On the March

I'm so happy to see the back end of February. Even though there is still snow on the ground and the thermometer read 18 degrees when I woke this morning, the days are getting longer, the sun is growing stronger, and the birds are returning to Greenport. March means spring is drawing near!

A few weeks ago a large flock of robins (what were they doing here so early?) descended on our front porch, eating all the winterberries from the Christmas bouquet in my sap bucket.  I watched them for a while, flitting and flying against the monochromatic background of white snow and gray sky.  I thought about how their wings are sort of paisley-shaped and wouldn't it be fun to hook a whimsical bird with paisley designs all over it? I decided to design a new pattern called Birds and Branches. It's a fairly large mat, to fit the piece of linen left over after I draw a White Whale Tavern pattern.  (I am always trying to find a way to piece together my patterns so that I don't waste any costly linen.)  

I measured the piece of linen and did the arithmetic to have the pattern fall with a four inch border, but, of course, I measured wrong and the pattern is too big.  Arrgh.  Measure twice, cut once.  I'm now in the process of redrawing the pattern to fit the linen.

The bird pattern sparked another paisley-centric design, this time with a sheep instead of birds.  I have paisley on the brain, obviously.  I also have sheep and fiber festivals on the brain -- our show season will start in a month and a half with the 105th Connecticut Sheep and Wool Festival on April 26, 2014, followed by the Long Island Fleece and Fiber May 17 and 18, 2014.  I want to have lots of new stuff for our customers, so I'd better get down to business!