Hello stitching friends,

There's so much going on this month! First, we have a pattern award — Stacie Martin from Fort Wayne, Indiana received a copy of The Mirror by Sir Frank Dicksee (see below).

We also have many new pictures in the gallery! Some of our most popular pieces are represented so please be sure to take a look.

We are also having a members-only sale! From now until August 12 members receive 12% off all purchases. Discounts are applied at checkout.

A Word to the Wise — Safe Surfing

If you have an email account, you've received spam — unwanted emails — even if your internet service provider tries to block them for you. And you probably know that you should never open an email attachment unless you know the sender and are expecting it. (Some computer viruses send harmful attachments that purport to be from someone you know.) You also know that you shouldn't respond to phishing attempts — emails that ask you to confirm or update your account details. Some are easy to spot — they come (supposedly) from a bank where you don't have an account. Others may be from a place where you do have an account and include the right logo and everything. But if you click the link they send, you are taken to a page that looks like your bank's login page, but when you log in, they steal your login and password.

A recent threat involves email greeting cards. They say you've received a greeting card from a Friend, or a Classmate, or a Neighbor (but no real name is used). There's a link to view the card, but if you go there, harmful software may be installed on your computer. This may turn your computer into a robot that sends spam — usually in small quantities so you'll never notice. Much more disturbing, though, are keystroke loggers. These sit quietly on your computer watching everything you type and when you type in your credit card number, or a password, they send it off to a thief. If there is a keystroke logger on your computer your credit card number can be stolen, even though you are making a purchase at a secure website, and it has nothing to do with the website itself — the problem is your computer!

This is not a cheerful topic, but as an Internet store we want to be sure that you can surf safely. What to do? Install the latest security updates for your computer. Be wary. And you must have good virus and malware protection installed on your computer. (Maybe not if you have a Mac, since almost all malware affects Windows systems only.) At a minimum, it should be set up to check all the email you receive, every file you download, and monitor what is running on your computer. Norton and McAfee are good brands. EMSI Software offers a free virus and malware checker. If you have been operating without malware protection, PLEASE get one of these and run a complete check on your system. More information on internet security is available here.

On to a happier topic — new patterns! Clink any picture for a closer look.

This newsletter is a service to our members. Change your membership status here.

Scarlet Quince  |  Patterns  |  Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2007 Scarlet Quince, LLC. All rights reserved.