I have to be honest. I haven’t made, or even worked on, any of my original projects in more than two weeks. I’ve done some cross-stitching on a kit that I do in the evenings in front of the television, but that doesn’t count.

It’s not that I don’t have anything to work on — I have “The Road Ahead” to finish, now that it’s mounted on canvas, and a smocking sampler to start as I look towards making a flower-girl dress for my daughter for her uncle’s wedding in June, and March’s “Take it Further” project, and February’s, for that matter, and a Fast Friday Quilt from two weeks ago, and an installation stole, and ….

But I find myself in a frozen state, and I’m not sure why. I’m tired, and ill at the moment with the throat-bug that has been going around, but usually I find art-making more energizing than not. Perhaps it’s the getting-started part — my art-making space is less than ideal and requires clearing off before anything can really be done. Perhaps it’s the mid-winter, pre-spring doldrums. Perhaps those are just excuses.

What gets you going when you’ve stopped?

Clerical stole made from Guatemalan wool woven and silk jacquard, with machine applique and metallic thread quilting, muslin batting, completed December 2007.

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