Hi..my name is Gail and I love to write, paint and make things...especially my little handstitched mice!

Monday 23 July 2012

Time Goes By. . .

   Hello everyone!  Perhaps you are like me - wondering where the year is going to, so fast?  I find it hard to believe we are almost at the end of July!  I had good intentions of doing a post every week - at least - but now I see more than ten days have gone by.  Time is so precious, and yet it slips away so quickly.
   A friend of mine reminded me, the other day, that it won't be long before we see the first Christmas decorations and gifts appearing in the shops - they seem to arrive earlier all the time,which is a pity, in some ways.
   I am busy stitching, and designing - as always, and making some progress on my first design for the French publishers.  It's a detailed piece on natural linen, and I hope will look really good when it is done.  Also working on more designs to put on my blog.
   The little picture is of a collectible Christmas mouse, which I recently completed - she is called, naturally, Merry, the Christmouse, and she carries her own little handstitched felt stocking.  I think she will make a cute companion to any Christmas celebration!
   I've had a good response to my mice - and am waiting to hear back about a larger order from a company.  Of course, if that happens I will probably have to get someone to help me stitch them, as they are quite detailed and time consuming.
   Hope you all have a wonderful week, and enjoy every precious moment!
Smiles,
Gail
 

Thursday 12 July 2012

A Little Angel for you!

  Hello everyone - I intended to do a post at the weekend, but time seemed to get away from me again!  Lots to do right now, which is, of course, a good thing.  I am, as I mentioned before, working on two stitched projects for French needlework magazines, and also want to get started on a new design of my own!  It's already charted, and I have all the supplies, so I just need to get to it.
   I have had a really good week, with a few special blessings - one of them being that a publisher has come back to me about a cookbook proposal I sent them a little while ago - and they are interested in publishing it!  This is a long-cherished dream of mine, and althought nothing is definite yet this is particularly wonderful news.  More about this in due course.
   In the meantime, I thought I would put up a picture of another one of my little mice - this one is a little angel with tiny felt wings, and I made her for my mom for Mother's Day this year.  I think we all have angels around us - and they bring all sorts of untold blessings into our lives, every day!


   Anyway, I hope you are all having a happy and blessed week, and enjoying whatever gifts life brings to you today!
   Smiles
   Gail

Wednesday 4 July 2012

Sweetheart Cottage

   Hello to all.  And I hope those of you who live in the US are having a very happy and peaceful 4th of July celebration!
  I have finally finished stitching the Sweetheart Cottage piece I mentioned in a previous posting.  I hoped it would be done last week, but life just has a way of getting away from us sometimes!  It's a fun and pretty piece, not too large, 91 stitches wide by 112 stitches high, with just a few specialty stitches.  And I love the misty blue Belfast linen I used;  it seems to set off the colors really well.  Those of you who are familiar with my designs will know birds, cottages and roses are among my favorite subjects, so this design ticks all the boxes!
   Here is a photograph of the finished stitching - again, apologies for the less than brilliant photography - still something I need to work on.
   This design chart can be ordered from me, either as a pdf file which I will send to you directly, or as a chartpack which can be mailed anywhere in the world.  If you are interested, please send me an email at rosebudlane@gmail.com, and I will let you have pricing and other details.
   More stitching to do now, including the designs for the French publisher - and I am still working on my handwritten and illustrated 'cottage cookbook'- more about that at a later date.  This last week was not the easiest one for me - stress and worry about things happening in my life - but I was reminded, yet again, how important (and healing!) creativity is.  Whatever might be happening, if I sit down with my stitchng, or my paints, or even just make a batch of pancakes - I feel better and more connected, both to myself, and to life.
   I hope, whoever and wherever you are, that you are enjoying peace and joy this week.
Smiles
Gail