Here I am in my studio writing a blog post for the first time in 2012…. I just realized that I added No posts to this blog at all in 2011….  I guess the past year was a record breaker of sorts… The first year I did no sunprinting in  Years!  I did a bit of fabric dyeing , but not a whole lot more.  My creative funk really took a huge hold on me, and I really didn’t do much of anything Classroom Blog Worthy.  I did do postcards for a round of Postmark’d Art that was supposed to end by May 1st, but I never got one group of cards done and mailed out until December…. I was able to keep up better with the Arts in the Cards group, exchanging art cards, but I was late getting my cards mailed on more than one occasion.  About all the creative work I did this year was to make my book covers and jewelry to sell… And that was only a few batches and nothing really new was done.  I didn’t even make any art quilts in 2011 until well after my 50th birthday in August.

Thanks to a member of the Quiltart email group, I finally got a little creativity going again….  I answered a call to join a Weekly Journal Quilt group, committing to make one little journal piece each week. The timing of it’s start was perfect, it was just a few weeks after my birthday, so I thought it might be what I needed for me to “start over” so to speak.  I did pretty well in the beginning, keeping up with weekly pieces while finally doing a good job of organizing my studio.  When wreath making season arrived, followed by Christmas and I didn’t get any new pieces made for a few weeks, but I did get into my studio…. either organizing things or making more items to sell at a show and a local shop, and have now been spending creative time most every day….. Finally!

While I have no idea what this coming year will bring (2011 brought a lot of surprises), I feel that I may be finally back to creative playing and blogging about what I do.  So far, I have ideas for a few tutorial posts, and hope to add something new here at least monthly… No promises, but I have found that I Need the time I spend in my studio to help me keep my sanity and deal with my daily pain (something  that I have allowed to get me down too many days)…. I am looking for my 51st year to be a new beginning of sorts…   And maybe I will even get some online classes finished and ready to teach!

The first tutorial type posts of the year will introduce you to my new die cutting machine and what  it has helped me to do….. I have been doing some experimenting and playing!  Hopefully I’ll be back writing here soon!