Bad days turned around

This is probably going to be a long post!!!! 

The ladybird pattern problem has been sorted - thank goodness. The lady who sent the pattern to the magazine had worked it out from a picture she'd seen of the ladybird and then just didn't realise the copyright implications. We have spoken about it and all is well in that area.

The magazine took it in good faith not knowing a lot about tatting as their main aim is to sell craft items and books.  Remember - this was their first publication.  The result now is that they will issue an apology in the third edition (although I did say it wasn't necessary) and will be running an article about me sometime. I'm sure the Italian readers will be bored to death over that!!!

I have offered to help them with researching patterns which are submitted to them in future in order to prevent them being put in a similar situation and already I've run my eye over two of them.  Of course this isn't fool proof as I don't know all the patterns that there are in every book and on every internet page.

One of the things that the magazine is concerned about (and which I said I'd mention here) is the number of tatting books (which they also sell) being uploaded on the internet for anybody to take.  We ALL know that this happens and I hope we all avoid sites like those and report them to the appropriate authorities if we stumble on them.  After all if all pattern books were available for free on the internet then designers would stop writing them, wouldn't they?  Then where would we all be - patternless.

So, to sum up. I now have a good relationship with the magazine and with the lady who submitted the pattern. The magazine has now learned that tatting patterns are for shuttle tatters and the dreaded needle tatters too!!!