Wow...It's been too long! Got busy gardening, designing and family issues and just got out of the habit of keeping this up. Other media outlets: Facebook & Instagram are quicker. Somehow the Pandemic sapped my motivation for so many things. Communication and socializing are probably the things I miss the most...so...let's get back to it! 

We just got in the 2020 Nashville Needlework Market in March last year right before everything got shut down. All went well and to my knowledge no one who attended got sick. In case you missed last year's designs:

                                                          Alphabet de Fleurs

This sweet alphabet was inspired by my Forget-Me-Not flowers that bloom in my garden in the spring. Anxiously awaiting their arrival this year!!!

Folly of Envy

This is my interpretation of Margaret Matilda Baron's sampler stitched in 1834 at the age of 11.  She was my great-great-grandmother's sister-in-law. The original sampler is not in the best of shape and was just impossible to recreate the flowers...so I created my own. The verse is from The English Reader, published in 1813, and called Folly of Envy:

                                                                Folly of Envy

                                    Can you discern another's mind?

                                    Why is't you envy? Envy's blind.

                                    Tell envy, when she would annoy,

                                    That thousands want what you enjoy.

                                                        The Bees of Summer

This is a set of nesting boxes I purchased from Hobby Lobby and the cute picket fence from Walmart. What can I say...I'm a sucker for craft supplies. My love for gardening and the bees that pollinate the plants inspired these pieces. Complete finishing instructions are inclueded in the pattern.

                                                            Votes For Women

2020 marked the 100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote. I felt it needed to be celebrated in a "stitchy" way as well as with my vote!

                                                                You Got This

This is the 2020 Ripple Effect Pattern. These patterns sprang from an idea of Meg Ripple's. An avid stitcher, Meg asked if I would design cross stitch patterns of inspiration for her fellow cancer patients.  Although Meg lost her battle with cancer, I carry on her vision each year with a pattern. My profits from these patterns are donated to the American Cancer Society in Meg's memory.

Later in the year I released two more patterns. First up:

                                                        2020 ~ Sew Over It

This sampler is fraught with many representations of the Pandemic Culture of 2020: the border represents the virus with masks in-between; the letters are 6 stitches apart; between the rows of letters there are directional arrows; the 5 star rating for 2020 is just half a star; Pandemic buzz words (covid 19, quarantine, homeschool, social distancing, work at home, was your hands, shelter in place, sanitize, mask up) are subtly stitched in "medical mask aqua" (Island Breeze); we endured the Pandemic "one stitch at a time" and are now "sew over it".  Even the thread colors are significant: "Island Breeze" not only medical mask aqua but, an island breeze we'd all like to be feeling; "Brick" the virus smashing the idea of an island breeze.

The last design released in 2020 was originally published in Punch Needle & Primitive Stitcher Magazine in the 2019 Christmas ~ Winter Issue.

                                                            Santa's Ride

Santa's Ride includes the finishing instruction as shown. The wood house wall hanging and snowflake ornaments were purchased from Hobby Lobby.

There you have my 2020 offerings!