Officially in love! Important announcements

Guys, if you follow this blog, please read till the end :)

So, I want to share a little bit about the current situation in my artistic and working life (since they go hand in hand with each other) and what it means for the blog and other platforms.

Here is the list of announcements and in the end, I will sum everything up in short:

1) I can't get enough of embroidery journals!

As soon as the “Shade of Gold” patterns were finished, I ran to start a new journal! I think it's love.

I will save the introduction of the new journal for a later date (you can see the preview in the title image). But it feels like I finally have a clear image of how I want my ideal embroidery journal to look like. And, inshallah, I want to make a lot of them! Step by step, of course.

What would it mean for the blog?

• There might appear more content connected with embroidery journals: tutorials, tips, showing the process of making a page, etc. I think I already spoke about it before, but putting it here just in case you missed it.

• Will my blog be journal-centered from now on? I don't think so... Embroidery is embroidery, and there are still many areas to explore, many stitches and techniques to learn and to practice, many things to talk about that are relevant for any type of needlework :)

• BUT I do have a wish to make some sort of a CLUB for like-minded stitchers who would like to make embroidery journals too.

I realize that this area is not really popular (frankly speaking, I've only seen various stitch books which is a different thing, and Trish Burr's mini journal which is a similar concept but still not the same to what I like making). And you would probably need more information, more instructions on how to make a journal, etc.

I'm still thinking of possibilities.

IF the club happens, it hardly will be this year. More like the start of the next one.

But, again, IF it happens, inshallah, then we can have monthly themes, challenges to working the same pattern in different ways, just sharing each other's journal spreads and maybe even penpal some goodies (pretty fabrics, lace, buttons, bits of embroidery etc.). 

This would be so much fun! Tell me in the comments, if you at least feel a pinch of interest :D

2) Taking a break from making Etsy tutorials

Coincidentally, with the rise of my interest in the journals, I've been feeling a little stuck with creating new designs.

The problem is: I do have a LOT of ideas. There is a long list of projects that I would like to make and share tutorials with you. However, I feel like my current self is not capable of delivering the result I would be satisfied with.

I'm not talking about anything grandiose though, it's more about style.

That's why I want to improve my artistic perception. To learn more about colors and how to combine them better, to improve at drawing and seeing shapes, to learn more about light and shade, contrast and brightness.

So that after learning all that, I can, inshallah, reflect it in my embroidery and make more beautiful designs for you!

I'm taking a break until the end of 2020 for this mission :)

3) But there might appear pattern packages in the shop

Wait, what? Didn't I say I'm taking a break??

Well, I'm definitely taking a break from making *tutorials*, which is a pattern + instructions on how to work it.

But since I will be making some motifs for my embroidery journal anyway, I might collect them in packages of 10 or more, and post some as freebies and some as Etsy listings. The difference is that there will be no instructions to work them, just bare patterns which you can interpret any way you want :)

Think of the little motif in the title image and then imagine a dozen more of them together in one package.

4) I'm working on a course for beginners in hand embroidery

The idea is to take you from level 0 to level HERO! :) Which, in my mind, is the stage where you can confidently and with enthusiasm work virtually any pattern out there because you know all of the essential stitches.

Rather than just listing stitches, I want to focus exactly on practice here: to give you a couple of stitches and train them on a small motif. Then another couple of stitches and another motif, and so on. The motifs will be slooooowly getting more complicated, and we will finish the course with long and short stitching.

I was also thinking about how to shape it all up, and rather than doing all of that on scraps of fabric which later will be not needed and hidden in a drawer, or worse, thrown away, I would prefer it to be something you can preserve and even return to... And the only thing I came up with, was... to make a journal! :D Duh...

Or you can call it a Stitch Book. But it will be focused more on practice rather than being a dictionary of stitches (although you can continue the journal yourself as such if you want).

So the vision is: learning and practicing embroidery while preserving it in a form of a journal, which you can continue later on the way you want.

Any thoughts on that?

*

I think that's all for now. To sum up:

1. I want to improve my artistic perception and style;

2. That's why I'm taking a break from making embroidery tutorials for my Etsy shop until the end of the year;

3. In the meantime, I will be making embroidery journal(s?)...

4. ...and work on a course for beginners (your feedback is very much appreciated).

5. If you're interested in making embroidery journals too, let's make a club? (but I will need time to arrange everything).

Thank you for reading and please share your thoughts! :)

Happy stitching, everyone!