Jeanne Manley
of Quail Run DesignsCLICK HERE TO GO BACK TO PAGE 1 Tooth Fairy Pillows Jennifer sees herself as an Illustrator who took up cross stitch as a hobby and then began to see all her ideas through a different lens. She explains, "The special fibers were like a new box of crayons to play with. Suddenly the fibers would let me create an effect I could never duplicate in watercolour drawings." Many of Jennifer's design ideas are spawned when she least expects them, so she keeps a sketchbook handy. Nick is fond of saying that it can be like living with a gerbil if an idea hits in the middle of the night. There's always a pen and paper handy and Jennifer doesn't even need to turn on the light. As Nick describes it, he just hears the "scritch, scritch" in the dark!
Bearly a Wizard When Jennifer was new to cross stitch, her initial works included much tonal variation and as many as 30 colours in each design. As she advanced in knowledge and technique she began using specialty stitches and more diverse fibers. She says, "The beauty of Caron's colours and the texture of the fibers themselves are what first attracted me. Here were threads that I could stitch with and suddenly the colour varied like magic! It gave my dragon's wings and bodies far more mystery and subtlety without any extra work on my part to blend threads!! I fell in love with them right away! I also love the stitching process itself. Nick and I stitch most of the models ourselves. ... most of our large dragons - I just can't bear to let someone else see it come to life and fondle the fibers!"
Moonlight Guardian In an interesting aside, Jennifer jokes how appropriate the fantasy theme is to her personal life. She declares, "I come from a family of Giants!" Her father is 6"10" and everyone else in her family is over 6' tall. She also chuckles when she admits that even though Nick is over 6'5", he is the tallest in his family, so there might be a recessive short gene lurking somewhere! But both Erin and Bethany are already well above the average height curve. Before Bethany was born, Jennifer was an avid seamstress and made clothes to fit her statuesque 6' 5" frame. She hopes to delve into quilting in the future, but for now has promised Nick to hold off until she's 40. He apparently is convinced that Jennifer will begin by designing Dragon quilts... no doubt, he's right on
target!Dragon of the Winter Moon Dragon Dreams Inc.
112 Highmeadow Drive, Moncton, NB, CANADA, E1G 2C4
Phone: (506) 852-9017
Fax: (506) 855-5828
E-Mail: dragondr@nbnet.nb.ca
Website: http://www.DragonDreams.accra.caCastle of the Mist Bellpull Here's a treat that the near future definitely holds in store - coming in 2001 is an exciting fantasy trilogy. This collaborative effort between Jennifer Aikman-Smith, Teresa Wentzler and Karen Weaver (Black Swan Designs), will include a dragon designed by each of them in a single leaflet! Dragon Dreams leaflets are available to stitchers through needlework retailers in more than 7 countries! Jennifer has just begun teaching at some festivals and plans on doing more of that in the future as well.
CARON email: mail@caron-net.com / Webmaster nika@optonline.net
