completion

I finished this lap quilt a few weeks ago and with the weather being spring-like got some decent photos of it this morning. Below is a photo of what inspired this simple little blanket. I love the way that nature looks in the fall, everything is full of color, yet you can see the bareness beginning. For the first time this year I noticed how many soft grey, dusty, purple colors there are in the autumn. I do not use purple very much in my work, or home, but it fit in well and understated in this blanket. 

It was nice to put my big yard to use for photographing this piece, I love how the colors pop and blend in against the natural surroundings. A simple blanket, in construction and appearance, and it is definitely one of my favorites that I have made. 

I feel the change in the season, work has gotten busier, events and parties are all lined up. As thanksgiving passed I thought a lot about things that I am grateful for, health, family, friends, work, and time to play. The time that I have taken since the summer to spend in my studio, has definitely paid off, I have been busy working with my hands, thinking about making, and making. My sketchbook is filling up with more ideas, my fabric bin is ready to go. I have stopped giving myself a hard time for not being as conceptual in my work, and have let myself enjoy making based on aesthetic, technique and my current interests. Maybe its true what they say, that sometimes you just have to use your hands and make, and the thoughts and ideas will follow. My body of finished pieces is building up again, and I can't wait to enter some contests and perhaps enter a modern quilt guild after the new year. I know that I will not be in the studio as much in the coming weeks but I now know that is ok. Because somewhere along the way, I FINALLY learned the balance of life, work and studio. Sometimes one has to take the spotlight, but it does not mean that the others stop existing.