Wednesday 11 March 2020

Resistance

Have you ever worked on a project and somehow you can't get yourself to finish it?
I'm working on a quilt that fits that category. I started it with enthusiasm, but now I'm finding little projects (procrasti-quilting) to avoid working on this quilt. True, my working and thinking flow was interrupted for a year by cancer, but still: why is this quilt so hard to finish? I love deadlines and finished products! This is how far I came:


My intention is to sit with this quilt and see what it has to say to me, what God is saying to me, kind of like a "visio divina". I do have to finish this quilt whether I like it or not, because it's for a friend's wedding anniversary.....

I was reminded of this quilt through this morning's prayer:
"Before I see someone as a problem, may I see him or her as a human being" - McRoberts & Erickson
A very good prayer for Lent and any time! Jesus on his way to the cross, never gave up on showing love to people: "Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extend of his love", John 13:1
Am I willing to love people for who they are, rather than how they are?


Thursday 5 March 2020

Scraps

We all know the saying "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade". From a quilter's perspective it goes like "When life gives you scraps, make a quilt".
We all get dealt different pieces of scraps at one point or another, but what do you do with them? 
As quilters we often exchange ready-made blocks  or pieces of fabric that we have no use for, but for others are just the thing they need. 
I was reminded of that today, looking through my memories. A friend had some star blocks that perfectly fit with a piece of fabric I had in my stash and I was able to make a little runner with it.

No photo description available.

I also read a book about the underground rail-road. The women involved created a quilt with messages about safe passages and people. All they had was scraps of fabric and they saved hundreds of lives.
When I read today's prayer I didn't really know how to process it:

"May I learn to make good out of what I'm given. 
Rather than only make sense of it"
McRoberts & Erickson

Looking at today's memories and prayer made me realize that this happens to me all the time and it fits perfectly with the season of Lent. 

1 Cor.13:2 - If I can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, 
but have not love, I am nothing.

We can try to make sense of what happens to us and around us, or we can make something out of our experiences and use them to help others.

Friday 28 February 2020

Diversity

Quilters are great at putting pieces together to form a new whole. But there are times when the pattern and the fabric just don't go together. I had that happen to me when I bought a range of fabrics that I really liked and came up with a pattern that would look really nice with those fabrics. Here's the result.


It totally flopped in my mind! It's just........ Too much, too something! I can't really explain why I don't like it.
Funny thing is that it's a cross with a heart inside. Even funnier is that this quilt came to mind this morning when I read my prayer for today from McRoberts & Erickson's book on prayer:
"May I cease to be annoyed that others are not as I wish they were, since I'm not as I wish I was".
Somehow this prayer struck a chord and a movie I recently watched came to mind as well. I highly recommend watching this on Netflix: the Biggest Little Farm. it follows a couple as they start a biological/natural farm in the desert of California. It takes them seven years of struggling and learning, but the results are stunning and telling. We all know that mono cultures are prone to disease and that the more diversity in crop, the better and healthier the soil and produce. Another lesson from our native people is that we need to learn to work with nature, in stead of making nature work for us. 
So what if this lesson is transferred to people? Does the same principle work?
I believe so, if I read Scripture correctly. The main principle that we must love is key to humans living together in harmony. When we love one another, diversity is the best thing ever and also the hardest thing ever. But the pictures that are painted in the beginning of Eden and at the end of Paradise, tell us that it is possible for humanity, earth and heaven to live in unity. And that's what we are remembering during Lent. The Triune God who loves Creation so much that they are willing to die for it. 
"May I cease to be annoyed that others are not as I wish they were, since I'm not as I wish I was".

Saturday 15 February 2020

Evolution

In my busy mind ideas and images come and go. A lot of times it feels like a big crock pot and things are stewing around. I think scientists are on to something when they talk about the primordial stew so many million years ago. I can relate to that when I think about my own creative processes. There are bits and pieces that are put into the brain and they mix and mingle, making new connections, until one day: BOOM! An idea takes shape and form and comes to live in word or picture. 
I've been intrigued a long time by this pattern of an ancient labyrinth in Algeria:


It has many optical patterns in a square. How many do you see?
Since it is a square it lends itself perfectly for a quilt pattern........ At least in my analytical, pattern seeking mind.......


BOOM!
A new creation comes to live. But wait there's  more!
Another pattern comes to mind........


BOOM!

Another idea takes shape.
But wait there's more............
I love this pattern of 4 hearts surrounding the cross in a Celtic knot. I also love labyrinths and there is a pattern in my file somewhere..............


Et Voila! A combination of ingredients from the stew result in a whole new creation. Isn't it amazing how our brain works and comes up with these things?
Stay posted for what is stewing now!