The Angel Connection.....

I believe in Angels. I am sure they exist because I have had so many touch my life and that of loved ones, that surely they are there. Today is the start of a new year. It boggles my mind to think that the year is 2010!!! As a kid in grade school, I thought that the year 2000 seemed a million years away. And here we are ten years beyond that!!

Technology has brought us all together in a way that many of us could never have imagined. And while technology is great, there are still good old-fashioned skills that keep us "real". In my case, I'm refering to using pencil and paper. I like to write. I like to draw. Some say, that true Cursive writing will soon be a thing of the past. I certainly hope not as there is nothing quite like receiving a personal hand-written note or letter!! I have several from family and friends that I treasure just because they took the time to write them by hand!! I used to write lots of letters, especially early on in our marriage when we were thousands of miles from home and family. I've "adopted" the typed Christmas letter just so I can stay in touch and keep people posted on what we are up to these days, but I love to write an address on an envelope and send off a personal card. I know that folks who receive those cards also enjoy them.

I've always liked to sketch, too, and for as long as I can remember, I would "doodle". When I was a kid, "Santa/mother and daddy" gave me a Barbie lite box so I could draw designs for my comic book dolls and plan Barbie clothes. I loved that thing as it was kind of like a "dream station". You know, draw a sketch and imagine it as it might be. Sometimes my sketches didn't translate from mind to actual design quite like I thought, but I still enjoyed the process. I've never thought of myself as an artist although I did try my hand at oil painting but I never quite succeeded (had the same issue with crocheting - wanted to do it but I didn't seem to "have the knack for it"). I didn't think anybody paid any attention to things I sketched until one day, I made an announcement to friends in a workshop group. I told them that I was going to just use computer designs and graphics in my patterns from now on. The response was....."but we will miss your cute sketches". Well, I never thought of it that way. I kept that thought and started sketching even more. I found myself with lots of "waiting time" while sitting in doctor's offices with my folks or waiting for my son at school. And while I waited, I sketched or stitched. I seldom wasted a minute. I found that the more I sketched, the more ideas that came to me. I have oodles of sketches now and don't know how I will ever "realize" them all in fabric or embroidery!

So, what's this all leading to? It all goes back to the Angels that I began with in this January 1 post. I thought about the things that mattered to me in my life and the friends who come as Angels that have enriched my time here on earth. And in 2005, I began to sketch a series of Angels. When I first started to draw them, they reminded me of sketches I did for our yearbook when I was in high school. I never thought they were very good, but when I looked back at them, I realized that I had actually captured a bit of the look of the person that I had sketched. I was surprised. It was like finding out that I had more talent than I knew about. I didn't need to learn to paint or crochet because I could sketch. Notice that I say "sketch". I still don't consider myself an artist but I do seem to have some little ability to draw Snowmen that eat watermelon and such. Before the Snowman series, I had drawn the Angels. There's a bit more to the story of the Angels but I'll save that for later. I was planning to sketch Santa's for this coming year but several things happened to make me realize that I needed to post the Angels. And so, finally, here is the first Angel, that's her in the photo above. Her name is Audrey and she'll appear every month on the first day of the month in a variety of themes. From the moment that I sketched her, I knew that she would be in prayer. Wherever you are and whatever your faith, Audrey encourages you to begin your year with prayer.......with kind thoughts.........with good intentions..........with peace........with love.......and much sharing of joy!!!

Happy First Day of the New Year!!

Sandi

Pattern pages for designs in my Angel Connection will be posted to my Yahoo group in PDF format. It's just a click away and you can join. Just click on the Angel button on the sidebar.

:-)