New designs and hellos from the ground

I was in Dallas in early September (that’s just a week or so ago, right?) at the Destination Dallas market where shop owners come and buy and lots of other needlepoint good stuff goes on.

I’m always surprised what says hello from the ground on my way there.  Sweet encouragement for a shy girl like me.

Do you see it?  A little one.  Right near the middle.

This one was almost spooky, it was so meant to be.  What on earth is going on down there?  A love-filled spot.

Confession:  In this shot I’m not sure whether I was trying to catch those slightly blobby hearts, or that amazing mountain and the hearts tagged along.

The first couple of years that I went to markets were a bit of a blur of new faces and shop names but with every show I’ve gotten a bit more of a memory and now I look forward to seeing familiar faces and having a bit of a catch up. (No familiar faces in these pictures though because when the show was open I was chatting, trying not to sweat,  and talking myself through how to use the credit card swiper.  Every time.

We always release new designs for this show and they seemed to go over well.  Some will already be in the shops, carried home from the show, and others will be showing up in the mail.  I would love to introduce you to them, one or two at a time.

The inspiration for the first one comes from this beautiful beast.  I love pomegranates.  When I was a kid I loved eating them.  When I was a young married thing my mom would buy them to send home with me as an “I was thinking about you and I know you love these and I love you” treat.  When I was older and had older kids we tried some of the techniques of peeling and bashing them with a spoon so all the little wonderful bits fall out into a bowl.

Since I’ve been painting acrylic I’ve taken a few stabs at the outside –I’m gearing up to take another run at that and maybe paint the one photographed above – and this one of the inside that at some point may become a needlepoint canvas for the Jennifer Tan Paints line.

I took this pomegranate admiration and designed a new dozens canvas with some more graphic Pippin-y ones, with pink and red yumminess.

So much fun designing these guys!  Anytime I’m hanging out with pinks, oranges, and red I’m in my happy place, and pomegranates have such a fun shape. They have interesting shoulders.  Pomegranate shoulders.  Pomegranate shoulders and juicy sweet middle bits, and now I think I must go and eat the model from above.  Tough gig.

More designs to follow.  And one more plane shot.  This one is as we were coming in to land in Vancouver, on a beautiful  but smokey late summer night, and there aren’t any hearts in the shot but I feel blessed by the hearts I love on the ground.