This is my second journal quilt of the year on the theme "highly prized".
When I thought of what I prize highly, I immediately thought of my BSP (Beloved Spouse for those of you who are new to my blog), my children, my family. There is nothing that I prize more highly than my precious family and our love for one another, and I am nearly daily, consciously grateful for BSP and the life we have made for ourselves. I wanted something that was an abstract, celebratory visioning of that life.



For this piece, I wanted to try a kind of dyeing that I had seen either in a magazine or on someone's blog - it's a technique that I recall is used for shibori.  Of course I wasn't doing shibori, but I thought I could try this vaguely remembered beginning.

So. 

You know how I show you something new most Mondays, whether it's a completed quilt, a finsihed tote bag, or a textile art piece?  You know how on Wednesdays, I do a Wednesday WIP post and show you what I'm working on, and on Friday I do "Friday Flickr Faves", pictures from Flickr that I find inspiring?



I set it up that way because I wanted to make sure that I had regular posts available for you, the people who are kind enough to pay attention to what I'm doing, and to make sure that they were at least a little  interesting.

So last week, after I had spent most of the week working on my journal quilt challenge, making some more blocks for Of Quiet Stars, and doing some work on another big textile art piece I'm working on, I was in my sewing room casting about for ideas for a quilt that I could whip up quickly for Monday's post.  I started making a sweet twin sized quilt for a girl in coral pinks and yellows, and realized that though I could race through it quickly, it wasn't really what I wanted to do.  So I asked myself, "What do I really want to do?"

Well never ask a navel gazer such a question. It started not a only a whole train of thought - it started a life plan!


I realized that I don't want to continue making quilts that whip up quickly just to have something for a Monday post; I don't want to try 20 different things in a year for the sake of trying stuff or to figure out if that's something that I'd like to do. I know what I like to do and that's what I want to work on.

I want to work on artful quilting. 

By that, I don't mean that I only want to work on textile art - I mean that I want each quilt I make to be a piece of art, whether it's meant to hang on your wall or be put on your bed. 



I want to make beautiful things: because I can now, because I want to, and because somehow, I need to.

I want to make beautiful things for their own sake.

And that means time.  Because it takes time - sometimes a lot of it - to make beautiful things.

Which means that I have to, out of necessity, change how I talk to you.  And I want to - talk to you, I mean.  I hope that you'll talk to me too -  in the comments -  about what you're doing, or what you're thinking, or what you've seen and are interested in. Link to your posts if you're a blogger or to your Flickr or other photo sharing site if you don't, tell me what you're interested in!

So hi there. Yes - in case you were confused, you are indeed at Kit Lang Fiber Art, and that is indeed, a quilt that I made. :)

Although my pieces are usually more vibrant and strong, spoken in voice that's confident, and this is a quieter voice that I'm not quite comfortable with; I'm using this particular challenge to push myself; learn as much as I can and trust myself as an artist/maker - even if that means I venture into territory in which I'm not particularly comfortable.  After all, doesn't art (even sometimes, really good art) come from a place of discomfort?

So, I'll be exploring on Fridays - trying out different things (like hand painting my own fabric and *gasp* hand stitching!) -  and I hope you'll enjoy seeing what I do.

http://kitlangfiberart.blogspot.ca/2011/01/come-and-take-walk-with-me-exploration.html

I don't know what this quilt will be called when it's done, but the whole time I was working on it tonight, the song "Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars" was on loop in my head.  It's a beautiful song, so if it develops into an ear worm, at least it will be an enjoyable one! 

These are two of the four blocks for my first bed quilt of 2011.


While making these blocks (and some friends) tonight I discovered an ironic fact.  As you become a better quilter, you use the stitch ripper more. (That Universe.  So funny! S/he must have her little jokes...)

This quilt's gonna be a beaut! The next set of blocks are going to be a deeper version of the silk charmeuse and an irridescent silk taffetta in the mirror blocks.  Only 36 more blocks to go!

On Friday, I'll show you the first of my journal quilts. 

So, what are you working on?

This is my final piece in 3 Creative Studios' 2010 Art Quilt Challenge Group.

When we got the challenge word "destination", I immediately thought about the plans BSP and I have for our future.