Artquiltmaker Blog

”But true absorption is a total involvement in the evolution of life without hesitation or contradiction.”

I think the book isn’t detailing what it is trying to convey with this word very well. In quiltmaking, I get to a point where I am so absorbed in a project that I reach a different area of my mind. This experience is creating at its best!

“We must give [situations in our lives] rough shape and then throw them down into the center of our lives…As we shape the situation, we must be aware of what form we want things to take. The closer something comes to completion, the harder and more definite it becomes. Our options become fewer, until the full impact of our creation is all that there is.”

When I start a quilt, the possibilities are endless. I start shaping the finished product with an idea in my head. Each decision I make limits future options until I have a completed idea. This is not a bad thing, it is the process of a project. Working through the process allows the final piece to take shape.

“No matter how extreme a situation is, it will change.”

“Natural events balance themselves out by seeking heir opposites and this process of balance is at the heart of all healing…”

All life is continual destruction and healing, over and over again.”

“…healing will follow upheaval.”

Yesterday’s word, disaster, was all about change in my mind. Today’s word, healing, makes me think of change also and how people change after being sick. Sometimes they die, and sometimes they change their lives completely; they exercise, they eat organic food, think positively, don’t drink, etc.

In the sense of quiltmaking, we can start a project and ruin it in some way, either intentionally (it wasn’t working out, so we slice and dice it) or unintentionally (knock over the paint on to the project). This means that the project has taken an unexpected and unplanned for turn. A project won’t ‘heal’ itself. You have to facilitate that ‘healing’ by fixing it. Fixing it can mean incorporating the new reality into a new design or it can mean abandoning the project and starting something new.

Even an abandoned piece may get a new life down the road as a back or a stuffed toy or the answer to a disaster with another project.

UGH!

That was my first thought, anyway, especially after yesterday’s word!

“Disaster strikes at its own time. It is so overwhelming that we can nothing other than accept it.”

Personally, I think this is the most important thing, other than disaster is actually about change. It instigates or inspires or incites change, change we have to accept.

“Disaster is natural. It is not the curse of the gods, it is not punishment. Disaster results from the interplay of forces…”

“Disasters may well change us deeply, but hey will pass. We must keep to our deeper convictions and remember our goals. Whether we remain ash or become the phoenix is up to us.”

The book talks about an old man who planted an orchard after he retired from his job. He was undaunted even though the people around him said he wouldn’t live long enough to see it bear fruit.

I think that starting projects that are daunting is the epitomy of optimism and it shows optimism and joy in the process and not just in the end product.

In my opinion, there are two kinds of work: work where you make money and your life’s work. Some people are fortunate enough to have both in one. For me, the work I do for money is interesting (mostly) and challenging (often), but my life’s work is creativity. At the moment I create quilts and tote bags, occasionally ornaments or other little things. In the past I have made leaded glass windows, painted, knitted, crocheted, done mixed media collages and sculpted. Creativity is my life. It feeds my soul and comforts my psyche.

The book talks, today, about a woodcutter needing to cut wood regardless of the weather, but that planning ahead can make the work easier. The book calls this working in “concert with the seasons” or “according to seasonal circumstances.”

This means that you do some of the heavy work when there is no snow and leave the chopping of kindling for snowy days. It means planning ahead and planning your work.

By “concert with the seasons,”a person is conserving effort. The woodcutter can conserve effort, not only by working in “concert with the seasons,” but also by cutting with the grain, chopping with the right force, etc.

I do this in quiltmaking all the time. I may cut all the pieces of a block before sitting down at the machine to sew. This allows me to see what the block will look like. It helps me conserve effort, as well, because I can sit and sew the whole block without having to jump up and cut another piece each time I sew two together. I prepare the pieces of my Cross (Flowering Snowball) blocks in advance so I can sit and sew in peace when I have a few moments. This kind of planning ahead makes sense. “Whether it is the time or the method, the labor is half initiative and half knowing how to let things proceed on their own.”