I've been mulling the idea of starting a '52 week' account for quilters all year and it's finally time to see if this idea has any mileage. I hope this will be the start of an interesting journey not only for me, but also for everyone who participates and follows the project. I'm taking the first step, but the path we take is by no means mapped out: I've tried to define the project quite loosely so that the experience can still be shaped by each person who gets involved.
I'm a creative person and over the last few years I've been on a real roller coaster both in my life and in my craft: At the end of 2012 I was exhausted by work, craft and people. Being a self-described 'introvert/extrovert', I felt as though I had given all my energy away and decided to indulge my inner introvert by closing up shop and taking some time to rebuild and repair myself. But no man is an island, and over the course of 2013 my extrovert side grew hungry for more projects, more collaborations and more crafty interactions: the problem I found in 2013 was that nothing I did on my own exhausted me enough!
Now, in 2014 I really feel as though I've found a way to stay balanced. I've learned that I can't say 'yes' to everything and everyone, and in doing so have learned to curate my own experiences by saying yes to things things that I know will both exhaust and nourish me.
I hope that this project will inspire everyone involved. Not just as a place to showcase what we do when we are at our best, but also a place to share the hiccups, problems and dilemmas we face as creatives. It's all aspects of quilting: 'warts and all'.
Please get involved and volunteer to be one of our weekly quilters. I promise you'll get back what you put in!
Post by Chris: Chris is the founder and organiser of 52Quilters. He is a crafty guy who has been making his whole life. Although his crafty roots are in Canada, he has been working and crafting in the UK for nearly 10 years. For more of Chris' work visit http://lazycrafternoons.blogspot.com 