Hello

Hi, everyone,

So excited to be here. This is my first blog experience, so bear with me.
I am a girl with way too many hobbies! I love gardening. Summer time, I normally spend all my spare time in the backyard, taking care of my vegetable garden and the flowerbeds. Who doesn't like the taste of homegrown cherry tomato and green bean? And working under the sunshine makes my bone strong too. The only problem with that is I don't always put on sunblock, so my colleagues always wondered which beach or tanning salon I went to. HaHa! The best one in the world, my own backyard. During the long New England winter time, I keep my thrumb green by taking care of my 50+ indoor plants. I have lots of orchids, jasmines, and other type of plants. So far, I had 3 orchids finished blooming, and 4 are blooming right now, and 2 more are sending out flower spikes. I will post some pictures later.
Now I want to talk about my passion about Chinese Knotting. Chinese knotting is an ancient folk art dating back to Tang and Song Dynasties, maybe even earlier. Culturally, they are expected to ward off evil spirits and act as good-luck charms. They are normally made with red silk or satin cord, because in chinese red symbolizes good luck and prosperity. I picked up this hobby about 7 years ago. My mom bought me this wonderful birthday gifts, a set of chinese knotting books and a bag of beautiful silk cord. I fell in love with it immediately, and found myself making it all the time. All my friends loved it, and I was very happy to share my creations with them. I probably gave away about 200 of them over the years. They kept telling me that I should open a store and sell my pieces, because mine are much better designed and crafted than the ones you get from Chinatown. So, finally, I opened my first online shop, TranquilityKnots.Etsy.com. I am having so much fun designing new pieces, and watch it come to life. The most challenging part was not making them, but taking good quality pictures of them. I read so many articles, and talked with my dear friend Rocky, who used to be a professional photographer, finally found a way that works for me. But I am still trying to find ways to improve it. So, please take a look at my shop, and give me some suggestions. And while you are there, check out other talented people on Etsy.com. There are so many great ideas and everything is handcrafted. Etsy is so wonderful, I found myself loving it more and more each day. Oh, my favorite designer on Etsy is MStevenson, her design is fabulous! You have to see her store to appreciate her great talent. Her store's URL is MStevensonDesigns.Etsy.com. Don't forget to tell her that TranquilityKnots told you this.

I will try to post some pictures of my beautiful orchids and my unique Chinese knots this weekend.