A few finishes!

This last week I managed to FINISH a few projects! A bag has been made, patterns have been written, templates have been refined, a label is on a quilt and I had two projects commissioned by magazines ... so all in all, I think it was a pretty good week! 

One of my dreams for this year is to have a project published in an overseas magazine.  Just finding a magazine that is open to accepting designs from other than their own country, is an issue in itself.  Then finding an editor's contact address on the web is quite often like looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack. Then finding a magazine that will make a decision in less than three months ... then discovering that a submission has to be by mail, not by e-mail ... (all the submissions to the six or seven Australian magazines that have published my work in the last five or six years have been by e-mail!) ... I almost put it in the "too hard" basket. But I finally found a magazine in the USA that had the decency to reply to my e-mail enquiry and I have now posted off a submission to them. 

I am really happy with the way this project has turned out and it uses my favourite Robyn Pandolph fabric range.  Maybe the editor will like it too????? 

Don't get me wrong - I just LOVE our Australian magazines and really enjoy working with some absolutely delightful editors, and hope to continue to do so.  A few years ago, I just dreamed of being published.  Then I wanted to design something that was good enough to be featured on the front cover. I guess now I am feeling ready for the next challenge.

Some of the magazines are quite happy for a designer to sell or teach or show a pattern before publication.  With others there is a two or three month wait after publication before the publishing and use rights revert to the designer.  Why am I telling you all this?  Because I developed my own policy as a result of working with the different magazines.  Early in the piece I decided that I would not sell or show any new patterns before publication. I like people to find my design in a magazine and not be disappointed thinking "I've seen that before!"

So all of that big long explanation is to tell you why you are only getting "sneak peaks" today!  These will be off to magazines this week:

On another note:  I was honoured to be asked to be the Guest Designer at Snickerdoodle Dreams Community for the month of March.  It is free to join and each month there is a free pattern exclusively for use of the members.  My little free pattern is a sweet stitchery which you might enjoy working on.

I counted up the projects on my "next few weeks" 'to do' list.  (I have another "longer term" 'to do' list as well!)  I have three projects 'half finished' and another four 'half started', so I am trying to be disciplined and plan to gradually get them done, one at a time, beginning with the 'half finished' pile - all without adding any more projects in there!  Now I need to go and get the next section of the free BOM "Consider the Lilies" pattern organised so you can download it next week.

Happy Stitching!

Val