I've been working hard at spending at least an hour in my sewing room everyday working on the UFO's I've accumulated.  Finishing 4 of them at retreat and mostly thread painting and FMQ this panel wall hanging.  I found this one a good practice piece for thread painting and will give this away.  

These little projects were done at the retreat.  The midi bag was a kit I bought way back in 2013, so I'm very happy to get that out of the UFO basket and done.  

The last thing I want is to squash or diminish my own artist journey.  I look back on the last 5 and even 8 years and I see a change in my work and my goals.  Looking back in my journals and I see a lot of ideas, sketches, even doodles that would be great places to start elaborating on a new venture in an artistic piece I would be proud of.   Being bombarded by pattern made, designer created/recreated, BOM's, kits, step-by-steps, etc... all the time is becoming frustrating for me.   This is just reproducing a pattern for the masses.  I am more interested in creating something original without the ability to re-create it over and over again. Unpopular thinking....I know!  But, this is me, this is the way I feel.   I've known that I have to do what makes me happy, not crazy.  Whether it's popular or not, who cares?  

In the photo above, the postcard is made from silk and foil with thread painted areas, applique on top of some hand dyed fabric I made in 2020 at the onset of the pandemic.   The subject being a Finnish glass artist who produced numerous birds in his lifetime.  

This year, the National Quilt Museum's BOM on Facebook is in round 4 and it seems they have chosen an artistic edge to the samples the designer's have made so far.  I am using all the ice dyed and hand dyed fabrics I've made over the last 2 years.  It will be interesting to see how it comes together.  I've chosen the natural elements as my theme for this quilt.  January's block turned out to be artic glaciers under the aurora borealis...

February's block showed the discharge dyeing technique, so I chose sound waves and used paint on the fabric after discharging an outline of the waves...But, I may choose a sample I did of a leaf design, haven't decided quite yet.  

For March, I want to do a block that connects heaven and earth like Jacobs ladder.  I haven't started on it yet, but the ideas are fading in and out of my mind.   It's time to start on one of these ideas and run with it before this month is over.  With the block of the month, it can be exciting to see one at a time and work on just one at a time.