Happy New Year! I’ve already started my traditional New Year’s Resolutions, back in September when I started my diet and exercise program – 16 pounds lighter so far! But, like so many of you, the prospect of a new year turns my thoughts to goals and projects for the coming year. The blank canvas beckons, waiting for needle and thread to create something of beauty and value, stitching bits of spirit and soul along with the pattern. So what lies ahead?
In the immediate future, just days away now, I have the Winter Show in Phoenix. As usual, I’m still working on new designs. But here’s something I completed last year, that I hope will find a warm welcome, a Change It Up Alphabet. Each letter is comprised of 4 x 4 blocks, a different stitch for each letter. Since each stitch is the same size, the stitcher can choose to make the letters as I’ve done them, using a single stitch, or combine different stitches for the letters, or use stitches for letters other than the ones I chose, or any number of possibilities. The booklet has upper and lower case letters, 26 stitches and diagrams, plus a 27th stitch to use for a border; suggestions for layering stitches; suggestions for a border; how to figure a layout, and even a tent stitch alphabet to create a birth sampler, wedding or anniversary commemorative. I chose to stitch a model using my granddaughter’s name, in the colors of her nursery, which is painted pink and green stripes.
Right after the Winter Show in Phoenix I’ll prepare for the Nashville Needlearts Market, with new designs for that show as well. I’ll be showing sneak peeks here first, and if all goes as planned, using some trims from Crescent Colours for a series of Easter egg ornaments. Fingers crossed that the visions in my head translate to fabric and thread!
Further along, though, I’ve already started planning the end to the Diamond Delight series. Diamond Delight 10 is haunting my dreams, and will be quite an ambitious undertaking. I hope I’m up to the task; it feels quite daunting! But it’s part of my general goal this year to take my designing in a more artistic direction, to grow as a needle artist, and experiment with my chosen medium of canvas and thread.
I hope you’ll take the journey with me, and may 2012 be an exciting year of growth for you as well!