Ann-Marie Hello all! It is so lovely to be chatting to you all again. I took a long break from my blog over the Christmas season because frankly “something had to give” – there was just too much else going on for me to keep track of everything. For those of you reading this in the northern hemisphere, it is hard to describe just how crazy December gets when Christmas coincides with the end of the school year. Don’t get me wrong – I absolutely love it, but it inevitably feels like I am keeping an awful lot of balls in the air 🙂
And then Boxing Day arrives and a blissful sense of calm descends on our house. There is plenty of food in the fridge so no stress about cooking too much in the hot weather; everyone is on holidays and enjoying a rest – perhaps with book in hand and cricket on the television; the beach beckons early in the morning (just at the end of our street – we are so lucky); and after a nice swim and a walk I don’t feel one bit guilty about putting my feet up for the rest of the day.
This holiday bliss lasts for 2 or 3 days and then I start getting itchy fingers. My brain starts whirring again. The prospect of the New Year beckons. I wonder to myself, “What possibilities lie just over the horizon?”. And of course, “What do I want to achieve in 2015?”.
I have had a fantastic 2014. I am blessed with a beautiful family and a lovely home in a safe and prosperous part of the world. I am watching my children grow into citizens of the world as they discover their own unique talents and interests. I have wonderful friends and access to far more resources than I will ever need. And this little corner of the world that I call “Beautiful Stitches” is a joy every single day.
A friend posted a delightful cartoon on Facebook yesterday with this caption.
Lots of people will tell you how difficult it is to be an artist, but nobody tells you how difficult it is NOT to be an artist.
I have really come to appreciate this sentiment in 2014. During my mad November and December I went for days on end without working a single stitch and it was horrible. I missed the creative excitement I feel whenever I have needle and thread in my hand, and the grounded, centred feeling I get as colourful patterns develop beneath my fingers.
So I am not striving for 2015 to be “better” than 2014 – how could I possibly be so greedy? But I am looking forward to more of the same with some new challenges to spice things up. My number one priority is to just keep sewing – to do more designing, to embrace new teaching opportunities, and to get brave enough to sell some of my work online. And for you dear reader I will do a much better job of planning my posts and providing you with useful information about canvaswork embroidery. In the next few months we are going to explore
- the tricks I use to make it really easy to choose your own thread colours for an embroidery design;
- the method I use to create geometric canvaswork designs and how easy it is for you to do it too;
- the books and websites that inspire my creativity, and hopefully yours too; and,
- the myriad ways that canvaswork embroidery can be used to embellish useful and beautiful items for your home.
May you all have a wonderful 2015. I am so looking forward to sharing it with you!
