PERSISTANCE

I subscribed to Lesley Riley's newlsetter and the other day she published  an article on being Persistant.   I wanted to post a version of her newsletter because it gets right to the heart of being successful at achieving goals. 

Are You Where You Want to Be?

We are made to persist. That's how we find out who we are.
~ Tobias Wolff

If you're not where you want to be, it is because you gave up too soon. It's that simple. Persistence wins out over talent every time. Do you ever look at someone else's art and say, "I could do that." I bet you've also had an idea for something and then seen it in print or online.....created by someone else. It happens to us all at one time or another.

I know that you are capable of doing whatever you set your mind to. You were born with an innate talent. Some artists appear to have been born with a silver pen, pencil, needle or paintbrush in their hand. Others, like you and me, need to work at it, to persist in finding and developing that innate talent.

At an early age, so many people assume that if something doesn't come easily for them, then they are just not cut out for it. 95% of them will give up on a dream way too soon after a few unsuccessful attempts. The other 5% will persist and go on to fulfill their dreams and ambitions.

Persistence means no excuses. You know the saying, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." You need to be tough to get going on your dreams, tough enough to take a no excuses approach. That means calling yourself out on all those reasons you have for not taking action on your dreams. 99% of the time your reasons are excuses. Do you know where excuses come from? Excuses arise from fear.

Persistence requires a thick skin. Rejection, set-backs and disappointment are all a part of any success story because success requires risk. Risk means going out on a limb and limbs can break. Success requires being uncomfortable. It requires stretching outside of your comfort zone, time and time again, in order to achieve the kind of artist success you desire. It means feeling the fear and doing it anyway.

Persistence requires never taking NO for an answer.
Persistence is what makes things happen. History is full of examples of men and women who persisted through and against incredible odds and circumstances to change how we live, think and act - Christopher Columbus, Martin Luther King, Thomas Edison, Rosa Parks, Oprah Winfrey to name a few.

Surely you can muster up the persistence required to make your art dreams come true. It can be as simple as getting up each morning and saying, "Today I am going to_______," and then doing it. That's all it really takes.

Here's what another wise Riley had to say, James Whitcomb Riley -

The most essential factor is persistence - the determination never to allow your energy or enthusiasm to be dampened by the discouragement that must inevitably come.

I must say I agree. How about you?

Published newsletter by Lesley Riley, The Artist Success Expert, is the founder of Artist Success, Solutions for the Struggling Artist. To receive her bi-weekly articles on creating your own success as an artist, visit www.ArtistSuccess.com.

Quilting Swap

I am behind in my posting.  My goal is to post once a week.  However,  I just read a piece in the Sunday paper that addresses resolutions.  I should celebrate the small achievements and not beat myself up over the misses,  so there I am Celebrating that this is my first miss and I have been updating my blog.

I have been following one of my fellow quilter's blog and the topic of her post last week was "Why I Don't Do Swaps".  Really a topic near and dear to me.  If you are not a quilter I will explain what a SWAP involves.  There are many versions,  but the basic is that you complete a project and send it to another member in the swap group and they complete a project and send it to you.  There is usually a theme to the SWAP.  I belong to a yahoo group of African American Quilters,  who at this time of the year have an Black History Month swap and a Mini Quilt Swap going on.  I am participating in the Mini Quilt Swap and I have just completed my project and need to get it into the mail by the deadline.

The positives of participating in a swap are that it pushes you to do your best because you are sending this project to one of your peers.  You get to see how others use thier creativity.   There is a sharing of techniques and ideas that you could incorporate into your knowledge base.  Not to mention,  IT IS FUN GETTING ART IN THE MAIL. 

I am always hesistant in participating because I am always concerned that my work will not meet up to the standards of some of my peers.  I feel that I am still practicing and some of my stitching may not be straight or my measurements might be a little off.   Then I have to think that this should be fun and not stressful.   As I make this statement I hope that my Mini Quilt partner likes my quilt and is not too critical.

Creating - JUST DO IT!!

On Tuesday I had oral surgery and took the next day to recover.  While taking my antibiotics and advil,  I start thinking about the project that I needed to complete for a mini quilt swap.  I have been working with a cartoon drawing that my son created and gave to me as a gift.  I have made this drawing my logo for my quilt labels,  but I have been trying to use the drawing in a mini quilt. 

I started a project that I have been working on off and on.  But on Wednesday,  something just hit me and I started pulling out fabrics and created two other mini quilts with the drawing. 

I also follow the website of Pam Holland,  and this morning she talked about creating and "Just do it".  This was so right on,  you JUST HAVE TO DO IT!! 

I also have an account on Etsy and they send daily emails about marketing your store,  yesterday there was an e-mail about tips on selling your products on-line and the advice was "Just Do It"

It is amazing what you can accomplish if you just start.  As I started the ideas just starting flowing.  I now need to write it down,  because when you decide that you are just going to do it , energy and good vibes are all around you.

Presentation Is Everything

I am always looking for unique/different ways to display my quilts. I am always asked, where did you find that quilt hanger. This time I tried a different process that I saw in one of the many craft/quilting books that I own. I used wood molding to create a quilt wall hanger for two of my memory quilts.

I used wooden molding from Home Depot. I measured my quilt and added an each on each side. I then cut the molding using that measurement. The molding will have lip on the back side which will allow quilt to lay flat against the molding.

I covered one of the moldings with fabric and painted the other. Once the molding is dry, I added a picture hanger to the back. I then glued my quilt to the lip of the molding back or you can use velcro. This process allows you to decorate your hanger with fabric of your choice, embellish or paint.

New Years Day

What a lazy day. For the past 3 years there has been snow on January 1. This year it rained and washed all the snow away. It was really a dreary cold day. I made a big pot of chili, a pan of cornbread and listened to an audiobook. I also put up pegboards in my sewing craft area as I try to get organized.

The New Year is the time that we all make ridiculous goals and at the end of the year we are upset that we did not accomplish them. As I discuss this process with my daughter, she told me to make a few goals in increments. Weekly, monthly, six months and then 12 months. So this year in 2011 I will follow this process. She made me get a small journal and we have begun.

One of my goals for 2011 is to update my blog weekly.

So here goes: I work intermittently on projects, not completing anyone project. I have been trying to complete a wall hanging for my office, but my daughter keeps showing up to determine if her wall hanging has been completed. I am pondering on how to quilt the border, which is the finishing touch to this colorful project. I scanned the fabrics into EQ7 and designed the layout. From the layout I was able to printout small quilts 8 x 10, but the colors were not vibrant enough for me. I will need to work with my software to determine how to obtain the true color of what I see on the screen. My thought for the small quilts is to embellish with colorful thread and practice my free motion quilting. I will post pictures of the finished wall hanging once I quilt the borders. The cool thing about EQ7 is that you can playaround with the layout and try different borders.

Holiday Project

Every year I start Christmas projects in November and December and think that I will have them completed in time to decorate my house. How optimistic am I? This year I finally completed a Holiday wall hanging and Christmas stockings. I have other holiday projects to complete, but I am sure that they will not be completed but I do plan to complete them early in 2011 and have them ready for next Christmas.

I am proud of myself for completing 4 lap quilts and having them quilted. I just have to add the bindings, but that will take a little time. I only need to complete one as a Christmas gift to my mother.

A Seven Day Party - No Quilting

We just came back from an outstanding vacation. My husband and I took a 7 day cruise on the Carnival Liberty. This a was a cruise like non other. We have never been on a cruise and we decided that we would take a theme cruise. We selected the Capital Jazz Super Cruise!! We had so much fun that we are booking again for 2011. There was non stop entertainment and activities for all (biz whiz, spades, dance classes, ping pong tournaments). The musicians even had sessions to work with individuals with their instruments. We would be walking back to our cabin and we would never make it because someone would be performing and you had to stop and listen. There was music morning, noon and night and all night long.




The weather as great and the people we met were extremely nice. People from all over the country were on this cruise. People would ask us is this your first cruise ? "You will be spoiled" and they were not wrong. We were blown away by the quality of the entertainment and the fun that we had with the people that we met.




We needed a vacation after the cruise, thank goodness we took two weeks of vacation and did not have to return to work, it took us a week to recoup from all the activities. When someone ask how was my vacation, I have to tell them that it was awesome and I am going back. If you want to see pictures of the cruise and the activities please go to the Capital Jazz Super Cruise web site and get jealous because you were not there.