100

Its a little hard for me to believe, but I am nearing my 100th distributed design (that number doesn't count free charts or exclusive designs)... and ONE HUNDRED patterns available through my distributors is a pretty big deal to me.

When I first released a batch of six patterns to my ebay customers back in May of 2008, I had not an inkling of what this venture might turn into. I determined in those early days that the best way to establish myself in a market full of talent and saturated with beautiful designs, was to continue to push myself to release at least one pattern per month. And I'm proud to say that even when I thought surely I would run out of ideas six months later, it is now nearly six years, and I'm still going strong. And all because of you and your consistent encouragement and support of my efforts.

As I thought about this up and coming BIG number, I decided to do something equally BIG for that 100th release. So I took a tape measure to a large open wall in my entryway that I've been wanting to fill, and charted a design to fit. A design that takes up 12 pages in order for those tiny symbols to be read.

Its a doozy, my dears. Perhaps not quite as big as the famous Dutch Beauty that so many of you have taken on, but nearly so... it is 435 x 363 stitches, and I'm working my threads into 28 count linen to make it seem as big as possible.

Holding that much linen in my hands feels like a luxury and a burden all at the same time. A project warming my lap while I stitch is a feeling I usually ascribe to crocheting a blanket, not stitching a sampler. And I keep wondering if I'm actually going to be able to finish it in time!

I don't know how many of you will be game for such a large undertaking, but I'm doing it anyway, as a landmark for myself in this needlework design journey. I'll keep you posted as I go.

And so it Begins...

It had apparently been quite a long time since I stitched on a piece of Weeks' 40 count linen. So when I picked up my newest project, started up my needle, and my eyeballs kept getting crossed instead of the threads, I thought I needed a new lightbulb in my lamp.

The new lightbulb did not help.

Sitting in a different chair with a different lamp helped only slightly.

Stitching by daylight helped only slightly more than slightly.

So I did what any intelligent woman would do.

I bought my first pair of stitching glasses.

I thought stitching glasses were at least a decade in my future.

But the glasses did the trick, so I'm just going to have to admit it...
this Spring chicken is all grown up.