This past winter, a some students asked me to create a block of the month quilt for a winter project. I thought, ugh!! 12 months of trying to keep everyone motivated and moving along, not to mention myself!!         Then I thought 'what if....?' What if it's not 12 months, but 12 classes? What if we do it weekly instead? Wouldn't that keep everyone motivated and on their toes? After deciding that was a great idea, I took it one step further........ a mystery block of the week aka BOW? WOW! (Block Of the Week? WOW!)

I sketched and sketched, dropped the sketches into my Illustrator program and came up with rough draft. I went to the quilt shop were I teach and we figured out the cost. The class would include the fabrics (each student got to pick their own), a set of Sue Pelland rulers, a mystery gadget, fusible web and stitch and steam.
    MUCH to my surprise, 3 of them signed up and off we went. Each week was a different block and a different skill including how to PRESS! Near the end, they hung their pieces up on the wall and got to see what they were actually making. They were completely wowed by what they had created. The very center of each quilt was completely designed by them with no help from me. These quilts are stunning and works of art in their own right. Each of these women had faith in my teaching and in turn learned to have faith in their own abilities! It was awesome!!
     My own lesson............? Have faith in my own abilities!!

Recently I was invited to display my quilts that are for sale in conjunction with a high end furniture gallery. I am very honored, but it has led to an unexpected flurry of activity. Putting labels on everything, making sure they have sleeves on the back, where did I put those quilted pillows?, pricing...........PRICING!!!...How do you objectively put a price on your artwork? You can't figure it by the hour or the cost of the materials...how do you know what the market will bear...do you haggle or stay firm...do you use others work as a guide (hard to find someone that does the same things you do)?...when you allow for commission, the prices sound so unreasonable, yet what is the alternative?

Here's where I finally went with all this. I decided what it would take to part with each piece. The more important they are to me, the more someone must pay to get it from me. This seems logical to me as my better pieces are definitely my favorite ones and there comes a point where you just need to clean out your closet. I am also finding it very freeing....like letting some of them go gives me permission to create new and DIFFERENT pieces.

I am currently experimenting with fusibles. It is a new concept for me as I still tend to think BIG, as in each piece needs to fit a bed or have some similar function, and learning to make pieces that are 24" square and smaller is harder than it looks. Learning to simplify, changing the way I quilt (free form quilting is ANOTHER huge subject), being able to make more than one piece per year all are new to me. Big pieces are hard not just because of their size, it is the ennui that happens in the middle and the discipline of pushing through it to get to the end that I find the most difficult. It gets tough to keep your mind focused and not wander off into something new and exciting, so the smaller projects are definitely singing their siren song to me. At the same time, I love to doodle with my french curves and paper cuts to create plain wholecloth quilts. There is a quiet there where the simple complexity of curves and swirls without background clutter are exactly what I need. Cup of tea, some classical music and the not so quiet hum of my sewing machine calms my jangling nerves.

PIECE