May Day & Summer Nights

Someone once told me that the longest journey is the one we take inward. If we are not busy being born where we grow, evolve, stand up and stand out, we are busy dying.

During a road trip yesterday, my local quilting friend Carol & I decided to start another BOM and plan to use the patterns and tutorials from Quilting Gallery's block-library. We discovered that just having a pattern was not enough and that we need the step by step joining. Both of us got relatively frustrated with the patterns we followed this last year.

The first block in this tutorial is called Summer Nights and the instructions are for both a 6" and a 12" block. I have already cut material to do a 6" for one of my swaps. I've decided to make a quilt from these blocks that have a black background or somehow use black and whites as a focus. 

My inward journey as an evolving woman and a blossoming quilter helps me face the powerful forces that hide in my inner shadows. With quilting, I see the value in having lights, brights and darks in any project. And I know that the most intense shadows are seen when the sun is the brightest. 

The quilting lessons flow into my soul and teach me that the shadows or darker colors are not so frightening but contain a richness that makes the rest of the fabrics pop. They offer a contrast on a quilt, and represent an inner magnificence for my spirit that only pushing through the hard times in life can bring.

I want to see behind the fears and insecurities that have built up in me over the decades of my life and keep discovering the beauty that is within. Each time I experience even a minor success in creating a quilt block helps me see how the steps of my life brought me here to this moment in time.

I cannot say that every project turns out the way I envisioned it, but I can say I keep working on them.

May Day is a high holy day where we celebrate flowers, the beauty of all women and girls, morning dew on our faces, and dance around May Poles. It is a turning of the great wheel of the year. Every day is a celebration somewhere of some kind. Every day can be one of joy and personal evolution.

May you be blessed by all you think and do. Happy May Day.