Blue, Blue, My World is BLUE

This year has gotten off to a gallopin' good start for me. ...

Well, it really started back in November of last year, when I got a call from Sue & Roz at the Nordic Needle in Fargo, North Dakota. They were preparing their annual big catalog for the coming year and wondered if I had any new projects that they could use on the cover. They specifically requested something that was BLUE, because that was the color scheme of this year's cover.

Since I really, really wanted to be on the cover of their catalog, I frantically thought about the new projects I had underway, and the only BLUE one was a completely new idea of mine that was just barely started. I called it STARRY NIGHTS, because the inspiration was the swirly Van Gogh painting (and the song "Starry, Starry Nights" that kept running thru my head when I thought of this project). I wanted it to have an "art quilt" feel to it, and I wanted it to have lots of different star blocks swirling around in a blur of blues and purples.....

At this point, I wasn't really sure whether it would work out or not, but I took a big gulp and said to Roz,"Well, I do have a new blue piece called STARRY NIGHTS started...and I think I can get it finished, framed and mailed to you in two weeks." They were delighted to feature one of my pieces on the cover, and I was delighted to have one of my pieces on the cover, but after I hung up the phone I thought, "Oh, good grief, what have I promised?!? Is it even possible to finish this project so it looks decent - and not a mishmash of colors??? Yikes, what have I done??"

But as they say, fools rush in where angels fear to tread....and I was determined to get STARRY NIGHTS on the cover of that catalog! So.....I stitched. And stitched. And stitched. All day, from morning til late at night. For days..... I listened to books on tape; I listened to tv news, weather, soaps and talk shows. Real marathon stitching - I kid you not. And the whole time I'm thinking, "Is this thing working? Am I pushing this too far? Are the colors going to get muddy? Are stitchers going to like this? Or will they think it's a muddy mess?" I had no idea....I just kept stitching and trusting my instincts to follow the image I had in my mind, and hope somehow it would come out all right in the end. I didn't even have the luxury of stepping back or setting it aside to ponder for awhile....the clock was ticking on this one and I just HAD to keep stitching.

Once it was done, I framed it and sent it off to Nordic Needle. And took a deep breath of relief.

It was DONE. And time would tell if stitchers liked it....

to be continued.....