Contests, hound dogs, and the end of the winter of my discontent

When I was a kid, we lived near ski areas, ice skating rinks and open fields where we'd cross country ski on weekend afternoons. I was never too keen on winter in general, but having things to do helped.

Now I have small children and a dog, I have to drive and walk in the nasty slushy ickiness, and I have to say, winter has really lost its luster. I also now live in a fairly flat and suburban area (meaning, no skiing, no long solo walks in the woods, no ice skating on the frozen creek across from the school), and we've been cooped up in this house for what seems like ten years, bickering and screaming and throwing plastic bricks at one another. I am SO ready for you, warm temperatures that bring peace and quiet to the inside of homes across the land.

To make myself feel better, I've been doing some personal work lately. Fun things like drawing beagles and splooshy watercolor amoebas as I sit in the TV room waiting for my son's preschool class to end. The beagles ended up in this week's Spoonflower contest and the watercolors ended up as a semifinalist in the Pattern Observer/P&B Textiles contest.

I have a bunch of other stuff in the works... tons of Surtex prep (my work will be there with my fabulous agent, Painted Planet), a giant (and secret until July) mega-project that is done and currently in production, a logo design, new Silhouette diecut designs and the usual sketchbook and collage nonsense.

Tonight they say we're going to get about two inches of snow. I think I am slowly losing my mind. Maybe I should send the kids upstairs to look for my lost marbles? (That actually kept them busy for about 20 minutes once!!!)

Connecting Threads contest entries

Here they are, the six that were uploaded and the one that didn't (never got a confirmation email for it... figures that that's one of the better ones.) They're all new designs made just for Connecting Threads, and voting just opened today!

There are many more entries than I thought there'd be, and a lot of really good designs. I'm not expecting to be a finalist, but a little part of me is holding out hope. You never know; stranger things have happened.

Although it seems like good stuff only happens when I least expect it -- cliche but oh so true -- meeting my husband; all my fabulous clients who let me stay home, draw monsters and design wacky projects and actually, unbelievably PAY me for it (yay!); having three wonderful but exhausting kids; getting chosen to paint a fiberglass bulldog; becoming an artist for Silhouette America. Serendipity has played such a part in all of these things. It's always seemed like the more I hope for something, the more likely it is that I don't get it.

It could be that the time is just not right, and somehow (serendipity again?), I end up in a better place later down the road... "everything happens for a reason" and all of that. Which is easy to believe in hindsight; not so easy to keep in mind in the midst of the moment.

Okay, I'm depressing myself. Honestly, though, I would so love the opportunity to be a real fabric designer, not just a wanna-be, floundering about not knowing what the heck I'm doing. More than the winning or prize money, it would be fantastic to have validation that yeah, I'm not that bad of a designer and I really can do something well besides change diapers. :) And it's just really darn cool to see my designs sewn up into something useful.