Work With Patience

All beautiful things take time, their own time, to manifest. Sometimes it seems like I take a calculated step forward only to find myself stumbling two steps back. I keep forgetting what works for me and have no legitimate reason for impatience.

Grace's Spring quilt is ready for borders, basting, quilting and binding. One cornerstone was missing. I went through all the small scrap boxes and found two of them. It all needs a light pressing before taking any more steps with it. This last row needs to be pieced and added before the borders go on. Once again, I didn't really make good Notes-To-Self, so while there is fabric for borders, binding and the back, all I know for certain is that the back is yellow and still in its package. I don't know what size borders I wanted or which one comes first or second. And I am questioning my choices. Maybe this. Maybe that. Jeeze. So I set it aside for a day when I can think more clearly and just go for it. 

In fact, as I pulled many of the quilt projects out, what I was doing all last year was to gather fabrics that would work with the main theme, without really measuring or cutting. And of course, no Notes-To-Self. Wow, it has become a huge lesson of a lifetime!

I have an appointment in the clubhouse on Wednesday to baste one of the completed quilts. The top part here is actually scrappy pieces made like crazy quilt blocks. I hope to use it to practice free motion quilting.

Its almost like having to start from the beginning when there are no Notes-To-Self. Its not that I am forgetting the lesson now, its more that I am cleaning up what I did last year when I didn't even know there was a lesson to learn. This time, before setting a project aside, there are clear Notes-To-Self included with the pattern. Its hard not to be frustrated, but as Dany in Dance With the Dragons says, "If I look back, I am lost."

Here is the beginning of a Hallows quilt that is based on a cute panel I bought a couple of years ago and a pattern, yet without any plan for how to proceed. I've re-sorted fabrics so this represents the ones that fit better with the suggested steps. This is the quilt that will get some of those 12" Quilt Block Swaps done in Orange, Black and White. Clearly, this is a WIP (work in progress) even at the thinking stage. It will be exciting to see the evolution as the 12" blocks come in from all over the world.

With the "Note-To-Self" lesson so clear in my mind, I pulled out all the bins in my studio closets and labeled them with the general contents. It had gotten tiring pulling them all out trying to figure out what was in them even though they are clear. 

Maybe its true that all beautiful things take time to manifest. I am not sure why this particular lesson is coming to me now, and I do not mean to say it is for anyone else, just because it is mine. I don't think anyone can push another person into a state of being until they are ready. And only when a person is ready, can they fully manifest what was waiting for them all along.