Finding Inspiration

Many of you have asked where I get inspiration for designs? It's hard to say because design inspiration seems to just crop up everywhere! Friends and family inspire a lot of my stitchery designs. Today I'll share a couple of them with you.

First of all, a dear friend gave me this rustic heart for my birthday several years ago. 

The minute I saw it I visualized a quilt pattern, and went to work to create Rusty Garden Heart. This pattern has been one of my best sellers for several years. Success!

But alas, not all of my creative ideas are quite so great.

My sweet granddaughter is now married and has a 2 year old, but I recall a time when she was going through a particularly snippy spell.  She was 12 going on 25!

Now, Hailey has always been quite stylish and as cute as a bug. I took her 'attitude and style' at the time, and created this oh-so-clever wall-hanging. 

I was more pleased with it than just about anything else I had designed, and had total confidence that a thousand grandmothers would relate, and want to recreate and hang it in their own sewing room.  I created the pattern, took it to market & proudly displayed it prominently in our booth. Over the 3 day period, we sold a total of TWO patterns!

Bummer!  My favorite design wasn't a hit with anyone but ME (well, and two other ladies)!  To this day it hangs in my sewing room & makes me smile.

Design lesson: sometimes you design for the masses & sometimes you design only for ONE!