Yes Mr. Disney, how right you are!

I have been planning a project to submit for consideration to a juried show in Washington D.C. in the fall. The theme is diaspora – the dispersion of a people from an established ancestral homeland. I have been thinking and thinking about this project, for far too long. It was defiantly time to begin doing.

Of course the usual cast of characters showed up, fear, anxiety, self doubt. But, once I began doing, little by little, it got easier. As the weeks progress, I will share the process and the vision for this piece.

I have come to accept my original plans as only a starting point. The more time I spend creating, the more I find myself having bigger ideas and different plans. Which is why I whole heartedly believe in Mr. Disney. Begin doing, get started, things change, but you are on the right road if you have started.

This is where it began.

I was stitching on an embroidered table cloth. I have my way of quilting, tiny and intricate. In this case, it simply was not working for me.

Change of plan.

I changed fabrics and went with a much simpler pattern. This is working so much better for me.

The deeper I delve into this project, the less time I have for fear and self doubt. I am on a deadline. This story is an important one, even if at this point you only see lines on a tablecloth. Stay turned, more to come.

We all recognize the yellow brick road that took Dorothy and her pals to Oz. How often to we stop to reflect on our own journey?

I am preparing to teach a class next month. The class content is machine quilting. In preparation for this class, I have been reflecting on my own journey.

This is one of the very first pieces that I ever machine free motion quilted by myself.  The stitches are not the same length, my circle isn’t always round, I was only starting on my journey.  There have been many quilts in the seventeen years between this quilt and today.

Here is a close up of a small piece that I did. It was fun to see how far I had come.

And how I now fill the areas that I quilt!

It was really good for my soul to look back and see how years of  practice and experience had improved my work and I felt somehow accomplished!

And what about your own journey? It might be fun to dig out some of those first pieces and have a look how far you have moved down that yellow brick road in your own journey!

I was reading through Lilla Rogers book I Just Like To Make Things and read this line:

Enjoy being a beginner

I have spent quite a bit of time mulling this over. We have all been beginners. I thought about learning to walk. I don’t remember that experience, but I’m sure there was some fear, some incredible excitement, a sense of pride when that foot moved. And so it is with beginnings.

In Bloom 2007 one of my beginning pieces.

It is somewhat like falling in love. That beginning, that apprehension, the excitement and emotion.

When I floated the idea of an online presence, I felt all of those beginning emotions. My website launched in November, I was relieved and excited. What an incredible amount of work. I had no idea! As well as the relief and excitement, I felt somehow vulnerable and exposed. It was a beginning.

Five months into this I still feel like a beginner. I still struggle with aspects of technology – but I have learned so much. I still have moments of feeling fear and vulnerability and doubtfulness. But oh, the joy, the excitement of a letter of acceptance for your work or the thrill of a kind comment on a blog post. None of the joy would be possible without beginning, taking the first step, being brave enough to put yourself and your work out there.

Be brave, simply begin.