIRACY

Good Evening Everyone!

I know all of you have been reading about the

"sharing" of needlework designs.  Thanks to Lori

of www.farmhousenotforgotten.blogspot.com and 

Nancy from www.widgetsandwool.com, many of  

you are now aware of the problems needlework 

designers have been faced with for many years.   

The internet company they site is huge, but

it is not the only one out there.  For years I

have been getting emails from my customers

giving me sites that had downloads of my

designs.  This is far from a new problem.

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I am still in shock from seeing so many of my 
designs on this site, just for the taking.

There are 161 of my publications

listed at the moment.  One of my newest, Spring

 Eggs III, is on their "hot thread" list right now. 
I don't know what that means and I really won't
understand how the site works unless I sign up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

I honestly believe that until everyone understands

what 'getting something for nothing' is doing to

this industry, we are all going to suffer.

This doesn't just affect the designer.  The brick

and mortar stores and legitimate email stores

are affected by this as well.  Obviously, 
consumers will be affected if their favorite
designers give up.

Many shoppes have said to me that a large part

of their sales are now in fibers and fabrics.

What does that tell you?  One or both of the following.

 We are either stitching designs from a huge stash 

 that we have accumulated over the years or the free

and 'shared' designs that are readily available.  No one 

can blame anyone for stitching from their stash.  We

all do that.  We all have wonderful things just

waiting to be stitched, but free or 'shared' designs

are another thing.  They are killing this industry.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Those of you who know me well, know that

I don't like to get up on a podium, I'm not one to speak

up at meetings, just tend to go with the flow.  This 

though cannot be swept under the rug, or that is where

the needlework industry will go.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Think how sad that would be for all of us

who so love this beautiful and creative art form.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please spread the word about what is going on.

Thanks for listening to me and an even bigger

thank you for liking and buying my designs

over all these many years.  

Wishing you and me 

"Many Happy Stitches",

Sandra