Transitions

Once again my tidy studio is in an uproar. The pilot system for organization (pile it here, pile it there) has gotten waaay out of hand.
It hardly seems like I've been home for almost a week from teaching at Road to California. I loved teaching there, the students were the very best. For a teacher, a classroom full of open, receptive students makes teaching a joy. I'm hoping they will invite me back!
The vertigo started not long after I returned from California. At first I thought it might be a reaction to the sleeping pill I took. But it's lingered on for days and days, leaving me feeling spacy and disoriented, which, contrary to common thought, is not usual for me. Needless to say, my long to-do list has not had many ta-dones.
On February first I leave on the longest teaching trip of my career. I start with a quick visit to the Sinissippi Quilt Guild in Rockford, IL and then head to Florida for the Princess Feather Guild in Tampa. I'll also visit guilds in Ocala, Sarasota and Punta Gorda before I come home again near the end of the month.
On the upside, I'll be in Florida during the longest month of the winter. (We pack extra misery into fewer days, we're efficient like that up here in the north.) It will be nearly March when I get back, which is the beginning of the end of winter.
On the downside, there won't be much sewing going on. Now is not a great time to be starting on anything big.
Burying the lead
It's what newspapers call it when the most important part of the story is withheld until later. It's like reporting on a barn fire, listing the owner, the losses, the number of firefighters before getting around to the fact (in the fourth paragraph) that the fire was started by the crash of an alien space ship.
So here's what the big story really is: There will be no block of the month project from Applewood Farm this year. Oh, yeah, if you were quick you might have seen one posted on my website, and I might get around to it later this year. It really was a bit of wishful thinking, that I could continue to add new things to my life without giving up any of the old.
But for now, I need to go off in a different direction.
I promised myself that this year I would take time to explore new techniques. My goal is to have another book finished by November 1, 2012. But I want to have lots of time to experiment, to have the luxury of time to make mistakes.
Plus the book I just finished still needs to be babied along, approving edits, layouts, marketing plans. (Just wait until you see the cover, it's spectacular!)
So, for the first time in over ten years, there will be no BOM from me. With so much available now on the internet, I'm not at all sure it will be missed. Perhaps, like me, you are still finishing up last year's (or the years before).
I hope you'll hang in with me on the blog, and on Facebook. Who knows what silliness may pop up along the way