More WIP

This is a first stage picture of a small quilt I'm making for a friend. Like I mentioned before, I feel pulled in two directions when I make pieces for friends or family. On the one hand, I derive so much pleasure from seeing them enjoy and use the things I make for them, but...I know I should focus on making work to sell or for shows. Even worse, my interests don't end with dyeing fabric and making quilts. I LOVE knitting and embroidery. I would dearly love to learn to spin and dye wool. Also, I'd love to be more proficient at designing both knitted and sewn garments. And, just to top it all off, I'm so enjoying blogging, that I actually heard myself utter the words," Man, I'd love to learn html."
I'm pretty good about reining myself in, but that doesn't completely keep me from having a few too many projects going at the same time. My only saving grace is that I usually sense at some point that I'm over committed and I tell myself that I can't start anything new until I finish the work I've already started. And, in all honesty, I usually do finish my projects...eventually.

Here's the piece a little further along. I overdyed some commercial fabric using a shibori technique called itajime. I like using it to create dyed blocks that mimic a pieced look. I've also included some fabric that I dyed using another shibori method, arashi, and a fair amount of my batiked fabric as well. I'd get a real kick out of adding a bunch of embroidery to the surface once I've finished the piecing.