Word of the Year and potential Resolutions

This time of year the QuiltArt Yahoo group re-visits the idea of picking a word to guide your work over the next year.  Most of the words chosen are well thought out.  while I've given a great deal of thought to my word, I have been less conscientious about following through.  this year, in consideration of some of the technical problems I ran into with my pain piece, I chose the word "skill"  It is very obvious that I have to spend sometime re-developing the skills that I have lost over the past couple of years, because of poor health.  the other consideration , that lead to this word, came out of a discussion on the QuiltArt Yahoo group about the relative importance of good workmanship in conveying whatever message you hope your work contains.  I have always believed that poor workmanship detracts from your work in many ways.  If I do not beleive inmy message enough to put forth my best possibloe technical skill, how can anyone else respect my work enough to seek out the message it contains.

The other word I considered was "constraint".  I want to embellish everything, and sometimes, go very much too far..  But there is a time and place for embellishment, and I have to force myself to wait to see what the piece demands in terms of embellishment.  Over the past few years, i have been casually exploring Shibori dyeing.  I take a "serendipity" approach, and sometimes get a wonderful result, and sometimes the result is "ho hum". That sort of fabric is often cut and pieced into a wall hanging. Regardless,the Shibori dyed fabric is soft,and the colours usually muted.  This is not the place for glitter and beads.  But if I look at the fabric as ethnic and maybe, rustic, wooden or bone beads might fit in nicely.  I have to step back, resist my impulse to add shiny beads, and let the piece tell m how far to go.  With Shibori dyed fabric, less is frequently enough,