Lydia Progresses & Happy New Year

I'm working on the last three bands of Lydia and wanted to share how it is looking. I'm happy with the floss and fabric choices for this one. As always, Vikki Clayton's Hand-Dyed Fibers silk floss is a joy to use and gives a rich quality to the piece.

I'm working on the next design and hope to introduce it early in January.

I hope everyone has a wonderful and blessed New Year!

New Design - Lydia, Seller of Purple

I have always been intrigued by the mention in the book of Acts of a woman called Lydia. She is described as being from Thyatira and as a seller of purple. She was a successful businesswoman and not afraid to open her home to the Apostle Paul and his companions after their release from prison. She was one of Paul's first converts to Christianity and evidently put her money where her mouth was :)

As a 'seller of purple' she traded in dyes, so this lady travelled and was savvy enough to become a woman of property and some note. I think I would have loved to know her. And this design is my tribute to her.

The DMC colors and the conversion to the HDF silks I'm using for the model are -
DMC 327 Violet-dk to HDF Sue Purple 6115
DMC 208 Lavender-vy dk to HDF Sue Purple 6109
DMC 210 Lavender-md to HDF Sue Purple 6105
DMC 3854 Autumn Gold to HDF Umber 4355
DMC 3855 Autumn Gold-lt to HDF Umber 4353

I'm stitching it one strand of floss over one square of 18 count Platinum Aida cloth. The stitch count is 175x180

Lydia, Seller of Purple will be available for sale as soon as I finish the model, which is going rather quickly since I'm enjoying the stitching.

If you missed yesterday's post on the anniversary of the blog, I hope you'll take a moment to read it.

One Year Anniversary

One year, hard for me to believe, but I began this blog a year ago this week. I had just finished stitching my first design, Northern Nights, and I had no idea that within a year I'd have more than ten more patterns designed and they'd be being sold in the US and Europe.

I began the blog for three reasons, to have a method to bring my designs to stitchers, to discover if anyone would even want to stitch them and mainly to show that if I can do this anyone can! LOL

I've discovered a lot during this year, but the best part has been meeting some wonderful people. So many kind individuals have contacted me, far more email than comment on the blog, and it has been a great pleasure to get to know so many of you. I appreciate your support and for taking the time to check in here from time to time.

One of my biggest pleasures has been the number of people who contacted me who had never cross stitched before but wanted to learn how to in order to stitch something I'd made. Now I consider that success.

I'm enjoying the designing more than ever. I began with the Greenoff Software and now am using the PC Stitch Pro and made the change mainly due to the difference in the type of images it exports and the charts that it produces.

In the actual process of design I've learned this, if something doesn't mean something to me personally I can't create anything. There are lots of 'formulas' people seem to use, but if something doesn't move me, inspire me, I can't make it work. Thankfully, so much does inspire me I don't see a time in the near future when I won't have designs crowding my brain!

I think I am also developing a style that hopefully people will look at a pattern and know that I made it, though with enough variety to still surprise you :)

So thank you for coming along on this journey with me, your company has been a joy and inspiration itself. Lord willing, I hope this new year I'll be able to bring more patterns you'll enjoy stitching. I am sorry I can no longer make them free, but they'll always be inexpensive and the amount of supplies they'll need won't break the bank either.

And check back tomorrow, when I plan on introducing the next design.
Thank you all again, Kathy

"Hope" Pattern Completed

Yea, another design brought to completion. I found it fun to stitch and I'm happy to have it done by Christmas. It's colors and message seem appropriate for the holiday :)

It will also be available with the message in French and will look like this

If anyone would like the pattern with the message in another language I'll be happy to try and make one.

This week I'll be working on a post for the one year anniversary and on preparing the next design for its introduction. So as they say, 'watch this site' :)

"Hope" Stitching & Colors for Upcoming Design

Late autumn days and early frosty nights are great for setting the mood for some good stitching. And I've been taking advantage of them so 'Hope' is progressing and I 'hope' to finish the model soon.

I've taken time out of stitching to follow that urgent compulsion that accompanies inspiration for a new design. Since December 14th is the one year anniversary of this blog and beginning this design journey - how is that possible, one year? - I thought I'd post some thoughts on it all that day along with an introduction to the next design.

Until then I'll give a sneak peek and show you the colors I've chosen for it :) Everyone enjoy your stitching time whether frosty or hot!