HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy New Year to all of my online friends who encourage and support me! I love you all and I hope that this coming year is your best yet, in every way!

As you all know, I am taking Heather Thomas' Color & Design class, and LOVING every minute of it! In our November class, Heather encouraged us to dispose with our traditional new year's resolutions and instead find a word to focus on for the year.

Without really thinking about it, when I recalled her saying that, the word "PRACTICE" jumped out at me- and it's something I really need to be reminded of.

All too often I get impatient with myself or feel discouraged that I am not better at something. Realistically, I know that the only way to improve on anything is to keep practicing- so why do I expect to be better when I haven't put the work in? It's so unrealistic and also so easy to remedy.

I love to draw and don't do it enough to really love what I produce.
I love to machine quilt and my designs are still not anywhere near as smooth and intricate as I want them to be.
I love to do yoga and still am not very flexible nor do I "flow"the way I want to.
I love the thought of hanging my art everywhere in our home and don't have the ability yet to pull it off.

Why? Because I don't practice any of it enough.

I have great intentions and then I let other, less-important things in and take my time.

I let myself get bogged down with the little things that don't matter in the grand scheme of things.

I put too much importance on organizing my studio instead of actively working on things.

It's time to change those unproductive habits and put into practice my practice! I am hoping that sharing my intentions with others will help remind me to stay on track.

Already I am completing more work/art overall since starting Heather's class, and that's a great thing. But now it's time to take it a step further and put some effort in on a regular basis.

I have heard Heather respond both in person and on her blog to those who say they wish they could do things as well as she does: she tells them she wasn't born knowing how to do these things, she has put in hours and hours of time. She learns or teaches herself how to do something and then works at it continually.

It's very similar to something our teacher Nellie Holmes said to us in our beginning quilt class: "Once you learn HOW to do something, the rest is just mileage."

Words to live by.