Something to show for my time!

      In my little group of art quilters, we have all pretty much identified ourselves as process people- those who do things for the sake of trying something new, or just to pass some time playing- and product people- those who need to have a finished object from their time.  I am a product person.  I can't bear the thought of spending time on a project and having nothing to show for it.  I know this is contradicting my last post- where I was playing with my random strips.  But if you go back and look, I did make a block- and it is growing into a product.
So it is no surprise, I'm sure, to know that I record all of my projects each year.  Since today is the end of a year, I got out my little journal (thanks, Maura!) and tallied things up. 

The grand total for projects which reached some level of completion this year was 84!!!  I was stunned.  It had felt like I didn't do very much this year, believe it or not.

It breaks down like this:
Wall quilts ( all finished!): 22- including the 12 calendar quilts
Other quilts and quilt related items: 15  This includes blocks for a swap, the raffle quilt, comfort quilt tops I pieced and the ArtCGirlz round robin project, among others
Quilt tops: 4 Some had been only block for over 2 years!
Garments: 10- includes 4 pairs of boxer shorts which take about an hour each
Accessories: 5- purses and such
knitted items: 12 - only 3 pairs of socks this year!
Miscellaneous projects: 16 This includes beaded bracelets, the sunflowers for the Guild quilt show, some household items and the sock kitty!
When I looked back on it, I decided my favorite project(s) of the year was the round robin!  It was hard for me to decide what to do to a couple of them, but on each one, I tried to stretch a bit technique wise.

 On Lori's, I added the leaves with rubber stamps, then did a little thread work to enhance the texture of the tree as well as the leaves.








On Elaine's. I did threadwork flowers on soluble stabilizer, which I had never done before.  I was extremely pleased with the way my addition to this piece turned out!

 On Chris's I added dragonflies to what became a little wetland scene.  Using angelina fibers for the wings, all of this one was done by hand!







I had a hard time with Susan's because these are really not my colors.  The one on the left had a tree hiding in the lines of the hand dyed fabric.  I cleared it up a bit. (sorry the picture isn't closer) The other was inspired by a Chagall painting, which she said her daughter would like.  I had never done fusible with organza before.I liked how you can't tell which figure should be the one in front.

Mary Ellen's was the hardest for me.  None of my original idea was something I felt I could do well.  So I had to live with this for a few days before I decided there needed to be a mist in the woods to reflect the glow from the moon.  I fused netting to create this.  It's a delicate fabric and I hope she didn't curse me too often when she finished it for the quilt show!




It's kind of odd that these were my favorites for the year, since all of these were "process" pieces!  Maybe Kathi is rubbing off on me!

For the Green thoughts this time, I will ask each of you who to go to this website and learn about the regulations New York state is proposing for hydrofracturing.  They are no regulations at all for someone like me who has discovered evidence suggesting they will be drilling right across the street from me if New York approves the process.  Frankly, I am scared to death that they will!  If you live in NY please use the comment link before January 11 to let them know we do not accept that this process is safe for us in any way! The short term gains cannot be enough to offset the long term damage we will all suffer!

I am grateful for:
Time spent with those dearest to me ( you know who you are, I hope!)
My husband who takes very good care of me
Sunshine in winter
A little girl to play Barbies with
The cookies are almost gone (time to get on the treadmill- not that I'm grateful for that)