Where did March go? Before I knew it the month was drawing to an end it was time to photograph the 31 Artlets, my way of journaling each morning. After challenging myself with words in January and the color Red in February I decided it was time to include some fabric into the Artlet journey.
While fondling the various stacks of hand-dyed and commercial fabrics I have accumulated over the past 12 years I settled on black and white. At first I didn’t expect to have enough prints to feature one for each day in March, however this was not the case… I vaguely remember a time where I was mesmerized by the black and white section in quilt shops I visited. This was an advantage as I selected the stack of black, white and grey collection and affixed these securely to the card stock with PVA glue.
Soon I realized that I was bored with the high contrast. The solution was to add a splash of color whenever I felt like it or the morning was particularly grey. The results are visible in the slide show.
Initially I intended to add stitch and possibly even create mini-quilt blocks but soon I realized that activities like these would take up more than the 15 minutes designated to each Artlet. While stitches are a form of mark making I chose to add marks by moving felt tip markers and pencil crayons over the fabric instead of employing a needle and thread.
Enjoy the slide show and mark May 1st on your calendar if you are following the Artlet Journey! What will I explore next? I have an idea but you will have to wait till May to find out what I am exploring next.
Anna Hergert, Art & Design 
Thought of you this past weekend and shared your Arlet idea with a lady who was doing a journal in stitches. She had the fabric rolled onto a piece of wood/dowling. Each day since January she has stitched something significant from that day. Her area per day is about two by six inches. Word spread quickly and she had to do show and tell numerous times. So creative.
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Options to journal on a small scale are everywhere! I know knitters who knit one row a year with a color reflecting the mood of the day… I wish there were more hours in a day to embrace all the wonderful ideas coming me way!
Thanks for sharing, Katina!
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What a delightful collection. These March artlets have been particularly inspiring in their diversity,visual stimulation, and colour features you have added. I can really appreciate now, the value of making fabric artlets as a mini record of fabrics that have appealed to one at a given point in time and can enjoy again even many years later. Thank you Anna.
Judithkh
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These were a lot of fun – but as you notice… I needed to add color to most of these! The grey weather in March and B/W fabrics was not well matched. As always – a little color adds life!
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You had me fooled but only for a minute, I thought that you had sketched all those pictures and you were becoming more unreachable. What a relief to see that they were fabrics. So beautiful. I will keep pressing on in my creations.
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Unreachable??? Never – for me it’s all about sharing not trying to outdo someone!
Remember – the personal challenge I have set for myself is not to spend more than 15 minutes on each Artlet! Stay creative, Shirley!
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Anna: Most excellent and wonderful. And yet I wonder what intellectual, design ideas, thoughts and feelings you were experiencing at the time. I read part of the process in your full blog descriptions and am most grateful you share with everyone. More is always going on in our minds and hearts, I think, than what we articulate. Thanks so much for the mini-show and your process. Anara from Bellingham
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Thanks for your feedback, Anara!
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Amazing work! What fun with black and white a few pens and pencils. I can see where adding quilting would add so much more time. Love them just the way there are.
Looking forward to May.
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Thanks, Linda…. I put my creative cap on and am working on something totally different… watch for May 1st!
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I love the Artlets challenge! I had 4 of the same fabrics in my stash waiting for some artful project to come out of my mind!!!!
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Really enjoyed your fabric slide show. That one that looks like a stack of lumber is so architecturally interesting!
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Isn’t that a great fabric? I bought it in 2006 at Center Diamond in Cannon Beach and have a fair bit of it but never incorporated this fabric in a piece before. Chances are that I am not going to use anytime soon as I am completely focused on using my own hand-dyed yardage. This was a great opportunity to include it on a small scale. ;-)))
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Love them. You sure made that black & white fabric zizzle!!! Again, you continue to inspire. Thank you, Shirley
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Thanks, Shirley! It’s April and time for a new challenge…
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