Choosing a word for the year

I don't usually write about my next year's word this early in the year or do I mean late!  I quite like to reserve the big reveal for the new year.  Although when checking out the links below I found I'm not always consistent.

I have been choosing one word for the year for a while now.  You can see my words here:

Restore 2011        Focus 2012

Present 2013        Participate 2014

Thirst 2015     Purpose 2016

Connect 2017   Gratitude/Thankfulness 2018

Commit/Commitment 2019

So, on to 2020.

Looking back at the words I have chosen or have chosen me I can see some sort of link - apart from Thirst - which was a bit of a disaster anyway!  But probably at the beginning of every year the goals I set are very similar and at the end of each year I find I haven't really achieved them.

In light of the above quote - which is reminiscent of the one: If you keep doing what you've always been doing, you'll keep getting what you've always been getting, what road do I need to take in 2020.

What goals should I set for the year?

What do I want to see more of in my life and how can I work towards that?

My friend Valerie has made a great video about how she chooses her word for the year.

I'm not really quite so purposeful as Valerie.  Nor do I include God and prayers in my decision making as she does.

I tend to think about choosing a word a lot.  Last year I had a short shortlist of possible words but this year I have really only had one.  And to be honest I couldn't see how it would work with Bible verses as the word doesn't exist in the Bible (I know - I've looked!).  I looked at synonyms and that didn't throw up any help either.

And just as I was going to give up on this word, I suddenly thought of the passage in Ephesians 6 about the armour of God.

The next day on my Facebook Newsfeed I saw a link to a project in Australia which talked about this word.

Can you guess what has chosen me?

It's (drumroll please): resilience

I wondered though about my previous words and decided that really I need to have an action which might provoke me to do something positive.  So my word(s) for 2020 is

be resilient

There's a couple of weeks left of this year to sort out how I'm going to record this - if at all.  I'll let you know what I decide at the beginning of January.

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice

My journal for 2019

My word for 2019 has been {Commit} or {Commitment}. In my first post this year I listed the things I felt I needed more of in 2019:

• Read the Bible more frequently
• Pray more regularly
• Trust God more
• Move every day (walk, exercise etc)
• Create everyday
• Finish things

Did I succeed in including these things?  Yes and No.   I don't necessarily do any of them every day but I have managed to finish things, including my A-Z journal.

 Let's look at my pages for 2019:

There were so many photos that I think I need to write another post about finding a word for 2020 rather than including it here.

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice

Piecing with Leah

The thing about printing is that you are bound to have fabrics you like and fabrics you don't.  You can always use the fabrics you don't as the backing for a piece of work!

Leah uses what she calls 'bricks' in a lot of her work.  These are rectangles of fabric which she usually uses horizontally.  I love the look of her pieces but don't want my work to be a poor imitation of hers.  I did however want to try out the method.  As much of my Venice work is based on the architecture I thought I would piece these 3"x1" 'bricks vertically.  I spent a long time cutting up fabric.  I spent even longer - nearly 4 hours ironing the bondawebbed pieces to the backing fabric.

It is now ready to machine stitch.  I may handstitch on it too before stretching it on a canvas.

I also tried making log cabin squares.

I also made 3 pieces that were 'half squares'.  Being pedantic they are two-thirds squares!

I didn't always get the hang of the pattern so sometimes the intended middle square wasn't in the middle!  Ho hum!

I was very fortunate that my table was next to the design wall so could pin my squares up as I went along.

Once I had finished all the squares we played with the placing of them.  See if you can spot the difference!

Then I 'auditioned' narrow strips of the solid colour on the pieces before sewing it all together.

Once it was sewn together I bondawebbed the small strips to the fabric.

It's now got a backing fabric and acrylic felt wadding, ready to stitch.

I learned a lot during this 5 day workshop - and not just about screen printing and piecing.  I know that I am a fairly slapdash artist which is probably why I like mixed media.  I like slapping paint down on paper or fabric and taking as little time as possible over it once I have the idea.  But piecing 3"x1" strips is a slow process, as is stitching log cabin squares.  But with Leah's constant support and encouragement I was able to stick with it and achieve the makings of two really good pieces.  I am hoping to continue to apply myself more effort to my work now that I've seen what results I can achieve.

I thoroughly recommend taking course with Leah.  And if you can't make to Urban Studio North you can always buy the book.

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice