What"s on your "to do" list?

My "to do" list seems to grow everyday as does almost every quilter's list. We all have our current projects but then those bright shiny objects come along and catch our eye! So we go off on those tangents and explore. 

While I work in my sewing studio, I love to listen to books and music. Most recently, I have been listening to a biography of Leonardo Da Vinci. It was quite a long book and I discovered so much about this master that I never knew. Did you know that he made "to do" lists? They actually still exist in some of his notebooks that have survived all these centuries. There are some ordinary things on the list but there are some unusual items as well. He wanted to know why the woodpecker had such a long tongue! Not on my list but I have others. 

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This is on my list. This is a posterized version of my grandparents that was taken just after they were married in 1912 on Christmas Eve. Look at that hat! Flora was 24 and Sam was 22. Look a bit older in my opinion. I am starting to make this in fabric. It will take a while but it took Da Vinci a long time to paint many of his masterpieces. I found out that he carried around several paintings for years finishing them a bit at a time. I have done this with quilt projects. If he did it, it must have been a good idea. Leonardo also had many bright shiny objects in his line of vision that he pursued such as dissections, flying machines, paint mixtures, etc. 

This is the shiny object that caught my eye on Instagram last week. It is a plastic pumpkin from the craft store. I painted the brown stem white and then added the blue and white fabric with the MOD Podge used for decoupage. Paper napkins were used in the example but I used fabric instead. I sealed it with acrylic spray but still need to add the lacquer coating. It was never on my list but it was a cool project. 

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My other big to do item is to continue to be spontaneous and be playful! I love Chick Fil A and the cow was in our local restaurant recently! The cow was doing photo ops with the children but they seemed timid so I thought again "why not?" and got my picture taken with the cow! Being playful was probably not on Leonardo's list but it is high on mine!

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This is another opportunity that I wrote about earlier that was never on my list. Victoria Findlay Wolfe wrote a new collection of quilting stories written by a variety of quilters, famous and not. She gave a shout out for stories and I thought "why not me?" So I wrote one and submitted it. I never told anyone even my husband. But it's now a reality and the books just arrived at my house. I am very excited about this! So you may never know what opportunity may come your way. 

So what else is on my to do list? Here is a small portion of that list because my list is too long!
*Attend the Houston Quilt show. Never been. This year?
* Attend the Pacific Quilt Festival.
* Meet some more Instagram friends in person. 
* Create several more patterns from  my notebook of ideas.
* Return to Liberty Fabrics in London.

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Last month I shared the beginning of this project. This is a fabric version of my friend Phil's snowmen watercolor. I finished it with the tulle on top and outline quilting. He received it and was thrilled to se his work in fabric. He told me that he could keep me busy for years! LOL I had such a good time doing this and now I am always looking for the next picture to fabricize! Is that a word? haha

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To conclude, I'd like to return to this fabulous biography. The lessons that I have taken from Leonardo's life story are many. I will endeavor each day to be curious about new projects that I see. I will try to be more observant of other quilters' work so that I can better appreciate it. I want to keep my notebook with me so that I can immediately draw a design or write my newest idea and what the inspiration was. I will also try not to allow failure or my perceived weaknesses in quilting to stop me from trying something new. 

I will leave you with what Walter Isaacson wrote in the epilogue of the book. The woodpecker's tongue is so long that it goes back in the woodpecker's head and actually protects the bird's brain. As the bird pecks the trees with an incredible force that would give a human a concussion, the tongue is the shock absorber. Aren't you glad you know? 

Piecefully, 
Trisha

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