Learning, always learning.

The last of the Interpret This! quilts are done. This last photo would have been right up my alley! I love what they all did with it.
 I pulled out of the group after the August challenge. I really needed to do that. I did not do it easily. Hemmed and hawed about it. The camaraderie within the group was wonderful.  Everyone was so supportive. There was just too much going on in my life at the time. I could not have been able to pull it together and finish a piece within the months time.
There were valuable lessons learned from participating in this challenge. I learned how to focus in on an idea quickly. Sometimes it worked right off the bat. The times it didn't proved to be a real struggle for me. I now know that if I am really inspired by an idea things will just fall together and mesh well from the get-go.
I also know that I need much more time then a month to put together something I like. My choice of hand stitch is a slow process.  Often I was rushing the piece to get it finished on schedule. Size had to be cut down as well. I find that I don't like compromise very much.
With the pressure of completing a work from photo to finish gone, I went back to some of my unfinished works. Most notably the Forest Muse. No rush, no need to work on it if I was tired or stressed. I fell into a pace that was comfortable again. I became a bit bolder with my stitches.  Meditative peace of needle and thread. This is the joy of art for me. No thoughts as to what it needs to be - just that it is. A very valuable lesson. To be true to my own path. To embrace the possiblities of experimentations. 
With all that I am moving forward. I want to explore some of the ideas that I touched on from the challenge. I think it is important to keep evolving. I know that being a part of this group has given me that. Reach a bit further - explore- expand horizons. A very good lesson indeed!