Introducing New Year, New Designs!

This happens every year, at about this exact time:  Weeks, if not days before the Winter TNNA tradeshow in California, I am working hard to crank out some designs.  I'm not the only designer in this boat.  Nearly everyone I know in the business is doing the same thing.  We're scrambling to produce  new designs to debut for 2011;  painting on canvas, stitching like mad, and editing our stitch guides and written materials on our computers.

"But, you've known about this for the past year!" you say.  Well, yes, true enough.  And it's also true that I've been designing in my head for the past year too.  Some of my ideas have been cooking in that head for much more than a year.  I just have not had the chunk of time to implement some of them until now.  And I guess you might also say that I work well under pressure.  Make that extreme pressure.

Sigh.  Yes..I have put myself in this situation, and I'm making the best of it.  And also enjoying it immensely!  Because this new stuff is to make it's 'debut' on the tradeshow floor, I'll give you just a peek.  (I love peeks...as long as I'm not the one doing the peeking!  In that case, I am a very impatient person.)  But I must say, I'm very excited and optimistic about the designs that will be shown in the Sundance booth this year.   And hopefully, you will see them in your LNS (local needlework shop) soon too!

But I digress.  I decided to show you where this creative process takes place, and to show you that I am a true arteest!  I work with abandon, and make huge messes, and I'm disorganized, and ...well, never mind.  In the end, I love what I do, and that's all that matters, right?

These photos are of my materials and my work space.  For many years, I worked sitting and hunched over a drafting table, thinking it was the "way it is done."  "It" is the way I was taught, and I fell into that trap of not questioning, even though my shoulders would knot up painfully.  A few years ago, my husband of 12 yrs, a Philosophy professor, proficient in questioning, made the observation and suggestion that perhaps, if I stood to work, it would be much easier on my back and my overall health.  What a concept!  I was ready to try anything, so I made an investment in my health and bought a wonderful standup easel.   Can I just tell you that it has changed my life!  (My husband, and my easel...both dear loves that have changed my life for the better!)  But as you can see, having the easel has not made me any tidier. 

This last photo is looking toward the other end of the above mess.  This mess is much nicer, and contains my soft chair to stitch in, my tv to watch, my computer and my printer.  BTW...I LOVE my printer, because as I'm designing, I can enlarge, reduce, and flip or rotate my sketches.  It is a huge time saver!

So...here are two little peeks of the work in progress on my easel.  The first is the border. 

Gold paint is always a plus, don't you agree?  And so are polka dots!

Here is a little darling kitty who is trying to 'steal the show' on my new canvas, but he has a lot of competiton.

OK!  That's all you're going to get from me tonight.  Except for this final photo of the tradeshow floor.
This was at the end last year, when the show was over.  Curtains mostly down, trunks and boxes loaded.  Another great show came to an end.  But I'm looking for THE BEGINNING right now!

A New Beginning, a Happy New Year,  and may you acquire lots of great new designs to stitch and receive joy from!

Happy Holidays!

Stitch, Stitch, Stitch, Shop, Shop, Shop, Plan, Plan, Plan, Decorate, Decorate, Decorate, Wrap, Wrap, Wrap, Eat, Eat, Eat, Think, Think, Think, Stitch, Stitch, Stitch, Read, Read, Read, Party, Party, Party,
Rest, Rest, Rest, Worship, Worship, Worship, Cook, Cook, Cook, Clean, Clean, Clean, Sing, Sing, Sing, Hum, Hum, Hum, Eat, Eat, Eat, Stitch, Stitch, Stitch......

Merry Christmas to all, Happy Holidays to all, and Keep Stitching when you need to relax!
See you next year~