I have been asked why am I doing a website with all this detail on the creation of this block (and blocks to come). The answer is not simple. I am fascinated with the creative process. I was told growing up that I was not artistic. What I did was crafts - not art. So how do you make the leap to art?

A discussion, of which these comments may be viewed as a side discussion, is going on about the value of things like the basic learning sampler. There seems to be a movement for de-construction, of such things and other things like books (shuddering in horror).

My short answer, is that art is in the eye of the beholder. What is import is the act of creation. I have a problem with people reproducing what another person created, in that I don't see it as creative. It may be an important step in learning and understanding the process that the original person went through to create the item; but not art in my opinion. To make it art you need to go beyond and make it your own.

In most anything you do, you need to learn the "baby" steps first. In the online class, Sharon is there to guide us through the process, but until we are willing to take our first attempts/steps, we can not hope to understand.

Last night I was studying the stitch books looking at the various stitches. I've been experimenting with stitches, stitch combinations, and threads on the block. After looking at the books and the lesson plans, it finally dawned on me that I really needed to see the bits more as layers. For example, first there is a simple stitch along a seam line. THEN there is embellishement of that stitch line. This is verrrrrrrrryyyyyy different from learning a new stitch per se. This is taking several stitches and layering them into a design. This is very much the creative process at work.

More pictures as the stitching unfolds.