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Our Readers' Artful Resolutions

We asked subscribers to our Quilting Arts Magazine® Embellishments eNewsletter to share their Artful Resolutions for 2007 with us, and they replied enthusiastically. Judging by the responses, there's going to be a lot more sketching and experimenting and a lot fewer UFOs this year. See some of the responses below.

If you don't already receive Embellishments, resolve to get more of the latest fiber arts news, trends, and techniques by signing up here. It's fast and free!

The challenges in Quilting Arts are stretches for someone who is very comfortable with pre-designed kits. For 2007, I resolve to follow all challenge projects and send them in...don't just think about them, don't half complete them, don't hide them, don't expect to be published...just do them.
- Alice Anjo

Since I have been caring for my 90-year-old mom, I need an escape, so I have only one resolution: Make quilting art for at least one hour per day, anywhere, anytime, anyhow.
- Jan Igoe

I get so excited about the challenges and calls for entries! Then I will brainstorm a ton of ideas and find one I love. I work diligently to complete the piece by the due date. But once I get close to completion, I start to second guess my interpretation of the piece and think it will not be good enough and I don't enter. So my resolutions to an artful year are to answer one reader challenge (and send it in) and enter one quilt show.
-Patty VanHuis-Cox

For the past 35 weeks I have made a postcard sized quilt, one per week, as a creative exercise to keep the juices flowing. I also use this exercise to learn new techniques and try color combinations I have not yet explored. My art resolution for 2007 is to continue this exercise, as it keeps pushing me forward in my quest to make better art! Plus I LOVE doing them!
- Karen Tripp

My #1 art resolution is to make sure each art/quilting/wearable project includes some NEW technique that I have just learned. I think that boils down to experimenting more so that I keep learning.
- Suzi Soderlund

1. At least once a month, I am going to try a new technique.
2. I am going to start carrying a little notebook with me. So often I get a neat idea or see something, an object or pattern or design on a building or on a shirt or blouse that someone is wearing, and I think oh that would be wonderful in my next quilt. By the time I get home or go to my studio I have forgotten that little inspiring moment.
3. I am not going to be so critical of an art piece. Instead I'm going to pick out at least two things that I like about something and not what I don't like about it.
- C. J. Millington Sheets

My number one 2007 goal is to go with the flow--in fact I've already started. I had painted a piece of fabric that I loved. After New Years, it called to me to be quilted--so I just went with the flow and quilted it as it wanted to be quilted.
- Bonnie Lyn McCaffery

Hi there,
My resolution this year is to focus only on my fiber arts and to scrap the papier-mache, recycled metal sculpture, and other messy, clutter-causing projects. The bins of material are bad enough, but I realize this is my true love.
- Jena Lisa Marchant

I plan to draw daily, even if it's just a sketch, to help improve my drawing/creative skills.

- Darlene Maciuba-Koppel

My 2007 resolutions include forcing myself to make small quilts to experiment with new techniques to describe the flora of Australia. I especially want to master an impression of delicate Cassuarina needles dripping from branches and the brilliant connection of red and green reeds against the white sands and heavenly blue water of Lake MacKenzie on Fraser Island (Queensland, Australia).

- Jane Bodnaruk

I resolve to work on only those projects that give me joy this year. Joy

In giving, sharing, learning, playing must be the motivation for all my art.

I will not participate in challenges that don't interest me, I won't use embellishments that don't enhance the work just for the sake of using embellishments, I won't make work for entry into a specific show or contest. I will donate work to worthy causes and enjoy knowing that it will make a difference to someone. I resolve to make art just because I love making art.

- Ruth Carden

My #1 resolution is to FINISH all my half completed projects this year.

This resolution was made after completing my first sampler quilt that was started in 1981!

- Patti Devine

I will complete The Artist's Way (by Julia Cameron) program and learn to ignore my inner critic. I will experiment with ideas and techniques knowing somebody, somewhere will think the result is brilliant, even if it's only my mom.

-Susan Haftel

I want to organize my sewing room. Quilting has been my pastime for about 10 years. Now...doll making, stamping, altered books, postcards, trading cards, and fiber arts in general have invaded my soul. Since reading your magazines I have tried my hand in almost all of the media. I do need to cut my working hours to accommodate my art side.

- Paula Lahti

My number one art resolution for 2007 is to leave time for layers.

Sometimes when I am trying to complete projects, I often procrastinate and that leaves less time for layers of materials and meaning. So I resolve to make my art better by giving it more time to develop to completion.

- Debbie Bates

My number 1 art resolution for 2007 is to keep learning and not be afraid to try new things.

- Ophelia Staton

My #1 resolution is to organize my dining room turned "studio" into a workable space. Right now everything is a mess. I am open to organization solutions/ideas from all. Bright blessings in 2007!

- Pattie Komai

to actually finish my UFOs this year.

- Robin L. Jack-Brown

My resolution is to learn how to be more creative with my fabrics and threads.

- Georgia Ferguson

I resolve to reduce my stash by one project a month without buying any new fabric until I have made a dent.

- Barbara Wills

I've tried this before but didn't keep it going and thought it would be a good year to try again. I keep a sketch book and colored pencils in my car. And all of those times when I am waiting for appointments or people, I look around and find something interesting and sketch it. The colored pencils help me remember why it caught my eye (color is big in my world). The sketch book is a great source of ideas for small quilts and post cards. Just a sketch of sunlight and shadow makes a wonderful small art piece. I might even get my journal going again...

- Sally Parrish

My plan is to take the next week to reorganize my studio in preparation for the year.

During this week, I want to be deliberate about portioning my time for the following:

1) Writing. Much of what I do flows from this. It includes idea-formulation and sketch work. Spending some time with pen to paper seems to assist in "breaking open" a new idea.

2) Supplies: Do I have enough fabric/paint/dye/thread to begin my next project?

3) Imagery: I am preparing to do a master class next week. Do I have the Thermofax® screens prepared that I intend to use for my upcoming project?

4) Time: Blocking out a large segment of time each day for these activities increases the likelihood that I will be successful. No phone calls, household tasks, or other activities will interfere with my studio time!

- Leslie Jenison

My quilting resolution for 2007 is to keep email addresses in ONE place! I loved writing down websites that look good, but I had tons of little papers at our computer area. So, I bought a regular address book and put those wonderful websites into the book. It also pays to place websites into easy to remember ABC's. Good website on beads...under B; good website for fusing tricks...fusing; good website for ATCs...trading cards and or artist trading cards. Just one more way to make quilting/sewing more fun AND organized in 2007.

- Judy McVaugh

My #1 art making resolution for this year is to learn everything I can about dyes and use them creatively.

- Jackie Van Fossen

My #1 resolution is to just keep sketching (nearly daily) in my sketchbook.

Second resolution is more of a dream: I'd love a weekly or monthly TV segment where I'd teach or inspire a creative project.

- Jane LaFazio

to return all fabrics and embellishments used to the proper storage place at the completion of each project--assuming I finish the project!!

- Dolores Vitero Presley

My number one art resolution for 2007 is to not only think about entering a competition (or another public forum), not only to buy the materials, but to actually finish the project and enter! I'm pretty happy since I've already sent in my application for your 2008 calendar contest!

- Tamara Schultz

My resolution for 2007 is to do at least one art project a month, even if just a tiny one. Since relocating to Missouri into a home I designed I find myself neglecting my art stuff and worrying more about getting the house in shape; unpacking and decorating have been at the top of my list for too long now. Art, whether it be painting, sewing, etc., and music are my stress relievers and this year I will not put them on the back burner.

- Susan Oliver-Casler

I made [a piece of art] following Shari Beaubien's directions in the "Be Still my Artful Heart" article in the January/February 2007 issue of Cloth-Paper-Scissors. I wrote my #1 New Year's resolution on the back of the canvas. It reads #1. "Make More Art! January 2007."

- Amy O'Halloran

To actually finish--finish the top, quilt, and bind--one of the 16 full-size

quilts I have started over the past many years and never finished.

- Leanne Boughner

My resolutions for 2007 are: To spend at least an hour a day...or try to...on my Bernina software as I have had the software over a year and still have not got to grips with it;

I have just purchased a Embellisher...would like to spend more time exploring the possibilities; I have never entered a quilt competition, but would like to...maybe 2007 could be the year

- Miriam Butler

After I sew each and every time I will leave the next sewing session set up. Actually I have been doing this for five years off and on and it is great!

Now the hardest part is to stop not start! I guess I need a resolution for that.

- Valarie Poitier

Make time each week to sew lap quilts for nursing home residents.

- Marilyn Kaczander-Cohen

I resolve to attempt at least one new technique from every issue of Quilting Arts Magazine in 2007. I have already started; my first effort is the magical card case mini wallet from Quilting Arts Winter '06 Issue 24. I've made seven of them so far--what fun! And a great way to use up scraps and experiment with my Viking's built-in embroidery stitches. It is also creating beautiful new homes for some of my un-lost earrings!

Thanks for the inspiration and the encouragement! I never would have thought to try this without you.

- Thea McCurry

My art resolution for 2007 is to stop procrastinating and get on with it...try a new idea with each project.

- Helen Merrick

Try at least one new technique each month.

- Judy Phillips

This year I resolve to put my artwork at the top of my priority list. No more, "I'll start that project when the house is clean, the laundry is done, the books are balanced, etc." I figure I have somewhere around 200 projects floating around in my head and it's time to make them a reality instead of a "one of these days."

- Deb Sims

1. Practice using my new Handiquilter!

2. Enter my work into more shows (I am doing well on this resolution already)

3. Attend shows I have never been to before (last year I made it to Houston for the first time, this spring I'm going to Quilt National).

-Marina Salume

My resolution is to try one new technique on at least one piece every month by selecting something from Quilting Arts or Cloth Paper Scissors.

- Carole Lyles Shaw

1. Just quilt and sew! With three kids, the youngest being three and having just moved last fall, finding time to sew has been the bane of my existence.

2. Experiment and try something new once a week. I hope to be more of a "Quilt Artist" and less of a "just a quilter" by the end of the year. It doesn't matter if it doesn't work--just play!

- Tracy Mooney

My #1 quilt-art resolution is to make "weeklies." Each week I will make a small, 8-1/2" x 11" piece, experimenting with ideas from various sources, including Quilting Arts Magazine. At the end of 2007, I will have 52 small pieces, and I will have learned a lot.

- Nancy Kibbey

1. I hope to purchase a new computer just for me so I can spend more time investigating different Art projects in this form. Part of what I intend to do is find more family tree information and work on Art books containing this info for my six grown children; 2006 showed me that one computer for two retired people is just not enough.

2. I WILL spend more time on my Art, less time with straightening up and organizing my Art room.

3. Each year I do some sort of special Art for my children and this year it will be something completely different---maybe small Art Quilts for each of the six families and several college age granddaughters.

Time is slipping away, so 2007 needs to be the year to get more serious about these things.

- Ardie Linenfelser

Sit with my sketchbook and do 15 minutes of sketching at an art gallery or museum once a week. If you sketch something you get to know it much better than when you photograph it.

- Vivian Ryan

This year I will completely finish a project before I start a new one.

(Already broken)

- Helene Ross

1. I will experiment with paint sticks this year, along with trying to tackle hand applique quilt blocks.

2. I also want to make at least four on the journal quilts this year that will reflect my travels: Paris, California, Colorado, and Maryland. I think this will be fun and trying to capture the special points of interest will be fun.

- Christine Knight

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