Hello and Happy New Year!

With everything fresh and new I’ve decided to pick a word for the new year. It came up in a conversation with someone and I thought it was fitting for me and my creative journey. This year’s word is Explore. It’s pretty broad but I felt like I needed that so I could explore a wide variety of interests as they vary, ebb and flow throughout the year. Explore could be exploring my surroundings, a new craft, an old craft, and so much more.

I’m not going to limit myself to quilting, sewing, and fabric dyeing although those are my main passions. I also love paper arts and collage so I’ll be exploring new techniques and ideas at the local art studio/maker space.

What do I hope to accomplish this year? That’s really hard to say. A lot of people set hard and fast goals in the new year but I’d like to keep it a little loose so I don’t come up short, disappointed, or give up all together. I’m setting small personal goals which lead to accomplishing big goals one step at a time. I’m already looking forward to a couple new experiences… one is leading a Dream/Vision Board party this month and the other is taking a class on natural dyeing with mushrooms in the spring. I’m super excited about both of these opportunities. I haven’t taught a Vision Board class before so this is a first for me. It’s among friends so I don’t think there’s the pressure on me to know exactly what I’m doing. I did find a website that has a guide to Vision Boards so that will be helpful for everyone involved. The mushroom dyeing class is a great way to dip my toes into the natural dyeing world. I love acid dyes for their brightness and colorfast qualities but also want to experiment with natural dyes. I like that it’s a completely different look and process.

This Saturday I will be doing my first fabric dyeing session of the new year with my mom. We’ll be ice dyeing and doing rainbow gradations. I’m looking forward to spending time with my mom and getting to play with color.

Happy creating!

Camille