Halfway there, whoa... living on a prayer...

On Day 7 of 12, I think I earned myself a post - but still keeping my work to myself!  I forgot to credit the Twelve By Twelve group with the idea of small quilts done on a regular basis.  I started following the 12s when a few us were working thru the Art Quilt Workbook by Jane Davila and Elin Waterston.  Lucky me, as guild program chair - Deborah Boschert was recommended as a guild speaker, and she motivated me to rejoin SAQA by sharing the plans for the local SAQA parlor meetings.  Like I always have said, I am very lucky!

friends at the Quilters Unlimited Show, fun!

Well back to this challenge - some days I know what I am doing, and other days (ok most of the time) just letting myself go with the creative flow.  It was actually easier to start on quilts for days 1-5, I attended a local quilt show the morning of day 6 - lots of beautiful art to look at, and took lots of photos.  But strangely enough, I didn't come home with the itch to stitch, more like the ache to bake. Not cake, but myself, spent a beautiful Sunday at the ballgame!  Almost like I needed to let me mind process what I had seen and get back to looking for inspiration from trees, lawnmover lines in grass, crowd of people at the ballpark, sights and sounds of nature.

A couple lessons to share along the way...

1- Find what you LOVE!

• I really enjoy working with real ultrasuede. Love the rich matte texture it adds.
• I love free motion machine quilting. I find it a way to getting the creative flow going and relax while scribbling on fabric with thread. I know many find it to be stressful. My advice, turn on some good tunes and machine quilt on some scraps to get into the groove.

2- Don't over think!

• forgive all my sports analogies, at my core I am an athlete - in sports we practice so that when it comes to games we don't have to think, so ideally in practice you get to the point of not thinking and just doing!

 3- I am NOT creating "Works of Art", I am doing the "Work of Art".  Which athletes play only in competitive games? None, they also practice. Shouldn't we as artists do works that are for practice, skill building, experimentation?  I think so!

inspired by mottled look of the crowd, the bright moon, the lights, the next batter warming up, the curve of the grass....and you thought I was just watching baseball!