Sunday 29 July 2012

Tast 2012 Week 30

You know the expression 24/7 (and I am not thinking of July 24th) when something goes on for the whole day every day of the week. Well, I would like to say that I have been busy 25/7 but that is an exaggeration so let's be truthful. I've been fully occupied 23/7.
Family members, whose middle name must be SUPER-ACTIVE-BUSY-WANT-TO-SEE-AND-DO-ALL-THERE-IS-TO-SEE-AND-DO are here to visit, and it has been great fun, but tiring. Naturally I have had VERY little time to stitch so this week's entry of the Oyster Stitch is a work done in haste:


Also I find I have a lack of thread. I brought very little with me and am shocked at the cost of DMC in Sweden. In Japan I can buy the same for a fraction of the price. Why?

To all my blogging friends, please forgive me for not having had the time to read and comment recently. I strongly recommend you to head over to Pintangle and follow the links in the Comments there to see what the others have made. Great stuff to behold, I am sure!


8 comments:

Lis Harwood said...

No apology necessary, I am amazed that you have blogged at at, you seem to have been managing without sleep!! Love oysters :-)

Chris(craft) and Dave(photos) Richards said...

Hurried or not.........I think its magic !
hugs
Chris richards
xxxxxxx

Annet said...

I like your oyster stitch doodle!

Anonymous said...

Even though DMC is manufactured in France, due to a number of factors it is more expensive in Europe than here in the US. Here it is about 30-33 cents a skein, 4 for 1$ on sale sometimes (yah-hoo!). :-)Since the US is about 10 million square kilometers we can order alot more (in bulk for large craft store chains) than most countries anywhere else can. Think of it this way, our state of California (there are 50 states) is the same size as Sweden or Spain. I do not know how much floss costs in Japan, but Japan is the same size as our state of Montana, but has a much larger population. Parts of Europe also have extra taxes on imports that are passed on to the purchasers, making floss more expensive. Another issue, may be popularity, if there is a small population, like in Montana, or simply a smaller population of embroiderers, there may be fewer crafters interested in buying floss, reducing the amount purchased (in bulk) from France, raising prices. I know that in my area, I am the only embroiderer I know of, everyone else (yes, adults) are into video games and drinking parties. Also, smaller craft stores (not national chains) order less because they have smaller consumer pools, and because they are charged more by DMC, they in turn, charge more to the customer. The 33 (average) cents a skein is in large chain (often national)stores and smaller local craft stores charge up to 50 cents (average) a skein. In other words, if the US (for example) purchases 1,000 skeins (just for easy math) for a large chain, DMC has to make one financial transaction, the skeins being sent to one location and divided among the chain stores over here, once it arrives here. For small local stores who each purchase 10 skeins, that is 100 financial transactions for 1,000 skeins, shipped individually to the 100 locations. I do not know if Sweden and Japan have large craft chains or not, but for imports in general, the larger the order, the less it costs, (in shipping costs) so if Japan and Sweden do not have chains, it is part of what makes it more expensive. I am not saying that chains are better, I am just saying that thier inability to buy in huge amounts is what makes it more expensive. I hope this helps. :-)

Faith said...

That you did any stitching is great. Though perhaps the busyness makes it more important to do something the soothe the soul. Whatever.. it looks good to me. I love the colors and where you mixed threads together.

JennyPennyPoppy said...

Very nicely done oyster stitching in such a nice array of colours :)

Ingalill Jigborg said...

Carin, I can´t see that you are occupied with other things when you can make so very wonderful Oyster stitch. I have difficulties with this and then I am not guiding my famaly in Stockholm.

Have a nice day and other days in Sweden.

Ingalill

Kathy said...

Beautiful, colorful oyster stitches!