Finished block and mumblings

Here you see the finished block for the friendship/cancer quilt that I started yesterday. Even I'm impressed at how fast I finished it! I didn't do any beading on this because it's most likely the only CQ'd piece in the quilt and I wanted to be sure it would be washable. All I have left is to put my name on it and deliver it to the organizers.

On another subject entirely - I've noticed a number of people in blog-land talking about coming to the realization that they are compromising their own artistic selves in favour of 'following the crowd' and attempting to try everything new that's out there. Keeping up with the Jones's, so to speak. I found the discussion  to be particularly on-the-mark. I had been toying with the idea of signing up to do an altered board book swap in one of my groups, but Arlee made me really stop and think about my motives and I've realized that I really don't want to get involved in any more outside projects, just for the sake of trying/learning something new. My wish-list of projects has simply gotten too long and I never seem to manage to get around to doing any of them. So....I didn't sign up for the swap (yeah, me!) AND I also didn't sign up for the Bead Journal Project, despite really wanting to (double yeah, me!).

Another thing I've noticed on the blogs is that there is a 'movement' out there to downsize stashes and use up what you've got. Perhaps the two subjects are related? I know that's where my focus is right now. I have stuff I have forgotten even getting...even things I've purchased and never taken out of the package (all because I was trying to keep up with the trends). I've put the brakes on buying anything new and it really feels good. I have enough stash to make at least twenty crazy quilts and an entire (large!) shelving unit jammed with recycled denim. I think that can keep me busy for quite some time!