What did you get for Christmas?

Many have asked us where have we been.  It has been a month since our last post and we have a pretty good excuse.  We have purchased a General Store and Post Office.  That was our Christmas present!

I have been very busy liaising with existing and new suppliers, ensuring existing and new staff will be properly trained, and lots of new plans are being worked out.

The shop also has an active coffee shop.  Our aim is to upgrade the presentation and quality and consistency of service and ingredients.  We are using experienced Baristas (the fancy title for those that are experienced in making coffee) to train all our staff.  I have learned lots about the art and science of making a quality cup of coffee!

Lana and her mum have been making tablecloths for the coffee tables, I have been designing all the printed material and it is looking pretty good.

The two photos here are some of the clever little cross stitch patterns Lana has been stitching.  They will be placed appropriately around the shop to improve the country/homey feel of the place. The pattern was part of the UK CrossStitcher Magazine Issue 198 (April 2008). Margaret Sherry is the clever designer and the set is called "Coffee and Cuddles".  They are pretty cute pictures.

We will have more cross stitch pictures coming soon as Lana has now some new wall space to fill with her artwork!

DMC Bankrupt - not long to go ...

The administrators of DMC have announced that they will extend the deathwatch by 4 months.  The other two parts of DMC have been dismantled and sold off.  The time for potential buyers to put in their bids has been extended to 21 November, and the final decision is deferred to 5 March 2009.

Basically the levels of debt prior to this period of administration has compromised the chances of DMC coming out as an operating entity.

Click for Press release in French, and automatic translation to English.

The same issues that were in existence at the start of administration that I mentioned before are still in place, but now you can add a likely downturn in the market as well.  So if the business has high levels of debt, a downturn in trading terms (via Exchange Rate differences), a downturn in the market (less sales) and trust in the company reduced by the troubles in the company the chance of coming through alive are low.

This will cause a huge change in the Cross Stitch market, especially considering a huge portion of the kits come standard with DMC colours and coding.  Also, many non DMC threads are still based on DMC dyed threads and blank/white stock.

The photo is a fine hangman's noose in DMC colour 316.

Cyclone Martin

Sometimes an active one year old is a little like a cyclone (hurricane).  We always seem to be following a trail of destruction and displacement.

Martin isn't so much destructive as very displacing.  "The Relocator" is an appropriate title.

Lana stores her active DMC floss stash in a set of cheap plastic drawers. She cleverly placed these with the front handles facing the wall.

Today Martin discovered that if you pushed in the drawer from the back you can reach a small hand in.  A small hand about the size of Martin's.

He carefully reached in and pulled out skeins of cotton, one at a time, and then carefully slid off the two little paper bands and put both cotton and band on the floor.  And then he reached in and pulled out another one.  These labels describe the colour and number of each skein, essential for completing a cross stitch.

The children heard a cry from the bedroom a short while later, "Ohhh!  Martin!"

There was the pile of cottons and associated labels all randomised.  

Notice how so many colours are really similar?  Luckily Lana has a sample of each colour in a special case in the cupboard.  Lana, Ariel and Eric then spent half an hour sorting the 40 colours, matching the bands and then putting the bands back on the skeins.

Now the plastic drawers are shoved against the wall and something heavy is shoved in behind them.

It could have been worse.  The bands weren't destroyed and the cotton skeins weren't unravelled - or trailed up the hall behind him as he showed his discovery.  We are thankful for small mercies.

What else have we been doing - Finishing

It has been some time since we displayed any of the cratfy things Lana has done. In fact, we haven't shown anything cross stitch on the blog for about 18 months! After popular request, we thought that we might catch up.
Ariel completed the first pattern: "Mother's Bliss" from Mirabilia Designs. It was Ariel's first large design and she did a very good job. All these designs aren't very hard or complicated - they are just large and you need to spend a lot of time to finish them.

These were all framed last September and between Mum, Ariel and Lana we had 13 pictures framed. The framer we use is in Port Macquarie, about 8 hours drive away. When we plan a trip up North, we work out which patterns to frame, carefully pack them in a mailing tube and send them off. Then on the return journey we pop in the shop and collect them all.

We suggested to Ariel that if she finished her Lady before we posted them we would pay for it with the rest.

Lana stitched the other two BM (Before Martin).

The first one on blue is "Stargazer" by Mirabilia pattern #88. She is stitched on 32ct "Bell Bottom Blue"from Stitches and Spice an Australian online hand dyed shop. I think this material is much better than the orange used for the official picture on the Mirabilia Site.
There are a lot of beads on the design. I was on the lounge the other night looking up at the picture and making a number of "interesting" comments regarding the sheer amount of beads! It looks as if she has been shot by a stream of bubbles and is clutching her chest in pain. Lana didn't agree with me. I could tell this as she just gave me THAT condescending look.

The last is "Angel of Hope" from Lavender and Lace Designs, stitched on the purple material "Jacaranda Haze" also from Stitches and Spice. Lana used beads instead of the gold thread petite on the dress and the larger ones around her.

What Lana's been up to - Biscornu

A "Biscornu" is what is pictured here.  The word is a French adjective which is now a noun in English to describe for an odd shaped pin cushion. 

The Green one was done as an experiment, then Lana made the red one on 25 count material "two over two" (two strands of thread over two material threads) and the little blue one is one over one on the same material. 

You can see that one over one is 1/4 the size of the two over two. Clare's and Rose's fingers provide some scale.
Lana has always wanted to do this to show the size comparison, and finally found the right pattern.
The pattern can be found at Aurelle blog (It's in French but you should find your way around easy enough). The samples shown here are based on the "Biscornu No 8." pattern.

DMC in Receivership

The court decision has been made: DMC is in Receivership. 

This means they have 6 months.  The press release included this lovely spin:

"With the support of the official receivers (administrateurs judiciaires), these decisions give all the DMC companies the time required to find solutions allowing the interests of the staff and shareholders to be upheld and for a future to be mapped-out for these companies.

A new era in the history of the DMC companies has started today. By introducing appropriate solutions, it should enable all the companies to be provided with the means of facing-up to the constraints being placed on them: the fall of the dollar versus the euro, Asian imports and consumers’ concerns about their spending power. "

Now that is great spin about a decision to be placed under the administration of external accountants ("the administrators") to sort out the mess. 

It is sad to see that avoiding the problems and not reacting to internal accounts leads to these type of results. Either their accounting system didn't give them timely accurate reports, or they didn't pay attention to them. Either way, being placed under administration is not a good "new era" unless the old self controlled one was a bad one.
Now what? The administrators of DMC have up to six months to work out the accounting mess and see if there is anything worth saving. Can they change the cost structures enough to still make money considering the effect a devaluating dollar is having against fixed Euro costs?
A brief explanation: When the costs are in Euro and sales are in US dollars, if each US dollar buys less Euros, it means more US dollars are needed to cover the same costs. 

This can only be achieved by 1) selling more, 2) charging more or 3) spending less. It is up to Administrators to find out to what extent they can do all three. But because DMC management wasn't able to do it themselves, it must be done in a short time, with the public and business partners nervous and the economy looking flaky.
Interesting times ahead.

DMC Bankrupt - but DMC USA says business as usual

DMC has responded to all the activity in France with a bulletin in English. This is the same as the one in French linked to yesterday.  The President of DMC Inc sent an email to those in the DMC Mentor program (a group that encourages people to get into Cross Stitching).  It says:

Email

In recent days, there has been a significant amount of information in the form of press releases, media reports, etc. regarding financial difficulties and operational restructuring plans at the DMC corporate offices in France. Those activities and court filings within the legal system in France are directed towards seeking a formal resolution for two divisions within the DMC Corporation (Sportswear fabric and a small chain of retail stores found only in France) that are not related to the embroidery thread and craft activities, which remain the core business of the corporation.

In addition, the U.S. division of DMC operates as a separate legal and financial entity with its own financing, receivables, payables, etc, and as such, is not included in any legal filing or petitions to the courts that may occur in France.

We are financially secure and fully prepared to conduct business as usual here in the U.S.

DMC has been manufacturing needlework threads for 262 years and we remain committed to providing stitchers with the highest quality embroidery floss, specialty threads, needlework fabrics and other supplies they need to continue to enjoy the wonderful art of needlework. We look forward to continuing to serve all of our customers and loyal users of DMC products into the future.

Joseph D. McCabe
President/CEO
DMC, Inc.

You will note that the statement says that DMC USA is just an administration and distribution operation. Production is still in France, of which two major parts of the business are filing for Bankruptcy, with workers who aren't being paid.  We will see how the thread factory part of the business is affected.  If DMC USA has no future product, how does it keep operating long term? 

As we said, interesting times ahead.

DMC Bankruptcy

Oh No! DMC - the makers of most of the thread Lana uses to Cross Stitch - is declaring bankruptcy. This article is translated from the French. This is the official press release from DMC on 24 April 2008, telling us they will "undertake significant restructuring in the near term". This apparently meant not paying April's wages to their workers in France. That is a surefire way to kill the business, combined with the news report confirming the bankruptcy.
DMC's press release from February announces a new "Strategy" which seems to have been too little too late. The press release mentioned the 2007 results would be published in March but the figures still haven't surfaced.
DMC's official website is saying nothing else at the moment.
DMC is a major supplier of threads for Cross stitching, either as individual skeins, packed in kits, or providing the source materials for custom thread dyers.
What does this mean for Cross stitchers (like Lana and her mum)?
Other thread suppliers should enjoy the opening market opportunities but they don't have the wide range of DMC. This means there will be a while before new colours are in place to replace the DMC colours.
Thread prices will probably go up. Less competition will mean thread makers have a chance of making better margins.
Ah well. Interesting times ahead!

Update:  DMC issued a declaration (in French) saying that they have a cash shortage caused by everyone else but them (the economy, currency, competition, etc) and have gone to the court and it's now in the courts hands.  A decision will be handed down in the first few days of May. At least that is my translation based on the Alta Vista Babelfish French to English translation.

Comonos House

"Comonos House" is a design by Ross Originals. Lana and her mum first saw it at a cross stitch fair about ten years ago. Then it was completed on 14 count in a grey green colour.
Amazingly, this whole design only uses one colour, utilising half and full crosses, and one, two or three threads for contrast. If you click to see more details, you can see how well Graham Ross has done. This is a great example of using not only the different stitches and thickness but also NO stitches for the white.

More about Sister M.I.Hummel

Lana is currently creating a "Memory Book" of her Cross stitch work. Each page has a photo or two of the finished work and a small story of when she started and finished the work and any relevant stories associated with the work.
Back in September 2005 we reported on the Hummel Apple Tree Children. The above picture is of them framed. As part of her Memory book Lana did some more research on the artist, M..I. Hummel and discovered a fascinating tale.
You can read much more details at www.mihummel.com, but here is a summary.

Sister Maria Innocentia Hummel was born in the small village of Massing, Germany in 1909. She studied art in Munich and after graduating she joined the Franciscan Order deep in the German countryside. M.I. Hummel taught art at a local school and continued to pursue her own artwork. Her artwork was published in books and as art cards. These made their way to Munich. A figurine company wanted to create figurines from her drawings and an agreement was made in 1935. The figurines became very popular especially with the American G.I.’s as souvenirs after World War II. Sister Hummel contracted tuberculosis and died November 1946, at the age of 37.