2011 Collected & 2012 Began - Part 2

Cole Here - Now you have written down your UFO's, Successes & Learning you want to hold onto... and set free the projects that you never need to see again.  Today is looking 2012 beginnings and direction.

Five Medium Focus - I am one of those artists who just will never be able to pick and stick with a medium... so I pick five each year to stick with for that year.  This helps me limit my range and learn and work more deeply in these arena's.  Just from a stuff management perspective - I don't go shopping and have random stuff end up in my cart as much.  And I can put away supply's in deep freeze storage if I know they are not my focus that year.

• What are your five mediums?  Mine are acrylic painting (stick), Mixed media collage (stick), Rug Hooking (Stick), Sewing & Quilting (new to me), art journaling (new to me)

Project Focus - What projects are you going to attempt.  I try and list all the idea's I would like to fit it.  Last year I had twelve that fit into each month.  I finished 10 of 12 and one is left in UFO's and the other has been set free from 2011.

• What is your project focus?  A few of mine are Encrusted Baby Quilt (art quilt), Jenni's Sign (acrylic commission), Susan's pillows & painting Commission (rug hooking & pillow), Judy's Dog Flower Commission UFO (stained glass - because it is a ufo)

Learning Focus - What do you want to learn this year.  A magazine subscription you just must have, classes you always wanted to take?  I have often related my obsession with the library to a masters degree.  With as much learning as I do each year for free I feel like am working my way through an 'Handcrafted Masters'

• What is your learning focus this year?  Quilting, Quilting, Quilting for me - I am working on getting a new sewing machine and would love to USE every feature on the machine in the first year.  I am hoping to really learn what it can do!

Marketing & professional Focus - Shows you want to enter, blogs you want to start, stores or galleries you want to hang in.  Where is your focus?  How are you going to make the time for marketing?  

• Shows I want to focus on - 
• Blog Plan for 2012 - at least once a week for the year.
• Podcast ???
• Stores & Galleries - 
• Submissions - 
• Taxes & Billing - Smash taking over in 2012 Awesome!

Tomorrow - Tackling the studio!

From the Library - Elm Creek Quilt Series

Cole Here-   I am an audio book reader!  I love that I can craft, paint and drive and still read!  I am also cheap... so most of the time my audio books come from my library.  I have been listening to the Elm Creek Quilt series for about two years.  I just finished The Union Quilters by Jennifer Chiaverini.  It is the 17th book in the series.  I absolutely loved this book.  Here is Jennifer's website -www.elmcreek.net.  The Union Quilters takes place during the Civil war and is an interesting account of how northern women got through this time in American history.  I cried four times during this book and was surprised by my own response. 

My favorite character is Gerda!  Thank you Jennifer for years of entertainment and being an inspiration for great business marketing- books, fabric, patterns & tours.  If you have any idea's for other crafty reads please let me know.    



I started with The Christmas Quilt and wish I had started at the beginning of the series... I love to sew but have yet to make a quilt.  I love these books because they combine my love of all women's handiwork and the history that is stitched into each of her stories.  I would recommend you begin at the beginning of the series - Here is info pulled from Jennifer's site about how to read the series -

Should I read the Elm Creek Quilts novels in the order you wrote them? If I read the Elm Creek Quilts novels out of order, will I still be able to understand them?

If you want to read the books in the order I wrote them, read them in the order listed above. However, since I wasn't planning to write a series, I have written each book so that it stands alone. On my book tour, I often hear longtime fans tell new readers that the books should be read in the order I wrote them, but other readers have told me that they have read the books out of order and were able to follow everything just fine. Ultimately it's up to the individual reader. Please note, however, that later books inevitably give away events that occurred in previous books. If you would like to read the books in something approximating chronological order, please note the following:

• The Christmas Quilt takes place in the interim between The Quilter's Apprentice andRound Robin.
• The Sugar Camp Quilt is set in 1849-1850, so it takes place before the events chronicled in Gerda's memoir in The Runaway Quilt.
• The Quilter's Homecoming is set mainly in 1925, but it branches off from a storyline introduced in The Christmas Quilt.
• The New Year's Quilt immediately follows The Quilter's Legacy.
• The Lost Quilter begins in 1859 immediately following the events chronicled in Gerda's memoir in The Runaway Quilt.
• A Quilter's Holiday takes place while Bonnie is in Hawaii in The Aloha Quilt.
• The Union Quilters begins in 1861 and runs mostly concurrently with The Lost Quilter.
• The Wedding Quilt takes place after A Quilter's Holiday and The Aloha Quilt, with flash forwards to the year 2028.

The Union Quilters, The Lost Quilter, The Sugar Camp Quilt, and The Quilter's Homecoming work particularly well as stand-alone novels and can be enjoyed as your first Elm Creek Quilts novel or at any point in the series.

FROM THE LIBRARY - Woman's Work

I am an obsessed library user. I check out about 50 books, dvds & audiobooks a month. I love to consume this free craft/art information. Only problem... I don't always know where I put my notes from those interesting watches, reads or listens.

This is my attempt to capture some of the knowledge "from the Library"

First up is a DVD - here is the amazon link - www.amazon.com/Womans-Work-Making-Quilts-Creating

Woman's Work

Making Quilts- Creating Art

www.womansworkvideo.com

2003 CGPP

This video shows 10 women and how they work. I don't currently quilt but have been attracted to some of their books and videos because they are basically building art pieces. I love to be able to dip into other creative pursuits and see how they explain design. I am also interested in their color theory.

These women gather and work as a critique group and sounding board for each other. I have been urning for a creative art gypsy group near where I live and this video made me renew my efforts in that area.

TWO TIPS FOR MY STUDIO-

• I loved the artist who was building structures to hang her pieces from using willow.
• I also loved how one artist organized her fabric stash all to the same size and by color. I think I will apply this to my growing stash & my collage materials.