Choosing for color, choosing for beauty, choosing for me. My heart like bright pink confetti, feminine and strong.
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I was feeling uneasy and stifled on January first when I sat down to sketch a new quilt. Art is a safe and peaceful way to free yourself; so, I could have sketched something wildly expressive. What actually came out on my paper was the very picture of inhibition - pretty, symmetrical, contained.
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The shape of our life is never set in stone. The things that you take for granted, good and bad, can evaporate like a mist. What I surely have observed in my years on this earth is that life can always, always surprise you. That doesn’t feel like a threat to me, rather more of a curiosity and a promise. Like a book that you want to keep reading, or better, like a story that you are making up as you go.
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Four years of Ice Cream Soda. Really, four and a half (but who’s counting)? A look back at all the places this quilt has taken me from South Carolina, to the train and plane to The Netherlands, all over Europe and now to Floris. Each time I joined another row together, he would marvel. I would have relished seeing the blocks come together anyway, but there’s nothing like love to give your needle wings.
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It is very nice about improv that you can end at what seems like the intended destination, even if you usually did not know where you were going along the way. Is life like that too, I wonder? I think we mostly make it so, for our peace of mind.
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This month I have been keeping a secret. Or really, it’s been longer than that. Certainly my marriage has been dying a long, slow death of many months and years. For a long while the edges of that growing reality were soft and slippery until their form became a solid thing that could not be denied.
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Recently I came across a post called Anomaly, which I wrote when I last sewed an Ikat quilt. It was during that peculiar year (2018) during which my family was quietly researching possibilities for a permanent move abroad. Freshened with the benefit of (then private) background info and hindsight, I think you’ll enjoy this flashback post!
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Ugh, I’ve been feeling so indecisive lately! This tends to happen when I’m caught between what I think I should do for my business and what is comfortable for me as a person. Between head and heart.
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2020 has been quite a year. Have you considered working those feelings out in cloth? If you are a maker, you have a unique opportunity to use art to process big emotions. I know from experience that this can be so healing.
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This month I celebrate a decade of blogging at Stitched in Color. Wow! Join me for a snapshot review of each year, including my favorite quilts, important milestones, family moments and happenings in our community.
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Here we are on the cusp of a new decade. If I look over my shoulder, I can see the last ten years falling away behind me. It’s all a bit overwhelming, no? And yet there is something wise in taking the time to gather ourselves before plunging ahead.
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A leader or a follower? I ponder the two opposing roles as I watch Elora play at our neighborhood playground. If I’m honest, her propensity to observe, bide her time and stand apart from the crowd can make me uncomfortable.
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Have you ever experienced a paradigm shift, where mentally a door opens, a concept transforms from “not an option” to “maybe” and your mind sort of lurches to land on a new horizon of possibility?
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As 2018 rushes to a close, I have such a sense of excitement for the next chapter in our story. To turn that happy restlessness into something productive, I’ve invited myself to dream a little dream of what I might stitch up in 2019…
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There are moments when you look back on a decision made, a path you took once upon a time, with awed gratitude. Ten years ago we decided..
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The other day Liam pointed to the peach square at the bottom edge of this block and asked, "Why did you put this here?"
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Today I want to unpack the question of where our fabrics are made and the ethical ramifications for the hobbyist quilter. I will be focusing on designer quilting cottons...
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I've been thinking about political/economic issues a lot this year, more than usual. About Climate change. Sustainability. Unfair labor practices. And from where I stand they're all tied together.
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