I've got nothing to add, verklempt!

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New and Yummy!

Check out the new 20 Silk Skein Combinations at our ETSY SHOP!

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Prep fun.

Yesterday, I was busy prepping for my Samburu Pilot Class which takes place here in my studio/home in just a few weeks.  It's hard work, but someone's got to do it...

Ultrasuede tassels

 Bead choices

Beading sequence options.

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P.D.F. on E.T.S.Y. (Sounds like a medical condition)

Early this morning, (around 4 am), I added a slew of designs which you can purchase as PDF files in my Etsy store. They offer immediate download upon purchase.  I'll be adding more throughout the day.

The nice thing about this is: a) the price   b) the immediate gratification  c) no shipping fee  d) won't take up space until you are ready to print it.

The first ones are up HERE.

I'm having trouble staying asleep at night.  Before I get a chance to yell "STOP" at my head, it starts thinking, and worrying.  I never take any sleeping aids, for fear that I won't wake up if someone in the house needs me, crazy, I know.  So there I lay, starting at around 3 am.  I become fidgety within 15 minutes, hold back another 10 minutes, but then it's over.  Up I go to the kitchen to make "morning" coffee and to the computer to begin working.  

I remember my parents competing about who didn't sleep ALL night.  Each insisted he/she didn't sleep and sat there watching the other one sleep like a baby.  I never understood it then.  I get it now.

Please bed, let me sleep tonight.

We are in for a big storm this weekend.  Another big storm.  Here is a photo Nina took while walking Esther during our last big storm. 

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More on those boxes...

You knew I was going to try these beautiful lacquer boxes with the new Legacy design, didn't you? I couldn't help myself, I just had to.  

So going back to my previous question, do these photos affect your decision? 

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You've helped me in the past, I need you again...

"LEGACY" is almost ready.  The instructions are done, I'm now preparing materials and and ordering threads, Next Stop... YOU!

So, here is where I need your help: This design is just about 3.5" x 3.5".  I would love to see it in a lacquered box, so I've gone-a-looking. Would you be willing to pay an additional $80-$90 for a box to put this design on?  Since I rarely send my work out to be finished, and since I like to come up with my own ways to finish a piece, (such as the little red photo album I made, see photo), I don't always know what others are looking for.  So let me know, please.  The teal colorway inserted in the top of a teal colored lacquer box, would it be something you would spend quite a bit of money on?

and as for my nameless new baby, I finally know what the border is going to be! I'm so thrilled to have found it! After tearing out 6 different options, it has clicked!  I'm going to give you a little sneak peak but that's the last you will see of this one until it is all done.

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More design development, or "where do I go from here?"

My "nameless" design is moving along, but it's a slow process this one!  The border is pretty much established albeit there is still tweaking to be done.  As I move along, step by step, the next step becomes evident. Never all at once, it's like a mystery piece, only it's a mystery to the designer, (moi), as well.  

So where do I go from here?  The easy option is to complete the border identically on all four sides, finish the rest of the design in the center and it's done.  But I don't feel that's the way to go.  As intricate as the design and the border are, I feel that if I design it in perfect symmetry, it will take it from intricate to boring.  The border will become a blur, nothing for the eye to grasp. I also feel that we need to make the design into a rectangle, bringing more interest to it's entirety and allowing me to say more.
I sound as if I know what I'm doing, don't I?  Well, I don't. I only know that I need to experiment in that direction and see what happens.  We all know how to "un-stitch", right.

Perhaps something along these lines.  Can you see how much more interesting
it can be if we go wide instead of symmetrical?

Wish me luck!

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quick, quick, it's a SALE!!

I just uploaded a slew of some of my best designs onto my ETSY shop. They are on sale at 30% off, while supplies last!

quick, quick!!

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Growing in our home.

Funny how at times I find myself very moved, thoughtful, emotional, all brought on by pondering what I perceive as the emotions of my plants.  We have a wall of windows, northern exposure, all along one side of our loft.  The windows are not very well insulated and they can be very cold to the touch in wintertime. And yet, my orchids and succulents seem to thrive on the ledges of these windows.  These desert and humid weather plants, looking out at the bleak winter on the other side of our windows, sprout new growth even in the coldest of days.  The succulents cling to the windows, using them as aides as they climb upwards and out into the winter light of the north.  It makes me admire them.  They adapt, they use what is there, they don't give up, they continue toward light and life.   It struck me, this morning, how they are all showing new growth, that light, full bodied, green new growth.  It warms my heart, it makes me so proud of my strong willed plants.  Is that a crazy sentence?  It's what I feel. 

So proud of you guys!!

But this is the most beautiful flower of all, growing in our home.  Nina asked to buy a kimono so she could wear it at home.  The two of us visited Chinatown yesterday, in the pouring rain, and found this kimono at the bazaar. It may be a Chinese version of a Japanese kimono, but she loves it.  In fact, I hear her in the background, playing with her Wii game while wearing it.  My Nina always provides us with the most amazing combos...

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