Hey, Foxworthy, I've got one for ya!

If you have Hooters hot wings and deep fried dill pickles for Christmas dinner, you might be a redneck. It's true. This is what my mother served, along with a bunch of other stuff, like cocktail weenies swimming in some kind of sauce and a chocolate fountain. It was a true hillbilly dee-light. I made Rachel Ray Five Minute Fudge, rocky road style with mini marshmallows and pecans. I made it into a wreath. It looked like this:

I think it is cute, but my girls, who you know I adore, told me it looked like a poop wreath. That's what they called it - the poop wreath - out loud in front of people. Can't take them anywhere.

I have still been making art every day, although it has been a drag. This year's project was a mistake. The journal was too big and unwieldy. I need a project I can easily drag around with me. Shortly after I decided to do a daily fabric project in 2008, I was introduced to the incredible work of Jeanne Williamson. This gal has been making a small quilt every week since 1999. She has a book out, The Uncommon Quilter. She chooses a certain size of quilt each year and must complete one every week, no matter what. I have modified my original plans of making different sizes of small quilts. I think that I will make 6"x6" quilts and connect them, as I finish them, into rows to make a meander book. The book will be soft and chunky, and, hopefully, inviting. My best books are the ones that are handled. One quilt per week, worked on daily. Any technique goes.

So what? Big deal. She's making some little quilts. It can't be that simple, can it? Of course not. I have thought about this and considered it and tried to talk myself out of it. This evening, I thought of it again while I was cleaning the kitchen and my heart pounded a little, so I knew it was the right thing to do. Here it is - There shall be no new fabric purchased for the daily art challenge quilts. I have about a quarter-ton of fabric that I bought beacuse I loved it. Now is the time to use it.

This kinda ties into another goal for 2008. I will not buy any art supplies, except what is needed for a class, article or other assigment with a deadline. 2008 will be a year of using, not saving. I didn't challenge my self as an artist enough this year. I stayed in one place too long. I guess part of that had to do with my first book-writing experience. A book captures a moment, but the moment becomes protracted. I designed, made, wrote about, dreamed about and worried about the same 10 projects for four months. I wasn't very good at balancing art for the book and other art. I will know better next time.