If you’re reading this, it’s April already, but this particular blog is getting written in late February. I’m home today after another terrific weekend with the Gathering ladies … my favorite weekend of the month.
We had to stop meeting last year when the pandemic began, but started back up late last summer. Social distancing, of course.
We used to arrange our tables so there’d be a person on each table end, but now we each have our own table, and I can stretch out my pencils and paper all over the place. Spoiling me rotten … I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to share a table again!
Because of that, we needed to find bigger space at the church than where we originally met. We found that place and now we’re lots closer to food and restrooms and a more convenient entrance to get all our stuff in and out and set up. When it’s time for our March Gathering, it’ll be a 2-day, Friday and Saturday, which means more food and more drawing and sewing time. I live a charmed life! Rotten to the core, I am!
But this weekend was extra special for me, because I finally finished a project for a friend that I had assigned to getting done at the Gathering every month. There wasn’t time to schedule for it during my normal work week. This was more fun anyhow, because she got to see the progression and was able to give me input about what she wanted.
I began last January and worked on it over a couple of our meetings. Then the pandemic hit and we didn’t meet for 5-6 months. Then it was back to work on it when we began meeting again. I actually wrote about it and posted a picture of the work in progress in the August 12, 2020 blog, so I thought it’d be fun to show the finished piece before I turn it over to her for framing, so I’ll add it down below this blog.
I tried to guesstimate how long it took by counting up the days I worked on it. Allowing for eating and gabbing time, and just a very few evenings when I worked on it at home, I figure there’s about 90-100 hours in it. Colored pencil is T-E-D-I-O-U-S! Fun, for sure … but it’s so nice when it finally gets finished.
The Gathering ladies understand … they spend much more time and energy than that on their beautiful quilts. But we all have fun, and that’s the important thing. Because anything really worthwhile in life will probably take a substantial investment of time and energy. And that's what makes it so worthwhile!
And we really do have fun! And inspire and spur each other on to keep going. If there's one thing I've learned from getting with these ladies every month, it's just this:
Creatives need creatives.
They may not know it until it happens, but once it does happen, they will know it for sure.
So in this month's blogs, I'll tell you about the wonderful inspiration and influence I experience every month ... and hope you'll get motivated to seek out your own creative companions.
Once you find them, you will wonder why you hadn't already done that!
