Hello everyone
How is your week going – the weekend is here! Last night we watched the 2014 Annie movie and afterwards by youngest daughter showed me a video clip that was made in New York You are never full dressed without a smile. It was enchanting – and made me think of how if we gave everyone we met a smile how it would lift not only others spirits but also our own? Watch the video clip here and you will see what I mean. It really made me smile!
You may also like to watch the Cape Town version here.
Of course what really makes most of us smile is sitting down with our embroidery – how it takes us into another realm away from all the stresses and routine of every day life. When I was at BATB convention in Australia last year I often used to look around me at the 150 + people who were attending the convention, the non stop chatter, laughter and interaction between like minded people and get a little thrill. People who don’t stitch could never understand the joy that we get from creating something beautiful?
I am often asked how I find the time to do so many projects – it is no secret I make time. I am a master at taking shortcuts for anything involving housework, cooking chores, homework etc – if there is a way to save time doing this I will find it. For example getting a ready made lasagne for supper and putting it into my own dish so it looks home made. The time saved by these little deceptions can add up to an extra hour or two for stitching! The other thing I have learned to do is delegate wherever possible – if someone offers to help with packing kits or cutting fabric say YES, and of course say NO to any non essentials like volunteering to cover books at the school library! Where possible I arrange my day mentally in advance – for instance if I have to pick my daughter up from school at 2pm and need to get groceries or get to the shops I will leave half an hour earlier, do the shopping en route and then pick her up, one trip does it all.
Of course if your husband offers to cook the supper never, never say no. Even if you don’t particularly like the way he cooks the chicken schnitzel – pretend to like it. If he thinks he is a good cook he will be encouraged to do it again!
Thinking of saving time, in the new book Miniature Needle Painting Embroidery, I made a promise to save you time by providing ready traced outlines on fabric for each section in the book. These are now available in the Etsy shop. There are 5 pieces of cotton muslin fabric in each pack, with the outline for each project in that section, i.e. Portraits, Flowers, Birds and 3 for the Victorian Pansies. You can find them under Fabric & Supplies here.
You may notice that I have made changes to my website, it has a cleaner, simpler interface which I hope you will find easier to navigate.
Meanwhile, wherever you are in the world, remember “Embroidery forever, housework whenever!” Keep smiling and happy stitching! Trish