Finishing up the yoga quilt

My yoga quilt is nearly finished.  The binding was sewn on last night and today I am sewing it down.  I've decided to make a bag that will hold my mat and the quilt rather than making the small mat bag.  The baby quilts will take precedence for the moment, but I'll get working on the bag soon.

On the Sketchbook Challenge front, I've got an idea page started for the February theme which is "Opposites."  For more information about the Challenge, just click on the button to the right.

Here's the top with the label pinned in place.  How apropos that upward facing dog is so close.  It's a pose that reminds me how much strength I've lost.

A mash-up kind of morning

I've been having a really amazing mash-up kind of morning.  First of all, my sketchbook, open to the first page, has been projecting its emptiness at me since yesterday when the first theme for the Sketchbook Challenge went up and I got nothing in the way of ideas.  As I read my email and then opened Google Reader this morning, several great things happened:  the BBC news feed had an interesting article about diarists and as I was reading, I thought about how bloggers are really becoming the diarists of this age--little versions of Pepys, all of us.  At the end of the article was a marvelous quote by Virginia Woolf about what she wanted her diary to be and it really fitted what I want my sketchbook to be, so that first page is no longer empty. At least I now have an inspiration and a sort of framework.

The second thing that entered into this mash-up was a quote by Gardner Cox (American painter, 1906-1988):''

"I do a bale of sketches, one eye, a piece of hair.  A pound of observation, then an ounce of painting."

For me, who is often paralyzed by perfectionism that prevents me from doing anything because I fear it won't be perfect, this was a very important group of words.  I need to remember just to sketch.  It doesn't have to be perfect.  It's an observation, visual note-taking, not a final product.  Words are often inspirational to me and they will definitely be a part of this sketchbook.  And now,  feeling comforted and inspired, here we go.

The Sketchbook Challenge

Jamie Fingal who blogs at Twisted Sister is one of my favorite art quilters.  Her work is original, imbued with her talent for drawing, and often displays her delicious sense of humor.  In a recent post, she announced her participation in a brilliant new project called The Sketchbook Challenge.  Each month, a theme will be announced and Jamie and the other organizers will share their sketches, talk about inspirations, and share techniques.  The brilliant part is that they are inviting their readers to join in the challenge and share as well.  I decided it would be a great way to get myself back into the sketching discipline in preparation for a summer class I plan to take that will involve lots of drawing.  If you would like to participate as well, go to the Sketchbook Challenge blog and pick up a badge, then get your drawing  tools ready and start drawing!