From a completely different direction, I commented on a post at Blumn Studios which led to receiving an invitation to participate in an Art Journal challenge. A link provided in this challenge, led to this one, which led to discovering various techniques for preparing pages for an art journal. And in experimenting with this technique, I sketched out a freeform pattern of vines and leaves ~ which actually was inspired by a memory of reading about a family tree drawn as a vine with small leaves that covered the walls of a room in a book by Anne Rice.
So, at the very least, I figure this crazy quilt block so far involves inspiration from at least 5 or 6 other blogs and a book, some of which are not related at all except in the time frame of my working on the this quilt block! Pretty amazing how it all comes together!
In other connections, I've been enjoying hearing from various readers of how they found out about my blog! One friend tells another, who tells another. Some add a link to their own blog which leads on to others finding it. What an amazing world blogging opens to us. I love being able to see how someone in Sweden or Finland decorates their home, or what beautiful things someone in Norway or Australia is creating, or having the opportunity to share my art with someone in Spain or the Netherlands. Twenty years ago, such a thing would have been an impossibility.
Back to the embroidered vine. In the past I have been one of those people who needed a pattern, who could only play music from the page, who needed to read the instructions or follow the recipe. Lately, I'm finding that sometimes it is good to work "freeform", to work as the spirit leads. This vine grows, bit by bit in seemingly random fashion, but everything connects. There is no starting point, no ending. It grows out and could continue on indefinitely. As I work, it reminds me that connections bud out in our lives all the time, taking us down new paths, leading us to new experiences and friendships.
We are all interconnected! All part of the vine! Isn't it amazing?