Name Your Favorite Color Contest Winners!

As winter began to warm up, so did the competition in Madeira's first Name Your Favorite Color Contest. Our criteria were: creativity; how the name fit with the color; how the color "kit" came together; originality. Of the 200 entries, we've chosen 10 winners in each category of: Classic Rayon #40 and Polyneon #40. Each winner will receive $100 worth of thread, a winning kit (Rayon or Polyneon, depending on which category they entered), publicity on our Blog MadeiraMatters, and a certificate for their office. We will follow up with a behind-the-scenes look at our winners individually. But for now, here are the winners, color name and corresponding Madeira color number, and home city and state. We hope after we contact each winner, they will share a little about themselves, their company and their color name!

Classic Rayon #40 Kit:
Jo Lynn in San Antonio, TX – Peachy Keen for #1020
Mark in Ironwood, MI – Fuzzy Antler Brown for #1128
Patricia in Michigan City, IN – Heart Felt Red for #1147
Cynthia in Aberdeen, SD – Hereford Brown for #1158
Bethany in Waltham, MA – Grecian Skyline for #1177
John in Kerrville, TX – Agarita Berry Red for #1181
Kathleen in Roeland Park, KS – Verrry Berry for #1183
Maureen in Paris, TN – Butterscotch for #1225
Kate in Naples, FL – Peacock Fantasy for #1246
Ellen in Strong, ME – Wisteria Waterfall for #1275

Polyneon #40 Kit:
Carole from Caldwell, ID – Silver Dazzle for #1611
Terry & Dan from Cocoa, FL – Irish Envy for #1650
Nancy from Madison, MS – Sweet Georgia Brown for #1659
Cheri from Woodstock, GA – Pot 'O Gold for #1673
Carole from Mechanicsburg, PA – Raspberry Cream for #1681
Cynthia from Hillsdale, NY – Arrest Me Red for #1838
Sharon from Oscoda, MI – Champagne Beige for #1884
Sara from Belle Chasse, LA – Appletini for #1901
Norman from Indianapolis, IN – Solar Flare for #1965
Ken from Los Angeles, CA – Malibu Coast for #1977

Just returned from the ISS in Long Beach.  Pat Williams and I taught three digitizing seminars.  They were all fun and we had up to 30 people in each class.  The one that was most interesting was "What to do when your design goes wrong."  The most common problem embroiderers face is puckering.  Tatami fill areas are usually the culprit.  Correcting this can be as simple as lightening the top stitch density (4.0 is good).  Also use two passes of a cross hatch tatami underlay - first pass at 45 degree angle to top fill stitch direction and second pass at 135 degree, density of 30.  Keep the top stitch direction as horizontal as possible.  Sew design from bottom up and center out when possible.  This formula works particularly well on knits and will help reduce puckering.

- Rich Medcraft, Stitchwise Embroidery Design, Vancouver, WA