Thursday, July 31, 2014

The Backside

Well, this is it! I have put in my final stitches! I've been working on this baby for so long, its a little hard to believe that I'm finally done. After-project shock, big time.

I'm not quite ready to show the final photo yet, but I thought you might like to see the unpressed, unframed backside of His Eye is on the Sparrow. And my toes, for size perspective!
This lovely lady is my 100th distributed design, set to be released by Norden Crafts on August 16th in St. Charles, and will simultaneously be available in my etsy shop for those of you who want to purchase directly from me. Put in your requests to your needlework shop owners now, and tell them to hurry over to Norden if they want to get their hands on some patterns early on. They will only have 100 copies there, so everyone else will have to wait for snail mail and secondary orders.

Whew! But the life of a needlework designer is never boring... I've already started stitching on a Christmas design for release in September.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Lately

the Reason for Three Feeders :: Ombre Eggs :: Playing with Old Friends :: Bigger than my Knuckle :: Tiny and Sweet :: Coloring :: Morning Companion :: Skyping with Cousins :: 8 Year Old in Armor :: Lavender :: Bumblebee on Fireweed :: Sunset :: Famous Floor (Joe's Donuts) :: a Force to be Reckoned With

Monday, July 21, 2014

Down to the Wire

I'm so close to finishing that way-too-enormous 100th distributed sampler design, I can taste it. It appears that I know myself pretty well, and had the timeline just about right. I might sweat a few drops in the meantime, but I think this lovely lady will be unveiled with all the pomp and celebration that a needlework market release in St. Charles can give her.

Just some wings to add to this eternal being...
Then to fill in this (relatively) small space with a few more furred and feathered friends...
And she'll be ready to go.

Well, once I get that gigantic frame re-finished, and stretch and pin the largest piece of linen I've ever worked with, and do some last minute chart edits, and design the cover, and take a tempting photo of the finished model...

One step at a time, eh?

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Studio/Office/Sewing/Work/Guest Room

That room that has at least two dozen names, one for every mood, it would seem, has once again been altered. We finally put the kiddos into a bunk bed, leaving us with a twin bed that needed a home. I was all for storing it in the shop at first, but my more practical other-half, the Farmboy, convinced me to move it to my already over-crowded work room.

Which in turn, forced me to sort, re-organize, and generally work some serious squeezing magic with all of my STUFF.

It works. It really does, and I'm glad the Farmboy is so convincing when he sets his mind to something. And that I'm pretty good at sorting and squeezing the most use out of my space. We make a good team.

How would you like to sleep here (quilt by my big Sister, granny squares by my Grandma, sampler wall by Me)?
Your last glimpse of my sampler was was here. I predict that it will be completely full by this time next year.

The other side of the room has changed slightly, now holding all of my small designs and that little printer that works overtime.
And just for the fun of it, I spliced some photos together to show you the current state of my pincushion collection (a few are living in other locations around the house, so this isn't complete by any means).

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Small Town Parade

I've lived in this community for 15 years now, and have managed to never attend the yearly Sandy Mountain Days parade. Crowds just aren't my thing, and I generally avoid them at all costs. But with kiddos now, aged 6 and 8, I figured I had better give them a chance to decide for themselves whether they like the experience or not.

And they did.

The Blizzards and pizza eaten street-side helped, as did the school classmates who made appearances in a few of the "floats". I even heard "Mrs. Twist!" shouted out to me from the parade, as if I was the celebrity of the moment (gotta love being a regular on campus; if you ever need to feel popular, just go volunteer at your local grade school).

Me? Am I a parade convert now? Nope. Still just meh... but having my camera there to entertain me made it much more worth the trip to town.

And now you get to enjoy it too...