Country Garden Stitchery

I decided to try Illustration Friday, have been wanting to for some time now. Finally got brave enough to do it. We have sunflowers blooming all over our town right now. They are in gardens, along the roads, near canal banks and they were on the front page of the newspaper yesterday along with some bees and dragonflies so I was inspired to make my own interpretation to that.

holidays are getting closer and i find myself wanting to make lots of things, but painting has been my focus. deep rich colors in reds, blues and purples, colors of cooler weather. very excited about the needlework show and etsy at christmas. can't wait to see all the holiday things people make. trying to think of some more smaller cross stitch designs before the needlework show in october. almost finished with "country garden in september" and will need to quickly begin october to have it ready.

madly sewing lately creating some quilted things. found some great autumn and christmas fabrics. don't like "stashes" and things around my house so i make them into something and send them on their way. these will be on my Etsy Store site. have been very busy with painting christmas cards too for my greeting card store. need a break. going to watch my son play football on saturday, that will be a good change.

here is my creative space. i like lots of color and light.

a sneak preview of a ribbon embroidery project that will have at the online needlework show october 17-23.

school started today. kids are starting a brand new school, but handled it very bravely and walked into the noisy crowd without a problem. very proud of them. football season started too and a scrimage on saturday brought back the feeling of exhilaration (maybe its just me being a proud mom) from last year watching our boy play. we've never done anything quite as exciting and fun as watching him play football on saturday afternoons. i find myself cheering as loud as i can watching our team run for the goal line, feels great! busy painting and thinking of new things for my october needlework show and the christmas shopping for my greeting card and etsy stores. i find myself very inspired and wake up at 2am (it is always around that time my muse comes...) ready to work. i am excited to see how the season goes. it will be very exciting when more people discover handcrafts and artwork for gifts. i love receiving handmade things. i still have many handmade things given to m...

i decided to set up a blog to see what online journaling was like. i used to journal in pretty little fabric covered books for years. this feels like i am opening myself wide up for all to see, as a very private person it feels very strange! but i want to try it. i guess i am just wanting to use this as a space to explore ideas in my work, see if i get any constructive feedback from others. hopefully i will connect with others with similar ideas as me. feels fun to just kind of ramble. i have moved recently to a new town in the northern desert of Nevada (haven't moved in 15 years, very long time for me!). i really like it here and it is just now feeling like we are settled here and not on a long vacation. i have had different doors open for me with new areas to explore. i just opened a shop on etsy and greeting card universe. really like these new venues for my work. meeting so many cyberspace people, wish it was that easy for me in person!