Is Finishing the Point?

Is it? Is finishing a project the point of the project? Or is the creative process, the journey, if you will, the point? For me it's the creative process. Most the time I couldn't care less if I "finish" a project. I enjoy creating it. Sometimes I feel sad when I declare a project finished because that means its evolution is over. The growth process for the project and for me has ended.

I work on several projects at once because sometimes I run out of creative ideas for one, but I know it's not finished. I don't know what's next, but I know there is a "next." For some people their projects speak to them. The project tells the artist what it wants next. That doesn't happen for me. Objects tell me things. I can pick up a button, a piece of polymer clay, fragment of fabric and it occurs to me that it would be perfect for that little piece I started two months ago and put aside for lack of inspiration. My projects WILL tell me when they want to be left alone; when they want to rest and be what they are for a while. At that point, I put them aside and leave them until something tells me to pick them up again.

I guess I am envious of people who can get inspiration that goes from beginning to end uninterrupted. My inspiration doesn't work like that. That's ok with me. I think I'd be frustrated if my inspiration got interrupted because I have to go to work 5 days a week. For now it comes in spurts and that suits my time to be able to create. It does, however, mean I don't finish as much as those with continuous inspiration. I'm ok with that, too. :)

Quilting, Quilting, Quilting

The weather is getting colder here in Bavaria. I think we might have much more snow this year than last. We got barely a few inches last year. But, it did snow on Christmas Day and New Year's Day and, after not seeing snow for 4 years, it was kind of nice.

With the colder weather, my thoughts turn to quilting. I've finished more quilts in the first year I've been here than I did in 4 years in Hawaii. Bob finally has his very own BIG quilt and I pin-basted a smaller quilt for him yesterday. Shouldn't be too long before that quilt is finished.

I have a HUGE quilt to pin-baste and and quilt in a month or two. It's a bed-sized monster.
Maybe I'll have a quilt basting party and get some help doing that.

I have more wall-quilts to work on, too. I'm going to bead some and applique pretty flowers on others. Hopefully, I have some pretty flower wall quilts to decorate the house for spring :)

Adelaide's Garden

I'm posting a picture of my latest mixed media wall quilt entitled, "Adelaide's Garden."

I used one of my polymer clay heads and daisy doily thingies (don't even know if they have a real name). I painted the daisy dollie thingies with textile paint and used some dichroic glass cabochons as the middle. I added gold leaf trim for stems and leaves and flower and butterfly beads. I thought I was finished with the quilt when I realized that Adelaide needed some jewelry. I added a multiple strand necklace and some "buttons." As you can see Adelaide looks very proud of her flower garden which grows on a background of painted fabric.

Blogging, etc

I have so much to blog about. The one thing I don't have is time to blog! I've tried to set up a schedule for blogging, but I am horrible with schedules. In fact, I'm rather horrible about structure of most kinds outside of the workplace. I believe that subconsciously I believe that schedules are for work only. My non-work time should be unstructured and creative. This usually means that, during the week, I bounce from project to project, different crafts depending on my mood. Weekends I can make several hours available for specific crafts/projects and that's when I usually finish things. I also tend to design more on weekends. I'm going to have to harness that rather weak natural schedule and use it to my advantage. The likelihood of any strict structure on the weekend is just not going to happen. And the closer I get to retirement, the less likely that becomes.

Christmas is Coming!

I am working furiously on Christmas gifts. I'm making Mill Hill ornaments for my friends. I only have one done and I have at least 3 more to go. I really like MH kits because everything is right there. They work up pretty fast, too. Just stitch, slap a piece of felt on the back and a pinback if you so choose and VOILA!

Beaded Tapestry

I thought I'd post a picture of my first beaded tapestry just as it came off the loom.

I'm going to put fringe on the bottom and add a bead hanger to the top. It looks much better when it is held up to a window.

And here is a picture of my latest bracelet and then my work in progress on my new Mirrix loom:

I'm working on an original design of sunflowers. I think this one will be a beaded purse !

Where Have I Been?

Well, I haven't been traveling much. We had a guest cat for almost two months in June to late July. She was a challenge. I was concerned that my two cats and the guest cat would get into a very large, violent disagreement. So, I stuck close to home.

Since I was around I started to learn beadweaving on a loom. I also began to do peyote, right angle, and spiral techiques, too. I began learning beadweaving a couple of years ago, but quit because I had my jewelry store on Ruby Lane and that store was too expensive to let just sit around; I had to get string items made. Now, with my Etsy store, I can put in what I want when I want and only incur expenses when I list or sell something. It makes things much more flexible so I can learn new techniques and expand my creativity.

I am almost finished with my first loomed bead tapestry that I designed myself. I'm pretty exicted! I'm not going to divulge much about it until I can actually post pictures.

Later today, I hope to get some pictures of some bracelets I've make this summer.