Bad News, Not-so-bad News and Good News

 The bad news is that my faithful win7 laptop suddenly died several months ago.  Nothing was salvageable. 😢  And due to complications created by the covid pandemic, I lost my website.  It's gone forever.  😭

The not-so-bad news is that I now have a new win10 laptop that I don't like but I'm trying to learn to use it.  I found an old usb stick with many of my old patterns, but only through 2016.  Better than nothing, anyway.  Once I get an external cd drive and figure out how to load my old software programs, I should be able to open my old files and get going again.

And the good news: I now have real, modern-day internet service!  Yay!  No more snail-speed dial-up service.  No more hotspot service limited to a few gigabytes a month.  I now have fast-speed internet service 24/7!  So I'm basically starting over again, but this time I can do things faster.  😊

New Sundrop Critter for December

Merry Christmas! There's a brand new Sundrop Critter pattern available on my website: www.sundropdesigns.net. Carolyn and Chris, the Sundrop Caribou, are free until January 20, 2020.

My original plan was to design a more traditional Christmas reindeer, but while researching them I happened upon photos of white baby reindeer and immediately fell head over heels in love!  I did more research and learned that species of reindeer/caribou that live in the extreme north often turn completely white for the winter.  Carolyn and Chris (the little one) were inspired by the Peary Caribou who reside in northern Canada and are the smallest species of North American caribou. 

As the weather warms and the snow melts, Peary caribou shed their thick white coats and grow a shorter coat that is brownish-gray on their upper parts but still a creamy white on their underparts. My pattern includes pieces to portray both winter and summer colors.

Have fun making Carolyn and Chris!

Sandy

New Applique Pattern: Chloe at Christmas

Meet Chloe, one of my black and white tuxedo cats.  Here she is after being caught in the act of taking off with a Christmas ornament.  Tuxedo cats (IMHO) seem to possess the remarkable ability to portray several oxymoron-like facial expressions all at the same time.  When caught in the act of something they know you don't approve of, they somehow manage to look innocent/guilty, meek/rebellious, penitent/defiant all at once.  I've tried to portray that in this applique pattern, which is free on my website until Dec. 15, 2019.

Although tuxedo cats are perhaps best known for their black and white coats, they come in white with gray, silver, orange or tortoiseshell, too.  So don't hesitate to work up Chloe in the colors of your choice.  You can even go a little crazy and use colors not seen in nature, likke the blue and red illustrations below.

You might remember Chloe from Sunny's Fifth Christmas, one of my patterns that came out about 10 years ago.  There was something about Chloe's white muzzle that seemed to make her look like she was always up to something.  And in fact, she was the most mischievous of my cats.