Toot, Toot!

Yes, that is me, tooting a horn! I'm kind of excited here. For some reason, I am often mistaken for a person who can't keep a secret. Not so, Moe! I've been sitting on one for months! Months, I tell you!

Country Bumpkin

I have had the honour (note my Aussie spelling there, LOL) of being asked to submit something to one of my favorite publications. Australian Smocking and Embroidery published by Country Bumpkin. Then to make the cover! Well, wowza! That was fun.

As the story goes, I was checking my email one last time before boarding the plane for Italy last fall. I was a bit surprised when I discovered a note from Susan O'Connor, editor of AS&E.  Upon opening the email, to say I was "surprised" is an understatement when I realized she was asking that I consider submitting something for the magazine. I fired back about a dozen questions before the plane even took off! I do remember one statement she made, "Don't let that word original scare you." She knew me well, it was the exact thing that made my spine go zing! It sure made that flight a tad shorter as my brain went into overload.

As I traveled through Italy, every painting, stucco and tile took on a new purpose as this impending project swirled through my head. Not that the submission looks like any of the above, but it did push me into looking at things in a new way. I would say perfect timing. I am not sure I would have had this new perspective as clearly at home in my own environment. Thank you Susan, for helping me stretch in new directions.

Here is a sneak peak at "Cherry Pie." I am not going to give you the whole enchilada! I want you to buy the magazine from either your favorite heirloom retailer or better yet, subscribe to the magazine. We want to keep our beloved publications in business to keep our creative juices flowing. Which in turn keeps us buying from our favorite retailers. We are all in this together. Watch your mailbox, magazines are beginning to arrive to subscribers down under. They should be arriving here in the States in the next few weeks.

I hope you like my inaugural submission. And if you don't, that is okay too. My hope is that it will help you think in new ways and with a new eye.

So to celebrate, here are a few more horns tooting. Seventy-six to be exact.