Mandala of the Month – 2021

Mandala of the Month – 2021

Happy New Year, people!

After last year, I know well enough to not necessarily over promise anything, because well, most of last year was HUGE eyeopener for most of us in so many ways!

But I also do believe in starting over, planning, reflecting, and moving forward… so that’s what today’s post is about. I am Going To TRY REALLY HARD to be more CONSISTENT this year. That may be my word of the year, it may not, but I wanted to start out with something that I think I can actually accomplish (we will see about this).. can you tell that I am still a bit tentative about this?

Welcome to the Introductory Blog Post for the Blue Nickel Mandala of the Month.

Ground rules I have given myself:

• 30″ square quilt each month – just has to be pieced by the end of the month, I am not going to fret if is it not quilted yet.
• Each quilt will have a mandala or medallion type structure, but not necessarily a centered/symmetrical essence.
• Colors and starting prompts listed below – but I also am giving myself permission to change things as I go.
• No patterns will be published from these small works (at least not that I know of – I AM going to be working diligently on the backlog of other patterns that I have been promising for Far Too Long now….)
• They will be mostly improv – but somewhat planned improv.
• I will do my best to show my process on each piece throughout each month. – these progress pix will be mostly posted via Instagram and Facebook.
• You are welcome to join the theme each month by making your own Mandala.
• I wouldn’t say that I would be meditating on these, but the main starting point may or may not influence me along the way.
• I will be doing other things this year too — mostly quilty, but some that are related to settling into our new home as well.

Those are the only rules I know of yet, I make more along the way.

Here are my initial prompts for each month in the  Mandala Of The Month:

January:

• Title – One Bite at a Time
• Colors – Blues, Greens, Greys
• Starting Point – Kismet line by my friend Valori Wells.

Since this is Now officially January, here are some pix of my beginning process stages of  One Bite at a Time:

Preliminary sketch:

Fabric from Valori Wells. Mostly Kismet but other lines as well:

Other fabric that may or may not find its way in the mix (fabrics by Karen Gibbs for Banyan Batiks, Tula Pink, Jennifer Paganelli, Kaffe Fassett, and Anna Maria Horner – all for Free Spirit — for a start at least – these may definitely change as I sew it up):

Those are glimpses of January’s Mandala of the Month. I will start on that today sometime and then share pix as I go on Instagram and Facebook with the hashtag #Mandalaofthemonth2021

Here are the prompts I have chosen for the rest of the year –I am excited to see what comes of this project!

February:

• Title – Say Once More 
• Colors – Pinks, Reds, Chocolate Browns
• Starting Point – Song  Say Once More by Amy Grant.

March:

• Title – TBD
• Colors – Scrap Drawer and One or Two Solids
• Starting Point – Scrap Happy-ness

April:

• Title – TBD
• Colors – Green, Green, Green…
• Starting Point –  Springtime at The New House.

May:

• Title – TBD
• Colors – All the Florals
• Starting Point – I expect this one to be very VERY ‘mushy’ LOL!

June:

• Title – Peace
• Colors – Whites and Greys
• Starting Point – One Year since my Dad passed away….. Processing that.

July:

• Title- TBD
• Colors – Blues, Reds, Whites, Golds
• Starting Point – Trite United States Colors, but in spite of ALL of our problems, I am still glad to be a citizen of the U.S.A.

August:

• Title- TBD
• Colors – Yellows, Golds, Pinks
• Starting Point – Pink Lemonade

September:

• Title – TBD
• Colors – Black and White
• Starting Point – Text Prints if I can find them when I get to making this one.

October:

• Title – When Autumn Leaves Begin to Fall
• Colors – Browns, Oranges, Golds
• Starting Point –  Leaf and or tree concepts.

November:

• Title – Gratitude
• Colors – French General….. If you know these lines, that qualifies as a color!
• Starting Point – French General  fabrics, when we packed, I kept finding lines by Kaari Meng.  I have collected a LOT of Kaari’s fabrics of the years.

December:

• Title – Emmanuel
• Colors – Reds and Greens
• Starting Point – The Nativity of Jesus.

=============

Really not sure how this is going to go…. but after last year, I think I could use this plan to help focus my thoughts back here in the studio where my heart resides. Here is the current state of the studio:

So yeah… I need some good small creative projects to keep me motivated in this mess…… LOL! How are you planning to stay motivated this year?

Keep Sewing, Keep Happy, Keep Safe,

Scott