And Yet Another Deadline. . .

Last summer one of my suitemates at Quilting by the Lake invited me to join a challenge group she was forming. By November we had introduced ourselves to each other--there are six of us from various points in the US as well as Germany--and had decided on a name for the group: Art 1016, which references the Golden Ratio and the dimensions of the quilts we will be making (at least 10 and not more than 16 inches). One member provided us with our challenge word on January 1--"connection"--and we had until February 29 to make our interpretation of that word into a quilt.

And here is my version:

This "everything is connected" theme keeps showing up in my quilting, particularly in the Celtic knotwork I do, and, ultimately, the colors I chose for this piece could easily suggest natural elements. 

This design began life as a series of smooth swirls:

But as I began to create these swirls in fabric, they began to look a little lifeless, a little too predictable and the more free-form edges I tried one day seemed to look more organic and interesting. I, of course, didn't take pictures of the fabrics in the smooth stage so you can't make a real comparison.

And I added other suggestions of connection to the final version when I braided the gold thread and wove the pearl cotton in the two open areas on the right and left sides. The dimensions are, of course, 10 x 16 inches. If you want to see how the other members of Art 1016 met this challenge, go to our blog. 

And now, I am not going to think about deadlines but just spend some time with some of my bigger projects. Deadlines do get me moving, focus my attention, provide a time when the quilt is done and I can't add or change just one more thing, and add a small explosion of excitement as you see what the results are.  But I need to wander my own path for a while at my own speed. Right now I am delighting in working on a project that has grown out of the Elizabeth Barton class I took. Perhaps it is because I am not following any rules except my own, but perhaps the delight is all the sweeter because of the contrast with the challenge quilts.

This will be a good test for the Zen attitude toward life that I am trying to cultivate--to see if I can focus on what I decide to focus on, be mindful of what is in front of me, when there are still more deadlines lurking in the future--one for the local challenge group (April 11) and for Art 1016 (April 30).

And if you are also still out there reading, thanks for the company!