Hi everybody. Sorry to bother you with this, but it's worth repeating that when you ask for the free design, PLEASE make sure that you have given Typepad access to your e-mail. If you don't then I don't know your address and I can't send you the free design!
Remember that I always respond to all requests, so if you don't hear from me, there's something wrong with the system
First of all, I’d like to say thank you to all those people who were so kind as to to pass on information about whether or not they had the larger hoops for their machines. At the moment, the figures are about 75% with a large hoop, and 25% with only a smaller one, such as the 5×7 inch. So I might put up some large freebies in future, although I have a lot of sympathy for those with small hoops, as it’s only relatively recently that I’ve had a large hoop myself
Right, on to something new. For some time now I’ve been working on a new set of designs – a zentangle zodiac. I’m not at all interested in astrology, but I love the images that are associated with the signs of the zodiac – the mythological creatures, the various animals and human figures – all of which have a strong design “presence”. There are, of course, twelve images, and it is taking a VERY long time to do them all in the zentangle style. I can usually draw and digitise a straightforward design in a day or less, but a large zentangle panel will take a week or often more. So far I’ve only finished a couple of them, and here’s the first, a Sagittarius. The colours aren’t quite right – that’s another problem with the big zentangles. It can be very difficult to get the colours right on the first try. But it shows you the main look of the design. So it’s one down, eleven to go!
A zentangle Sagittarius
Right – before we get to this month’s freebie, I have a question. How many people out there have a large hoop, in particular the 6 ¼ x 10 ¼ inch (160 x 260 mm) hoop? I ask because many of the designs I’m thinking of giving away are for this large hoop. For example, this month’s free bird is really meant for the 6 ¼ x 10 ¼ inch hoop, but because I didn’t know if everybody would be able to use the large version, I’ve edited it and made it smaller so that it will fit into the 5 x 7 hoop. So if you ask for the free bird this month, could you let me know if you have the 6 ¼ x 10 ¼ inch hoop? That way I’ll know if I need to “shrink” any future freebies. Thanks!
January's Free Bird
Anyway it’s time for a change from floral motifs. Some people have said they’re interested in how I do feathers on birds, so here’s one of the birds from the Sunset Birds panel that I posted a few weeks ago (28 November). It’s got 15,684 stitches, two applique areas, and it’s for the 5×7 inch hoop. The scan isn't great but my scanner is down at the moment so I've had to use another one with a lot fewer facilities. The bird would look good done with patterned fabrics as applique, but I’ve stitched it in plain fabrics so you can see it more clearly. If you’d like the file for this design, just drop a comment to the blog asking for it and I’ll send it out to you. And if you can tell me if you have the large hoop, I’d be very grateful!