I call the image above Quilted Madness. There are 100 little squares in that piece and every single one of them is different from the others. Oh, and the overall size of the art is 4.5 inches by 4.5 inches!

Crazy?

Yes, but it served its purpose.

I detest sitting around without something to do and if you've spent much time in doctor's offices or physical therapist's offices, you know there isn't much to do except stare at gossip magazines, other patients or at the generic art on the walls.

Since wait times are a necessary evil in our society and because I've been spending far more time in these offices than I normally would due to my father's back surgery and physical therapy, I had to come up with a way to combat the dreaded staring.

Yes, I could have read a book, and yes, that would have been entertaining, it's usually not creative.

I started coming up with projects that I could stretch over several appointments where each step took only a small amount of time. This allowed me to stop in the middle without it being critical to the piece of work.

I also didn't have to worry if I would remember where I left off and what I had in mind when I did stop abruptly because my father's name was called.

These types of projects worked well to keep creativity at the forefront of my mind but without stressing myself out.

The quilt was especially challenging (more than I realized) as I had to really push myself to come up with different textures for each square. Many are similar but none are identical. Then I had to think about color. I started in the center and planned to work out to the edges, but somewhere along the way I forgot my plan.

The next thing I knew, I'd put a colored block into a section I had intended to leave white. Instead of scrapping the project, I simply made an adjustment to the layout and kept going. I still didn't stick to my plan though. By the time it was done, I had sections filled in all over the place.

I had to check and recheck to make sure I was in the right square, but it did a beautiful job of filling those long, boring minutes with something creative and fun.

Am I always successful at creating on these doctor visits?

No.

Sometimes, I needed to change it up. Art wasn't always the answer and reading didn't always get it, but between the two, I always managed to pass the time.

Another take type of project is to take a line for a walk:

I started in the lower right side of the paper with the paisley shape and I simply kept adding until I had filled most of the page. While it looks kinda zentangle-ish, it's not. It's more about drawing a line in a random pattern and then filling the spaces with shapes and pattern. It's generally not organized and rather chaotic.

I did most of the drawing during office visits and then added color all at once as that was a bit more intensive than the drawing. Painting in some of the smaller shapes would have been quite doable in the office, but the background would have provided a far bigger challenge.

Being creative with downtime can be pretty simple and easy to do if you choose the right kind of projects. These may not appeal to you. Several artists I know use these (supposably) short windows of time to challenge themselves to sketch other patients and visitors. I do that too on occasion, but I tend to like the projects that don't require as much brain power!

One of the payoffs of working during these waiting periods is improved concentration. I can focus on the art and still pay attention to what's going on around me (listening for my dad's name, dealing with distractions and questions from other curious onlookers, etc.). I find that when I'm sketching around other people now, I'm not as bother by a break in my concentration or by questions.

It also seems like my hand and eye coordination have strengthened and I know my ability to see and create patterns has improved!

Whatever appeals to you is what will work best. Knitting, crocheting, drawing, sketching, any creative endeavor works. I find keeping it simple works best for me. If I don't get back to it for a while, I can still pick up where I left off. Don't overlook those small pockets of time—you'll come to appreciate them as small gifts when you start getting into the groove of working quick.

If you do something similar, please leave a comment below with a link to your project. I'd love to see other ways of spending my time in more productive ways!

Do you have a voice that whispers to you sometimes? "Do this", "don't do that", "go ahead and give this new thing a whirl" are often the spoken words I hear in my mind, but never so clearly as I heard them a few weeks ago.

It's been ridiculously hot in Florida lately and I had just returned from my father's doctor appointment.

I. Was. Hot.

The dog needed and wanted to go outside, but having just come in from the hell-on-earth, I wasn't to keen on the idea. As I opened the backdoor, a wall of stifling, hot air, like I imagine a breeze on the surface of the sun would feel, washed over me.

Shelby eagerly stepped out and turned back to look at me as if to say, "aren't you coming?" I had no intention of going out in the yard...until I heard that small, quiet voice in my head urging me to do just that.

"Go look," it urged. "Go and see," the voice kept insisting. I could almost feel a gentle pressure on the center of my back just below my shoulder blades. No one else was home so I was quite aware there wasn't anyone attempting to push me out the door.

Given the insistence and the urgency in the voice, I gave in and stepped out. I wandered over to the south side of our property where there is a long stand of trees and in less than twenty steps, I stood looking down at a small, broken, bird egg.

I bent down and carefully picked up the broken pieces and laid them in my hand. This was what the voice was urging me to go and find though I didn't understand the urgency. Until Shelby arrived a minute later.

She could smell the broken egg and immediately zeroed in on the location of where the egg had been.  She began to dig almost before I could register that her nose had shown her what my eyes had seen. If I'd been any slower in finding this small, broken treasure, there would have been nothing but a few tiny shards left after she was done excavating.

Leaving the dog to continue her explorations, I carried my prize inside and sorted it out on the counter. I knew as soon as I'd set eyes on the shell fragments that I'd be drawing and painting it into my journal. A little research lead me to decide it was a Cardinal's egg and since we have a large population, it wasn't to much of a stretch to think that was what type of shell I had found.  

After I creating the art in my journal, I pondered what to do with the leftover pieces. I didn't really want to part with them, but nor were they suitable for any type of display. I finally decided I would add them to the actual page of the journal, but I hesitated.

My journal tumbles around in my purse and goes everywhere with me. I didn't feel the shells would have much of a chance of remaining on the page since the journal is only about a third-of-the-way complete.

Instead, I coated a round piece of paper I had previously stamped with matte medium. I carefully placed the shell shards on the paper while the medium was still wet. In some cases, I had to break the shells to get them to lay flat to the paper. Once the first coat was dry, I add a second and set it aside.

Rather than adding the paper, I'm going to wait until I am finished with the journal and will then glue it into a place I've reserved for this small treasure.

And the next time I get a message to do something I don't want to do? I may be a little more receptive  to doing what the voice asks me to do!