Would you like some whine with that?

Sorry, folks, just feeling the need to grumble a bit.

I mentioned a while ago that I am a subscriber to Take Ten, a magazine featuring stamped cards that could be made in about 10 minutes. The last two issues, including the one I received this week, have been published under a new editor. Sometimes when magazines get a new editor, one can hardly tell. In other cases, it's really obvious.

In this case, it's been really obvious. The cards being featured are of a different style than under the old editor. My problem with this is that I think the new editor has missed the whole "take ten" concept. I look at the cards and think, "I can't even assemble the supplies in 10 minutes, let alone create this card in 10 minutes." And this is with cards that I don't even have to think about designing, I just copy them for the most part. The newer cards are very elaborate, which follows the trend in the industry, but they're not quick cards. I also don't really like the style of most of these cards.

With my magazine this week, I received my renewal notice. I've waffled about renewing. I thought about asking you, my readers, for your opinion, but I knew deep-down what I needed to do. So I'm not going to renew, which disappoints me because I was really excited about this magazine when I first subscribed last year. I think, instead, I'll use some of the money I would've spent on the renewal and order some of the back issues, which I think I will enjoy more.

On a totally different topic, why oh why do I keep picking cross-stitch patterns that involve lots of backstitching detail work? I'm working on the North Star sampler for my nephew, and I think that the amount of vining I'm stitching is going to drive me insane or at least blind. Worse - the sampler I've picked for his brother has the same kind of vining work, although not quite as much of it. As NJM said to me today, "Didn't I learn my lesson with the pumpkins?" I worked on those 7 or 8 years ago (and started the project 9 years ago), and I still cringe when I think about working on that project.