Nashville Ahead

I've been remiss at timely blogging, but that doesn't mean things have been quiet at Ink Circles. In fact, the last few weeks have been a flurry of activity as I get ready to make the grand trek to the Nashville Needlework Market. I fly out this Thursday and I'll be bringing out four new models for the show.  Below are previews of two of them. You'll also get the fourth in the Bad Neighborhood series and another called Lunation.

Peace Wheel

Peace Wheel was inspired by Kolam or Rangoli paintings, which are a most unusual and transient form of art found in India and many other Asian countries. They are drawn by hand using powdered rice or rock directly onto the ground. The artist frequently starts with a matrix of dots, then creates a path of twisty turny lines that weave around and between the dots. When the wind, rain, and walkers take their toll, the design is swept away and replaced by a new one, usually before sunrise every day.

Kolams are drawn as a blessing and a welcome to all visitors. They are thought to bring prosperity to the household and keep evil spirits away. Mathematicians and anthropologists alike have been fascinated by and study the diverse designs. Me too.

Blue Morpho

The blue morpho is a species of butterfly that lives in the rainforest and can reach an impressive 8" across. The butterflies in this stitched piece are not particularly accurate to the coloring or shape of the real thing, nor (unless you use really giant fabric) will they match the wingspan. But you should already know that I'm not into photorealism in my designs.

Since I've finally got the blogspot engine warmed up, here is a recap of two designs that I released in January.  These two should already be available from your LNS/ONS, but I'll of course have them at the show as well.

Four de Lys

Four de Lys is what happens when you say "four fleur de lys" too fast. I got to try out some beautiful new silk for this one by Treenway.

Turrets and Town

Turrets and Town was inspired by a mandala I drew. A lot of my designs begin as little doodles or inklings. Sometimes all it takes is a good pun. You never know.

Enough words, since most of you probably only wanted the pictures anyway. So, watch for these new ones to show up at your favorite shop. Feel free to let them know you're interested ahead of time so they'll bring home enough copies. Stay warm. Stitch happy.

Nashville Prep

A visitor to my home can always tell when a trade show is about to happen (in this case, Nashville in 8 days) by the chaos in my dining room office area. There are piles of charts in all states of production. Boxes of covers from the print shop, stacks of printed charts and keys from the printer, reams of paper, and spent toner cartridges. Boxes of charts that will be shipped to the show await those final collated bagged charts and shipping labels.

I've reordered clear bags, flat mailers, post office boxes, and toner cartridges - and those boxes are sitting in arms reach, being used but waiting to put away properly too. Even my stapler ran out of staples. Everything needs replenishing in preparation for (hopefully) a big event.

You can see pictures of some of the other new models on my website. There will be six new releases in total. I've got a few that I'm keeping under wraps until the big show, sort of a fun surprise for the shops that get to attend.

It was not how I planned to return from the utter chaos, but you can see here that the table is somewhat cleared off. I had worked myself down to about one square foot on the corner of usable surface area, then BLAMMO! I accidentally launched the last inch of beer in my glass into the piles of stuff on the table. Argggghhhhh! It is amazing how just an ounce or two of liquid can touch so many things.

There is some minor damage, but I'm still reeling from how lucky I am that it didn't spill onto models or into a box of printed covers. Or my shoebox of Gentle Arts or Gloriana Threads. Or the stack of linen that was inches away. You get the drift.

Time to step back, put some things away, let the antique table dry fully, and eventually get a fresh beer.

Nashville 2011 - pictures

Here are a few photos that my Mum took of the Ink Circles booth in Nashville. For those not familiar with the setup, it's held in a big hotel (Embassy Suites.)  Each suite opens up to this central atrium.  The shops are set up in the front room and you sleep and store things in the bedroom in back.  They let us hang banners over the balcony rails so you can see where everyone is. 

Nashville 2011

Just a few more days before I'm leaving on that jet plane. I wish I could say my bags are packed and I'm ready to go, but I so hate lying. It's the big needlework convention in Nashville; this is the time to see in person all of the brand new stitching things and meet with all of the shop owners, designers, fabric and thread people.  It's not open to the public, but if you're tuned in to your social media you'll hear and see snippets of activity from all directions.

This is a round-up post, collecting all the pieces from my various leaks and filling in the blanks.

If you're on my newsletter mailing list, I previewed one of a series of three charts called Bite Me. In all, there are a Fur version (middle), a Fins (bottom) version, and a Feathers (top)version.

Here Comes Treble, which incidentally gave me nothing but trouble on every step of the way:

Shy Violet got pulled forward in the release cycle because Treble was threatening to miss the print deadline. I think it came out so sweet - and I'm dying to try other color combos. Yes, Mel, it would look great on black.

Here's a little kit I put together as a special release just for Nashville participants. It's a limited edition, so talk to your shops. It's called Fireweed. I finished it as a box top, and it's shown nestled in a pile of lovely silks.

Last but not least, and technically not a Nashville release since I made it available to shops in January (but I guess everyone assumed it was a Nashville preview) here is a mandala for you to stitch: Just Rosy.

Okay, now I must get back to work. It's a tough job, eh.