Each at our own speed

Yesterday afternoon I was busy working at the first textile stage of a project which has developed out of some collagraph prints I made last year.

I am thinking that this could well be finished in time to submit for Quilt National - but not this September.  I'm thinking of 2014 for this!  (And don't worry - the finished work will not look like this, so I will not be risking the breaking of the must-not-be-seen-beforehand rule.)
Reading the posts of bloggers who are gearing up for this year's submissions to Quilt National '13, and writing about starting quilts now, I gasp in admiration.  At present I am working on projects which I started months, and even years ago, and hope that they will be complete in time to photograph for September.  No wonder I take part in so few themed exhibitions.  It is not only because I find it very difficult if not impossible to design to order, but also even if a theme fits with what I'm thinking or working on - it is only if I have something already completed that I can be sure I can enter.
But I definitely enjoy working by hand.  I like taking the time to make sure that I'm happy with the work and the way it progresses.  Some projects fall by the wayside, other designs are used and reused, fallen ideas are picked up in different manifestations, ....
Slow development alongside galloping thoughts seems to be a way I work effectively.  I think of my progress being rather like someone going for a walk with a dog: slow and steady moving from A to B while pausing to notice, look at, and collect small details on the way, while another part of my brain, the dog, is running on attracted by distant movements, sights, smells, sounds, and returning back to the plodder to report excitedly.
I work at different projects at different stages, so as stated above, I am nearing completion with two or three projects, half-way through others, not sure whether to proceed with some, and beginning to put some ideas into effect - while of course continuing to have possible ideas for the future.  My career in publishing was a good training for this because this exactly how one has to work in bringing about a list - of children's and educational books especially.
I do also enjoy working on a shorter loop - it is great to be able to complete smaller pieces in much less time.  That also provides the space which I sometimes need from the larger projects.
I do find it fascinating finding out about how different artists develop their work.