I like that, Josh, and it really hits home now that I'm creating jewelry on a regular basis. Sometimes I just have to snip that stringing wire and rethink the project. And sometimes I am amazed in the other direction.

And how appropriate that quote came from Scott Adams. He used to work for the California branch of my company, which is probably why I always found Dilbert so funny.

I like that quote. I think we can all learn from it. Last year with more desire than talent, I ventured forth with a piece-worked quilt I had wanted to make for thirty years. I had no training, no pattern, it had just lived in my head.

The stitches are clumsy and uneven if you really look at it close-up. Some of the seams are a little uneven and bunch where they meet. But, when the last trim work was done, and it was lain on a bed, all the little mistakes did nothing but affirm that a machine did not produce this item on an assembly line. It was my mother's last Christmas gift, and now adorns the bed in my daughter's little country home.

The quilt would have ever happened if I didn't allow myself to make mistakes.

And sometimes art is strictly in the eye of the beholder.

Suzi's quilt reminded me of the time I made a quilt for DD; one-inch squares for a king-size bed ~~ machine-sewn seams, but hand-everything else. There were left-over pieces and a co-worker expecting a first child, so it seemed reasonable to make a baby quilt. After it was finished, I realized it was twin-bed, not crib sized. I went ahead and gave it to the co-worker, explaining that I had made a mistake in computing the size but anyway I hoped the baby would like it as a toddler. I saw the co-worker recently (we had each changed worksites several times over the years); the baby is now in middle school. He mentioned that they still had the quilt as a wall-hanging. Wall-hanging? Well, yes. It seems they decided it was Art, and should be looked at, not used.

we've had several good artists as friends over the years, plus I sometimes got to tag along with Jim when he was commissioning a painting, a wood screen, ceramics, etc. for clients. Not one studio was pristine,..all had a corner with rejects or works not going right...(some of which I'd have gladly walked off with).

I loved the clutter and the objects sitting around for inspiration....which I've got here...LOL It works for Jim who's always working away...while I'm always flitting from one idea to another.

Meldy and Suzy, I'm impressed with your quilt projects...isn't that an original American use for cloth scraps? I have an old quilting book from the 1930's and love the patterns and names. That's another thing...too many books on arts/crafts here...too little follow-through. Maybe this winter...josh

Is it possible to have too many books on arts and crafts??! Those are idea cauldrons for us who have no artist's studio nearby.

Whether or not quilting is American is a matter of opinion. If I remember correctly, there are examples from Egypt, dating way B.C. However, I think maybe it was American in that Americans published the first books giving names to the patterns... mmm I better go back and read up on the history again, I'm forgetting more than I remember.

I think Suzi's quilt was art that happened to be useable. Mine are the reverse side ~~ meant solely for use, sometimes they are mistaken for art.

My quilts are in the same category as Meldy's...made for use,and sometimes mistaken for art. It's really all very relative,isn't it?

in rereading this..relative is the completely wrong word to use. Subjective is what I mean. One man's art is another's junk..even though the junk may be creative.

Yes, Meldy I think you are right. This one particular quilt was art and lived in my head many years. In my world, the norm is form following function, and happily this item was both. My quilts go into the washing machine, and the one on the daybed suffers cats and dogs and even shoes and has been washed many times in the machine. To me, quilts are like wine, they get better as they age. It would make many quilters cringe, because only a quilter knows the amount of work it takes to crank one out.

Under my dining table is the rag rug I made several years ago. It took months of spare time (I don't have a lot of that) to finish and my doggie loves to lay on it, and of course scratch it into an appropriate lump for a bed. I gave up and let him. LOL. It's so large and heavy it's not so easily washed, but I don't think I could live in a home where things are forbidden for fear they'll wear out. Who am I saving them for?

It's especially satisfying to me to use recycled in my arts. My quilts so far are all made of old sheets, curtains, scraps from sewing. I don't do it necessarily to save money, I do it to preserve the integrity of the art as I perceive it........and that was make something beautiful out of a cast-off.

I've never been into crafts making items out of cast off milk jugs or oat boxes, lol.......but it doesn't bother me if somebody else wants to. Mine get recycled. But, you're likely to find old fruit crates used for shelving, or old wine bottles on my sink for detergent dispensers. Some of them are so beautiful and unusual.

I need to be careful about buying supplies for crafts because I tend to packrat. I do, however, keep several wooden boxes with paints/chalks/and pencils. It may only get used once every year or so, but when I want them they have to be handy.