Revelation

While I was journaling this morning - on paper - I had an insight I thought might be helpful to share with other members of the BJP.

This is the second time I've participated in the BJP. The first time was in the first year. My primary media is quilts, not beads, so that first year I made 8.5" x 11" quilts which I then embellished with beads. My intention was to make a ground or base of fabric and then use beads to tell the story each month. It didn't quite work out that way, and now I finally know why (or think I do!).

Because patchwork is my primary form of art making I ended up using fabric and the prints and colors in them to do most of the work in my journal quilts. The beads became merely the icing on the cake. At the time I was frustrated with what I was producing but couldn't figure out why. There was nothing really wrong with the work itself. It just wasn't fulfilling my vision of what I thought the BJP would be for me. That could be the reason I have yet to finish the final two quilts and why I didn't feel comfortable submitting photographs of the completed ten quilts to the BJP website.

This year I made a commitment to use a single piece of fabric as my base (and a much smaller format) in hopes that the beads would then be able to take center stage. It seemed to work in January, and it's looking good for February too. Now, with this insight, I may be able to accomplish the goals I had back in 2007, try out some new-to-me beading techniques, and even finish those two journal quilts!

Magpie Sue

Here's a link to my Flikr set of journal quilts from the first BJP so you can go have a look if you'd like.