Where Anabella’s Stands

Creativity, Transparency & Respect

Before we get into stitching today, there is something I need to address.

I have stayed quiet for quite a while because I did not want to add to the drama that has been happening in parts of the cross stitch community. I wanted to keep doing what I have always done: designing, creating, sharing, and enjoying this craft with all of you. But at this point, staying quiet feels wrong.

First, I want to apologize to you — the stitchers, the customers, the viewers, and the small business supporters who have been caught in the middle of all of this. Not because I believe you need an apology from me for how I run my business, but because I am genuinely sorry that anyone in this community has made you feel as though your intelligence needs to be questioned or your choices need to be policed.

You are not stupid.

You know the difference between a cross stitch pattern and the photograph used to present that pattern. You know that when you purchase a six-dollar cross stitch chart, the Christmas tree in the background does not arrive in the mail. The wrapped presents do not come with it. The kitchen table does not come with it. The antique chair, the greenery, the basket, the ribbon, the candle, and the pretty room surrounding the stitched piece are not secretly included in your PDF or paper chart.

You understand what you are buying, and I think customers deserve to be treated like intelligent adults who can make their own purchasing decisions.

I also want to make something very clear about Anabella’s. Our cross stitch designs are human designed. The chart is created by us. The design itself is ours. The stitching information is ours. We do not use AI to create a cross stitch design and then pretend a computer-generated stitched image is an actual stitched model.

I completely understand why people want transparency about who or what actually designed the chart they are purchasing. That is a reasonable conversation.

But that is not the same thing as using technology to help create a styled background or marketing image around a real design. Those two things have been deliberately blurred together in some of the conversations happening online, and I do not agree with that.

There is a very big difference between asking for transparency and turning that request into a campaign against other small businesses.

There is a difference between saying, “This is how I choose to run my business,” and saying, “Anyone who does it differently deserves to be shamed.”

There is a difference between educating customers and talking down to them.

And there is certainly a difference between having an opinion and creating an atmosphere where people are afraid to post their work, promote their businesses, experiment with new tools, or speak because they know a group of people may descend on them afterward.

I have watched small business owners be criticized, mocked, talked about, and treated as though using AI-assisted background imagery somehow makes everything they create dishonest.

I do not agree.

And I am no longer going to pretend that I do simply because speaking up may make somebody uncomfortable.

Cross stitch is supposed to be creative. It is supposed to be joyful. It is supposed to be a community filled with people who love thread and fabric and color, and the satisfaction of making something with their own hands.

It should not become a place where a handful of people decide that they are the cross stitch police.

Nobody gets to appoint themselves the authority over every other designer, shop owner, or stitcher.

You are free to decide what businesses you support. Designers are free to decide how they market their work. And if a company’s practices do not align with what you personally want, don’t purchase from them.

That is how a marketplace works.

I have spent decades working with people, running businesses, caring for families, and building relationships. And one thing I know very well is this:

You do not earn people’s trust by treating them like children.

You earn it by being clear.

You earn it by being consistent.

And you earn it by respecting their ability to make their own decisions.

So here is where Anabella’s stands.

We will continue to clearly identify what our customers are purchasing.

We will continue to design our own cross stitch patterns.

We will continue to use technology where it helps us present, market, and grow our small business responsibly.

We will continue to believe that the person on the other side of that screen is perfectly capable of deciding whether she likes what we are doing.

And most importantly, we will continue stitching.

Because I am not interested in spending the next chapter of Anabella’s fighting with other women on the internet.

I am interested in designing beautiful things.

I am interested in helping people finish them.

I am interested in encouraging creativity.

And I am interested in building a community where people can disagree without trying to destroy one another.

That is where my energy is going.

I kept my mouth shut long enough.

This is where I stand.

And now, let’s get back to stitching.

Elayne
Anabella’s Needleart
Where Every Stitch Tells a Story.