Several years ago I was commissioned to create a series of illustrations of birds, somewhat in the fashion of a field guide, for Sublime Stitching, a fabulous contemporary embroidery company whose motto is "This Ain't Your Gramma's Embroidery". Indeed it is not! This rough sketch was the first series I submitted, and it was rejected, not because the drawings were bad, but because they were too complicated for embroidery patterns - the illustrations needed to be simpler and more stylized. I redid them, thankful for the lesson in simplicity, and you can see the finished pattern ("Songbirds") here. Check out all the other patterns - the Artist's Series contains some very zany creations!

Grill Girl

It doesn't matter if there is four feet of snow on the deck, you can still go out and barbeque. Well, YOU can go out and barbeque. I'll just sit inside by the fireplace, waiting for dinner to be served. This is all a dream, I confess, since I don't have a deck, a grill or a working fireplace.

However....I can sit by the non-working fireplace and wait for a pizza to be delivered, that's my idea of a relaxing dinner!