My first year in BJP

Hi All,
I'm new to the BJP this year. There was a sharp learning curve for using the Google account, and figuring out how to post to this blog. Sigh...

DH and I just got back from a three-week trip, and I leave again tomorrow for Callaway Gardens School of Needle Arts. So I haven't settled down to starting my January BJP "page". I have been thinking and journaling ideas for my project(s) and have decided to explore layers and color this year. Since I would like to do the BJP pages in conjunction with a Master Craftsman in Color through the Embroirders' Guild of America, the exploration of color will be my primary focus.

I'm looking forward to actually producing work instead of just imagining it. The BJP will give me the push I need to get projects done.

Here's to a fruitful and prosperous New Year!

CathieB

Year 4 - Here we go!

Hello Everyone! As you can tell from my title, this will be my 4th year with BJP. I'm excited to continue this coming year. Not sure what I'll be doing, I have one more to do for this year. Maybe I'll finish it today and slip under the wire. I don't know what shape or theme I'll do. My first year, I did 5X7, 2nd year were circles, 3rd year were angels what should the 4th year be? Maybe one big picture done in sections, maybe ornaments, maybe ATC size. Anyway, it will be fun to see all the newbies and be inspired by them and the past participants. I just love looking at all the pieces. They have been wonderful. I don't spend a lot of time on the computer, so I'll say up front, I might not leave a message but I will visit each of you as often as I can. I appreciate all the work everyone puts into their pieces. Thank you for a new advenutous year. I look forward to seeing everyone grow, including me!

I am new to the BJP project, I have been following it for about two years though through Susan Elliott's blog. so i am familiar with what goes on here.
I am primarily a crazy quilter but I tend to gather hobbies the way some people gather friends on facebook!
anyway I am excited to be here amongst such a talented group of people and I hope I can keep up.

i chose the E.E. Cummings poem; i carry your heart with me, as a thread to hang my project on. the poem has been one of my favorites and it really does tie together my life for the last year.

I carry your heart with me (i carry it in my heart)
I am never with out it
(wherever you go, I go, my dear and whatever is done by only me, is your doing, my darling)
I fear no fate( for you are my fate, my sweet)
I want no world ( for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has meant
and whatever a sun will allways sing is you.
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root
and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life.
which grows higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and it is the wonder that is holding the stars apart.
I carry your heart
( i carry it in my heart)

Surge of Excitement!!!!!

You can't imagine the surge of excitement I feel as I read through these posts and think about our beady journey ahead!!! I'm so looking forward to a fresh start, this time with no self-imposed rules, only the idea of journaling and knowing they'll all be the same size. What size? Not sure yet... thinking about three possibilities - a circle, postcard shape (as I did the first two years), or the doll shape I used for my Decade Dolls (see cover of my book, Heart to Hands Bead Embroidery).

For the first two years of the BJP, I kept faithfully to the one-a-month schedule and finished by the end of the year. Year three... well, I don't know if I'll finish the last three pieces for 2010 or not. At least I promise to give it a good try.

HUGE THANKS to the team of angels who have made the BJP happen this year! The blogs look fabulous and everything is working so smoothly. We are all grateful for your efforts on our behalf, none more than I!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS to everyone, present and past BJPers! May the year ahead be blessed with creative energy, artistic community and the ability to make time for our art.

Robin A.