Someone just needs to tell me what to do...

...and I'll do it. Maybe. After finishing 3460, I have been unable to get started on another project. It's like my creative juices have dried up. So my solution was to sign up for some quilt-alongs. I thought if someone could just say, "This week, your assignment is to...." then I wouldn't even have to think too much. I could just follow along and actually accomplish something.

I signed up for this one. Wanna see my progress? Fabric nicely laid out for picture taking. That's it. That's as far as I have gotten.

I signed up for this one. Wanna see my progress?

I got the paintbox button posted on my blog. That's the extent of my progress. I don't even have my fabrics picked out, although I did purchase a lot of solids in preparation. Does that count?

I plan to make Valentine's pillowcases for my grandkids. Wanna see how far I've gotten on those?

So do any of you have solutions for getting out of the "stalled" mode. This seemingly never happens to some people, like this person and this person. I sure would love to know how they keep their "inspiration and production" mode in full gear. Don't they ever have days weeks where they want to sew, but then just say, nah, I'm just gonna sit on this couch and read a magazine. Any ideas? Really. Feel free to just tell me what to do...

Seriously??

Mark and I are leaving this morning to be vendors at Quilting in the Garden. We had a lot of last-minute things to do: final jewelry assembly, pricing, packing, loading the trailer. So what was I doing yesterday afternoon? New product development. Seriously?? What was I thinking??

I have long been obsessed with fabric selvage edges. That has already been established, I think. Since we are going to be at a quilting show, wouldn't pincushions be a good idea? Wouldn't thinking about this a couple of months ago have been a better idea?

What have I learned from this?

1. It's kind of a messy process, but really fun.

2. I have a "piping" foot for my Elna...and I now know how to use it. This is my first prototype. No close-ups allowed, because you don't want to see the mistakes I made when learning how to use my piping foot.

3. I used crushed walnut shells to stuff the pincushions. Eco friendly, nice and weighty. But I need to find a bulk outlet. I only had four cups and then had to slit my prototype open and steal from it to stuff the other two.

4. Procrastination--not such a great idea. Two pincushions ready for sale. Two....for a two-day show. Planning ahead would have been a really good idea. Can you say "special order and free shipping"?

Shout it from the rooftops

I had no idea when I read Jessica's blog post that it would start so much introspection on my part. My original intention when I started this blog was to help in marketing Around the Block Designs. Read much about that yet? Yeah, I didn't think so.

I'm warning you right now that I've been pondering this for the last couple of days. If you aren't interested, then just move on. Or scroll down to the bottom and think about the questions there, because I'd love to hear someone else's thoughts on the process.

Turns out that trying to write about things that Mark and I create, even for the greater good of expanding our business, is a really hard thing for me to do. But why? Why is it so hard to write about the fused glass that Mark creates or the quilts that I create? Some people have no problem saying, "Hey, look what I'm working on. Isn't it GREAT?" I've donated three quilts to MCC for their fundraising quilt auction and each time they have been hung facing the auction audience. For me, that has always been the ultimate honor, my equivalent to performing at Carnegie Hall. Why? Because of all the quilts donated each year, only four are hung facing the crowd.

The down side? It causes all those voices in my head to start talking at once: Why mine? What about THIS quilt makes it good enough? And how to respond to people saying, "I really like your quilt"? I usually end up saying, "Well, you know, Mark's cousin, Ione, did an amazing job of machine quilting. THAT'S the reason it's so good." True enough--she is an artist with that sewing machine. It just feels so awkward, just wrong, to acknowledge out loud that, hey, I made this quilt, I LOVE it, thanks for noticing it and thanks for liking it too.

And Around the Block Designs? Mark's work has been published in three magazines, he has been commissioned to make recognition plaques given to world-class quilters and appreciation plaques given to corporate sponsors with really big names--Bernina sewing machines and Gammill. And yet, other than very close friends and family, we haven't really told anyone.

So what is it that makes some people comfortable telling the world about their accomplishments, whether the world agrees with them or not? And others, like me, jump up and down, but only on the inside? Is there a recording that plays in my head, something I got growing up perhaps, that tells me that public attention is bad, like a character flaw, that pride goeth before the fall?

Well, I want to be like you, Jessie. So, resolved for 2009, shout it from the rooftops. You'll be seeing what we're working on, what we've completed, what we hope people will want to purchase. And when things don't turn out the way we thought they would, that's okay too--it's part of the process, and you'll be the first to see--the good, the bad, and the ugly. Because in the words of Scott Adams of Dilbert fame: Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.

So what about you? Are you comfortable tooting your own horn? Or do you hide your light under a bushel?