First, I forgot to post one of the new designs:

I’ll be using this chart to teach a class on different ways of using overdyed threads March 20th at 3 Stitches in Spring, TX.

Here’s a view of the hotel atrium with some of the vendors’ banners visible. The plants make them stick out; I probably should’ve taken this picture from an upper floor!

A view of my room/booth:

Here is Melissa and I hanging out in the booth:

Melissa was an awesome booth buddy!

After the show, the designers can go a little crazy!

(Left to right: Kat from Cross Eyed Kat, Jo from Dinky Dyes, Sandy from Sweetheart Tree and Laura from Enchanting Lair)

And you’ll never know what trouble we get into:

(Left to right: Kat from Cross Eyed Kat, Pam from 3 Stitches, Jo from Dinky Dyes, Sandy from Sweetheart Tree and Laura from Enchanting Lair)

In my post-Nashville recovery, I’m trying to work on some new designs! I’m inspired by having the glow-in-the-dark threads under the blacklights, so my mind is thinking Halloween thoughts! I’m also in love with the new holographic threads from Kreinik. They’re just screaming to be stitced into dragons!!

First, the next three Advent Ornaments:

Christmas Lights (can anyone find a mistake in the model?)

Wreath

Stockings

Then a biscornu that uses Celtic knotwork to evoke an Iris:

The designs on the front and back are different, and I used Dinky Dyes silk to stitch this.

And finally, the new dragon!!!

This is “Dragon Tattoo”, which is stylized like a tattoo, with the banner over the heart reading “Love 2 Stitch”. There are also scissors behind the heart and the dragon is holding a needle which has stitched several X’s in the heart!

I’ve had a few stitchers emailing me to get some more details about the Advent ornaments. So here are the answers:
1. There will be 24 ornaments total (so that it works like a real Advent calendar).
2. As of 2/20/2010, the first 15 ornaments are available. Your local shop can contact me about ordering them.
3. 16-18 will be available in April, 19-21 will be available in July and 22-24 will be available in October.
4. Not all distributors have all the charts in the series yet, but local shops can get all available ones directly from me.

So now it is time to pack and get ready for a road trip. I’ll be tweeting from the road (when I’m not driving), so follow me at: http://twitter.com/crosseyedkat

So, I’ve officially finished all the stitching that needs to get done before Nashville Market. Tonight I hope to get all of my photography done and if I’m really good, all of the chart layouts ready. That probably won’t quite happen, since I need to write up some finishing instructions.

When I get the chart layouts completed, it will be a weekend of printing, printing, printing. Maybe for Valentine’s Day, I’ll get a whole stack of bagged charts! Maybe Mocha will do them while I’m at the day job! Who knows what will happen? I am happy that market isn’t this weekend since the weather has been so bad across the country. I need to get there as an exhibitor, but I also need shop owners to be able to come as buyers!

Well, I’m behind on my Christmas Ornament designs, so I’m trying to work on that in my head while my fingers are stitching for spring!

Items accomplished from my to-do list for Nashville: One. I finished stitching on the 15th Advent Ornament. However, I am making good progress on the “Hopping Over” design and I rounded up all the materials to get a second model of “Iris Biscornu” made.

I wasn’t expecting to get too much done this past weekend, since we had company in town. We had fun though! Here is dinner at the “Kitchen Table” at Buco de Beppo!

Hopefully, I’ll get more stitching done this week since I have two stitching nights. And I really should start printing soon, but first I need to order more ink.

Are you dizzy yet?

The Nashville Market is just four weekends away! This is a wholesale cross-stitch market where designers and vendors, like myself, attempt to convice the local needlework shops from across the country that we have The Next Big Thing ™. Here’s my to do list:
1. Frame and Photograph “Dragon Tattoo”
2. Make and print charts for “Dragon Tattoo”
3. Finish stitching Advent Calendar 15
4. Do finishing work for Advent 14 and 15
5. Photograph Advent 14 and 15
6. Make and print charts for Advent 13-15
7. Finish stitching “Hopping Over”
8-10. Do finishing, photograph, charts for “Hopping Over”
11-12. Photography and charts for “Iris Biscornu”
13. Decide how many copies of older charts to bring and print them
14. Possibly make other stuff
15. Pack it all up
16. Decide on promotional event stuff

Whew! Hopefully it will all get done! I’m hoping that some of the designs that came out in the fall will also be popular. Then I need to get to work on the remaining Advent calendar ornaments, get back to Briar Rose, and work on some other designs that are vying for attention.

In the meantime, we’ve got company coming this weekend and the Superbowl is next weekend (Geaux Saints!). No wonder I’ve had dreams about forgetting something!

For the record, I stitched the “Oak Tree Biscornu“, but didn’t do the finishing. Also, for the record, stitching with white thread through two other white threads on white fabric is hard on the eyes, but I like the finished effect.

This design has a different knotwork design on each side and uses Celtic knots to give the impression of an Iris. It uses Dinky Dyes silk thread (including two new colors that will be available at the Nashville Market). This design is being released at the Nashville Market, so look for it at your local shops in late February (or ask your shop owner to bring it home from Market for you!)

Here’s an obligatory first picture of Mocha:

She’s not sure about all the papparazzi flashes going off.

Here’s a picture of an ornament I did for an exchange:

The one in the middle, not the one in the upper right corner of the picture. The “Love” ornament I stitched in December of 2000, and I’d guess it is from the 2000 JCS Ornament issue. The one I did for the exchange is, of course, an original Cross Eyed Kat design. It will probably be commercially available in the summer of 2010. I’m doing several of these little four-square designs for next year. This ornament is finished as a needlebook, and I’ll probably add a couple of other “stitching things” to the charts. Currently, I’m stitching on a spring-themed version of this for a class I’ll be teaching in March on different stitching techniques with overdyed threads. When you’re a cross-stitch designer, you end up stitching on off-season designs!

Thanks for all the comments on Christmas ornaments. It was interesting to read Mel’s comments about not wanting snowy stuff in Austrailia, because here in Texas, the weather could be cold or hot. I often wonder if people in more nothern climates decorate houses with icicle lights. Would you want icicle lights if you’re likely to have the real thing? On the other hand, we did have a white Christmas one year in the Rio Grande Valley!

Nashville market is coming up soon, so here’s my current stitching to do list:
1. Spring 4-square and any accessories
2. Dragon design (close to finishing this and really loving how it looks)
3. 15th Advent Ornament
4. Design and stitch project “T” if possible
5. Cheshire Cat (not a priority for Nashville)

Are Gingerbread Men Christmassy?
Is a single star too boring?

Sometimes it is hard to work in a square “canvas” space. Also, I’m trying to have a good mix between relatively simple and Kat-crazy-complicated designs.

It has been so long that right now there are lots of things I want to say. I like lists, so here’s what I might post in this or some upcoming posts:
1. What’s been going on in my life for the past three weeks (and it has been interesting like the Chinese proverb)
2. What I think about TWDesignworks closing (in a word, sad)
3. New designs I’m working on (the countdown to Nashville begins)
4. Stitching methods
5. Anything else I can think of.

So for now, I’m back and hope to be posting more often!