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It's easy to get so busy that, as an artist, you don't have time to experiment with ideas or materials.

At the end of 1998. I was thinking about the coming new year, and how once again I'd struggle to find the time to create a small group of art quilts in 1999. After I visited a friend from art school, now a prolific artist. I spent a lot of time thinking about how I could give myself more time and permission to "play." I remembered seeing an artist who. a few years earlier, had decorated a paper sandwich bag every day for a year. I liked her concept but knew that I did not have the time to commit to doing something every day; however. I could commit to doing something once a week.

I decided that I would make one small quilt each week in 1999. The rules were that each quilt would be 8" x 10" and could be made any time during the week, from Sunday through Saturday. As I worked each week. I could not throw out the original piece and start over with a new one, and I decided that there would be no limits on what techniques I could use. The purpose of this project was to play and experiment, not necessarily to make beautiful small quilts.

I continued making a quilt a week for seven years. I noticed that as I made these small quilts, the color and/or content changed as the seasons changed, and as I grew as an artist. Sometimes, the quilts became autobiographic, therapeutic, or both. After I finished one quilt. I usually looked forward to starting the next one. I also had more of a sense of accomplishment as my pile of quilts grew. As I continued to make my weekly quilts over the years, my creativity increased. It felt like a little switch in my head was turned on. and ideas came bubbling out. Not only did my weekly quilts improve with time, my larger pieces did too.

It was very exciting for me to watch as the Journal Quilt Project started and took off. There was a discussion on the QuiltArt email list about creating journals, and I wrote to the list to share how I was making a quilt a week. List members discussed their interest in creating their own journals, and agreed that once a week was too much of a time commitment for them. Ideas were thrown back and forth, and the plan of creating a small quilt each month was met with enthusiasm.

Personally, making a quilt a week has been the best thing I ever did for myself, artistically. I know that making the monthly Journal Quilts has been a wonderfully creative project for the hundreds of artists who have participated over the years. Each week I worked improvisationally with different materials, techniques, or ideas. One week I used unusually colorful dryer lint, another week I resolved the difficulties I had with a large quilt I was working on. and another week there was something happening in the world that I needed to express in my work. No matter what I created that week, it was all a part of a growing process as an artist and as a human being.

I hope that the Journal Quilt Project has helped all the quilt artists who have participated to experiment with materials, techniques, and ideas, and that we all continue to grow as artists.

—Jeanne Williamson
Fiber artist who, since 1999, has been making a quilt a week to document her life and observations, thus setting the stage for The Journal Quilt Project