Blue, Blue, My World is So BLUE - continued

About a week later I decided to place a small ad in NEEDLEWORK RETAILER, a magazine that goes out to stitchery stores around the country. I decided to send a picture of STARRY NIGHTS because it was so different from my other quilts, and would surely catch the eye of store owners.

Well, it certainly caught the eye of the people at the magazine! The editor, Megan, called me and asked if they could use STARRY NIGHTS on the cover of their magazine, because they loved the colors of the design and it matched the BLUE cover of their magazine perfectly. I was delighted! And when she asked me to mail her the model, I hesitated and said," Well, actually, the model is being photographed for the Nordic Needle Catalog cover, so you'll have to call them and get them to mail the model directly to you." And that's exactly what they did.

And so, STARRY NIGHTS got to be on the cover of TWO publications in January. And as a result, I've been printing lots and lots of copies of STARRY NIGHTS....which pleases me no end.... I'm so delighted (and relieved) that stitchers DO like this pattern after all!

And I've learned some valuable lessons from this experience:

First, even when you're not totally sure how your project is going to look -- KEEP STITCHING, and trust that it will come out all right in the end....really;

Second, it pays to advertise. Yup, it really does;

And third, never, ever underestimate the power of being BLUE.

(And for those of you who might be interested: Starry Nights is not an actual QUILT...it's only 10.5" x 10.5" and stitched on 18 ct. needlepoint canvas, using LOTS of different #5 pearl cotton threads, DMC floss, and metallic ribbons. Please take a look on my website, listed on the right, to see more of my needlepoint quilt designs.)