The One Goal

Spring enveloped my gardens the last few days with temps in the 70's. Flowers are blooming and weeds threaten to move in, and I am outside for at least an hour every morning.

With all the things I do from gardening to being in the kitchen, to creating these lovely quilts and quilt projects, the real goal in my life is to be able to better love others, and to welcome their love into my life.

Crow Calling Woman (Rex) and I started our Halloween Villages this week, first swapping some fabrics that were required so we would both have a variety and splash of color. The piece only measures 16.5" square to start with. At first I thought it was going to be too small, and now am glad that its not larger.

The book/pattern says it doesn't look like a village at this stage. As I look at it, I get the sense that its like my own personal being as I evolve. It is like putting together a puzzle, and yet none of the pieces are supposed to fit the way a puzzle does, so its a new experience and a new process.

I don't get it yet. 

And I wonder if I get what changes in my life mean. People come and go, my health waxes and wanes, ideas and goals shift, my purpose in life is different than it was even last year. 

As I look at this Halloween Village project, it makes me wonder who I am, how to keep going in spite of the challenge and unknowing how it will turn out, and if the time I have left in this world will be enough to try new things, to remember to enjoy the flowers. Its not a morbid thought but one filled with potential and innovation. A mystery. 

When I moved here, the Iris were overgrown and compacted to a point that they would no longer bloom. I started dividing them, giving away many of the tubers and replanting here and there in the gardens. This year, they started blooming such lush, delicate colors. The gardens set me up to see my life as well...to notice the simple beauty in it, to find breath-taking moments and to witness nature reaching with her tendrils to attach, to root, to bear the kind of flowers that welcome bees and birds.

Nature has that same goal of loving and being loved.

That excites me. This month LeChallenge's theme is Nature, and I have an idea how to use up floral fabrics and make some small mug rugs. Wow, I cannot believe how that also fits into my goal.

Today is a basting day at the clubhouse. The one ready for this process is Sheri's, with the working title of CEDAR LODGE, which comes from the pattern name. Usually, the quilt gets its official name as I baste. I really love how it turned out thusfar. 

Loving and being loved. It says so much as a way of life.