Becoming

Seems that now most of my larger quilting projects are completed for 2014, I am focusing on the swaps, some of the PayItForward projects and the gifts for the family. I was starting to feel like I was behind on some of them. Its always surprising how much time it takes to gather the fabrics I want to use in a project.

I put in a new blade, cut several projects, and am ready to start piecing. This pic represents the next four projects on my to-do list for this month, and I am actually ready to put cuffs on a few Halloween stockings and add the hanger-ribbon to all of them.

Every day is a new awareness of this process of becoming. With each experience, each new understanding of the fabric art as well as the soul picture I create, I advance on that path of personal growth. 

There is a certain freedom in what I've done. For one swap, I've cut 12 sets of four squares of Christmas fabric. For the 6" swap, I've cut the black & white to coordinate with plain white. I am going to like this one, and it has the potential for being quite challenging. Two 12" blocks are represented on the cutting mat as well. One is more traditional and the other a bit more modern.

Current trends are pushing quilters outside their comfort zones in both color and design. Each of us has a different preference and skill. Each of us can do only what we can do. Every project above on my cutting mat is different for me. Each of them has a different lesson.

I always liked what Joseph Campbell used to say; that we enter the forest at the darkest point where there is no path. He said that if there is a way or a path, that it belongs to someone else. The way is still unseen, and that the only chance to realize our own potential is to walk our own path. Everyone has their own path and our experiences are often so personal that sometimes it can feel isolating. 

When you think of it, walking in the forest off the path can mean getting scratched from branches, finding the ground challenging, and there is always a chance you can get lost. This one isn't too bad and maybe we have to start somewhere with something less frightening.

Oh sure, I am still at the place as a quilter where I pick out a pattern. However, I have evolved and can pick out the fabrics I want to use. The only 'wrong' way to quilt is if the quilter doesn't find the pleasure in what she is doing.

Campbell has been endlessly quoted to urge that we find & follow our bliss. Those who study him say that his kind of bliss isn't superficial but is the kind that takes us deep into a sense that we can recognize that we are doing our life's work and not settling for less than what our souls crave.

And as luck would have it, neuroscience established that we are hard-wired for midlife reinvention and that there are keys to make the new wave of becoming possible (see Psychology Today ). I know I certainly am different and that this whole act of becoming took a huge turn when I started quilting.

The risk is there for all of us, and what I think is important is to realize that there is a divine timing to the moment we step into our forest. I don't think we can push it or do it when our besties step into their bliss. We become whole when we are ready.