Re-invigorated

Last night was a meeting of my art quilt support group Ravenesque. The group has been floundering , to a certain extent over the past year, and I've been worried about it surviving. It is so very, very important to me. They inspire me, encourage me and keep my feet on the ground ( one of them DARED to mock my yo-yo's) We have had three new members join in the past three months. What a dynamic meeting it was last night! Two of them have been taking classes--something I haven't had time for lately--and had some of the results there. These aren't all quilting classes, as both of them have been taking some more "arty" classes from a local professional artist. These ladies are moving ahead in leaps and bounds. One can't help but find their enthusiasm contagious! One of the other new members had information on an art quilter/beader who will be visiting next month and has agreed to a private class. So now the class is full. Looks like Ravenesque will be beading for the next little while!

On the home front, I've kept working in the chaos that is my studio. Within the past few days I've put together three wall hangings and five small collages for matting. The machine work is finished on these and there is only the hand work and beading left to do. Now I have a quandry. Should I adhere to my work ethic and finish them, or start something entirely new? Since they will also be samples for a class I'm teaching in October, I think they need to be finished. I can work on this in the evenings and maybe do more machine work during the days. This has been my pattern for years, but now I have the additional challenge of so much mess that it's hard to find a flat surface to work on!

One thing we've done lately is to raise my work table by about 5 inches. This makes cutting etc so much easier on my back, that I'll never go back. But this limits the places where I can sit and work at a table, so over the next little while I'm going to have to change many of my work habits.