What Is Pretty

So much in our world isn't pretty. I gave away my TV years ago and never replaced it because I didn't want to watch the horrible news that seemed to dominate the air waves. Even now, I avoid the Facebook posts that are grim call-to-action reports about abuse to children, the elderly, and other beings and parts of the world. I know its out there, but focusing on the negative or what isn't pretty only brings me down.

One of the latest swaps I am in is for a small altar cloth. ALTAR with an "A", meaning a sacred space where one prays or does their magick. What happens or should happen is that a person is altered with an "e" meaning they are changed by how they pray or do their magick. We are changed and the real power of it all is how much we love.

Traditionally, the altar cloth is meant to be the dressing for the divine. I decided to revisit the pattern for the block I sent off without photographing so fast that the aftermath was devastating for me. I used traditional European colors for calling the elements in. Earth=green, Air=yellow, Fire=red, Water=green. And the cross quarters in the corners are seasonal florals, with a purple batik for Spirit. White represents the Divine, SheWho lives and breathes in space & time for us and with us.

It was good practice for me on the new machine. I took special care to have all the blocks trim out to the same size, added a lavender border and a darker purple for binding. The back is the same lavender fabric and so now that one is used up. I would be happy to receive such a cloth and love how it looks. It finishes at 14" and is a perfect centerpiece to an altar by itself or to sit on top of a larger cloth. With all the colors in it, it will go with any decor and fit just about any table size or shape.

I am thinking that one of my PayItForward projects could be an altar cloth, however, I might like to focus on the element of Fire for it and see how I could use up some of the red family of fabrics that I have here. 

Quilting, for me, is my own spiritual declaration against spiritual blindness. I recognize the state of the world and the state of humanity within me and around me. My eyes are open to what exists that is not pretty, yet I refuse to participate in that energy. I chose to work on myself, to pray, to do the magick that alters and heals. Me first, and then the rest of the world.