My first Art piece

Here it is, my first piece of artwork designed purely for sale. It is an embroidered detail on a linen background and will sell at £325 plus p+p. More details are on my website.
It doesn't have a name at the moment, I can't decide if I want to give it one and what it would be if I did. 
I am very pleased with it, it is a pretty piece so I really do hope that it can find a home.

Public Speaking

I have signed up to do my first speaking engagement. I shall be doing a talk and a workshop for the Leamington and District  branch of the Embroiderers' Guild. I am very excited about this (and a little nervous). I have plenty of time to prepare though. It's 3-4th October 2014.

What next?

I am trying to work out what to work on next at the moment. I have several very pressing projects on the go but I'm not sure which to go with. My priority has to be to find something that will bring in some money, I can't keep going on the way that I am. I am currently working on a book idea, a piece that I hope to get into a magazine, some fine art pieces, a new work to be sold in chart form and the knot garden pieces. 
I feel like I have a really good idea for a book that will fit well with the mood of the time but this has to be a long term project, there's no way that it will bring in any money in the near future as I have a lot of work to do and then there is no guarantee that I can find a publisher.
The magazine piece is a more likely way to make a bit of income but again, there is no guarantee of take up, the pay is very low and it takes quite a long time.
I am really keen on the idea of working on fine art pieces right now, of course I can't guarantee that they'll sell and they can't be cheap given the amount of work that goes into them. I would love to do some commissions. I would love to do an exhibition. It will take a lot of work though and if I am not constantly releasing new works will people stop looking?
I have designed a lovely new piece that I want to sew as my next 'chart release' this would be the quickest thing to work on but chart sales are too low, I need to take some risks and try and find something that does stand a chance of selling. I need to sell 10 charts a day to make a living, I don't sell anywhere near that many.
The Knot Garden series was a very big hit at my recent demo sessions. I have completed 2 of 4 and I am about 1/4 of the way through no.3. My hope is that I can interest English Heritage in them, either as charts, kits, cards, prints or all of the above, again - no guarantees.
So, 5 good ideas, all time consuming, requiring a lot of work and no guarantee of making anything from them. I have tried working with a rotation before, saying on X day I will work on this and on Y I shall work on that, but once I start working on a piece I tend to become absorbed by it. I have a couple of model stitchers helping me out with the book idea but can't afford to pay people to do it. I guess I'll just have to go with what feels right and hope like mad that something works.

New idea

I am introducing a new scheme for those people who would like a hand embroidered family crest but aren't stitchers themselves. These can now be sewn to order especially for them.

I have been producing Armorial kits for the last 3 years in association with Heritage and Heraldry of Eton, Windsor. All designs are authentic and over 250,000 surnames are available. The designs, as featured in the kits, are 7.5" x 10.5" and involve approximately 3 months work so will be priced accordingly using the minimum wage as a guide. Larger sizes will be available for a proportional rate.

The image shown here is a finished embroidery. They are sewn using the best quality fabric and threads by experienced stitchers. For further information please email me.