Rolling Over Myself with Joy!

Ever get those days when you think your heart is just going to explode from all the joy squeezed into one day!!!!????????????  I couldn't get out of bed quick enough this morning...not just because I was looking forward to voting in our state's primary but on top of that, my daughter voted for the first time!!!! And what a memorable election to mark such a monumental threshold!  I told her that she voted today on the shoulders of ancestors and in the not so long distant past, our people where loosing their lives, being bombed out of their homes, being beaten to death (HELLO FANNIE LOU HAMMER!) just to do what she did today...Mo in turn needled me for always turning everything into a history lesson and quickly thanked me for reminding her...which in turn caused me to stir some more...history is living and not a dead, the ancestors are looking at us right this moment and discussing amongst themselves what we do in their name.  Now don't get me wrong, you don't have to disturb those "no-count" ancestors that need to stay rested but those who personally inspire you, be it in your blood line or not, can be evoked and called up.  Those that are about love and justice, ya know what I mean? 

I'm on a roll today...right after voting with Mo and Ade hanging out with me, we picked up Petra and went for breakfast at Toast where we met Valerie and Juanita who had her son and 7 year-old grand-daughter with her...Obama and Quilting are the words for the day!!!!  Mo said we where speaking another language when we spoke of deadlines, hanging shows, workshops, techniques...all I know is that I was even more eager to get to my workshop today to start on my second quilt in the Poetry Series.  This series was inspired by these (click and click again) pieces no bigger than 10 inches square.  All the quilts in this series will use an original poem written on it in my own handwriting, have a circle motif, use fabric that I dyed, and greens, yellows, and reds will be the focal colours.  Each one will become larger than the previous one.  Here is a peek:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The discovery I made yesterday about how I prefer to work is this...instead of making the top then getting it quilted, I want to make all the tops first, then quilt them all, them square them, bind them all, etc.  I like having the single focus.  This seems to intensify my concentration, my skill development, and my creativity.  But this is only when I'm working on something that speaks my name.  Sometimes I work on pieces just to keep my hands moving and my discipline going.  But today! Ha! I thought I needed a dance floor in my workshop just for times when I'm working it like Katherine Dunham. Here I am considering my next move:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If I keep to my schedule I will not get back into the workshop until next week.  On Thursday I'm going to take the Meaningful Marks and Images workshop with Juanita Yeager which I know will be another day filled with joy!