"how long did it take to make that?"

This is a question every textile artist learns to dread.  The answer is so variable.  What constitutes "making"? 

• All the hours spent learning the technique and getting better at it?  Designing and planning the project?
• Gathering the materials?  Doing all the prep with the materials? 
• Directly doing the technique (in my case, traditional rug hooking)? 
• Letting things go fallow for a day or a week or a month or a year because 1) life has gotten in the way; or 2) one is temporarily stuck, and there's a need to work out another way of proceeding? 
• Or taking things out and re-doing them, which is also quite common? 
• Plus, some textile arts are much speedier to execute than others. 
• And what about the finishing process, which can take quite a while?
  
  

It's nearly impossible to figure out the answer to that question.  All of us get it all the time.  It's understandable, but it's really a challenge.

So here's a picture of my rug between yesterday and today.  Yesterday I hooked for about 3 hours and started-and-finished the upper left portion of the central figure (the zig-zaggy "steps").  Today I hooked for about 4 and a half hours and finished the "steps" on the right side of that figure, plus got one of the upper motifs done, and filled in more background.

And people wonder why a hand-hooked rug costs so much... 

I do own a button that says "Slow Hooker."

Don't get me wrong, though, I loved every loop that I pulled. If I didn't totally love this, I wouldn't be doing it.

How do other artists handle this question at shows?  I'd love to hear from you, so please feel free to add a comment.  Thanks.