Creativity

These pink calla lilies are so beautiful! Yesterday morning, they had droplets of water left from the early showers and I couldn't resist snapping a picture. As luck would have it, I was working with Karen Gass, the editor of the new Cotton Spice magazine on an article that very basically gets the creative juices flowing. In the article, Karen encourages readers to draw something very simple. I've had Corel Draw for ages, for so long that I think I've paid for two upgrades and have never learned to use it. I could probably do better with Paint but I am determined to learn Corel .. just not today. I could draw a circle and that's honestly all I could do. Not one to give up, I drew my circle and tried to make it into a flower. I told Karen it looked like a splattered egg and I gave up and went back to editing patterns. Ughh! How long can you do that . . especially while thinking about drawing flowers. About 7:00 p.m. I thought . . I can do this! Opened Corel back up and played around til I drew what looked like a calla lily to me. Ok . . no comments because I know that no one would have a clue what kind of flower this is if I didn't tell you. The only yarn or thick thread I had was this pink fuzzy yarn and it reminds me of the pink lupines so I used it. By 10:00, I had this little rascal on the longarm and by midnight (had to stop in the middle of the process and go get Chad from work . . remember he isn't driving!) I had it bound. After I crawled in bed, I realized I worked so hard on the flowers, the leaves don't even remotely resemble the leaves on the callas but it's my wall hanging and I can have any kind of leaves I want, right? If someone had told me to draw a flower and make a little wall hanging, I would have said "I can't do that!" and while it isn't going to win any ribbons, I had so much fun doing it and now I really have confidence that I can draw something. As I was stitching down these very basic flowers, you wouldn't believe all the ideas running through my head. What's that saying? If I can dream it, I can do it! One day I am going to draw a dachshund just like Speck and surprise Vince with a little wall hanging. I was thinking this morning about all the quilt magazines I get. Most have projects, most have informative articles, but it's been a long time since I was challenged . . truly challenged to put aside what I was working on and try something that I was almost sure I couldn't do. Wouldn't that be what it's all about? So, my hat's off to Karen Gass and again, I wish her the best at Cotton Spice. If you're wanting to see a magazine that's just a little bit different from what you've been seeing, one that might really get you excited and cause you to try something new . . check it out! Judy L.