Creating with Contemplation

There are days that I do not quilt in the formal sense of the word where my hands touch fabric and I am either at the machine or have a needle and thread.

This bothers me as if I have some obligation to do this work every day.

Creating is more than the act of it. To create, at least for me, the first stage comes in contemplation. When I was younger, my Mother walked into my room to ask what I was doing. I was sitting in front of one of my bedroom windows looking out into the back yard gardens. 

I told her I was writing. And her response was that it looked like I was wasting time. I knew, even then, that I had to dream things into reality, and spend a certain amount of time contemplating.

This is the time where we are still and quiet. It is a time, in quilting, to become open to possibilities and to connect with colors, textures, patterns and yes, the person we want to create a quilt for...

(Athena, patroness of creative thought and works)

Quilts become objects of comfort, of warmth, of connection between the quilt owner and the quilt maker.

Before I begin to create a quilt for someone I love, I examine my relationship to them and ask if I am centered with them or if there is a dissonance that can be healed in my work. The energy I put into all the steps is a positive effort. I know there will be lessons that I learn along the way, and when it is completed and shipped to them, they have choices to accept my gift, to cherish it, to even roll it in a ball and toss it in the corner of a closet or give it away.