Something to Think About - by Elizabeth Bishop

Many may think that the journey in a quilt maker’s life begins by the cutting and piecing of fabrics. Isn’t it odd, ‘they say,’ how a person who quilts will waste so much time cutting fabric apart, only to stitch it all back together again? For quilters, it makes perfect sense. There is a reason for such insanity. Or is it insanity?

Observe the hands of a quilter, the gateway to the soul. The hands speak volumes about the journey of diligence, service, and creativity.

Be in the presence of the quilter concentrating on one task at a time with care and attentiveness, this invokes an inspiring reverence.

Bask in the glow of satisfied faces given a time to be inwardly attentive and outwardly giving. A job well done!

As the seasons come and go, so do the contours of our bodies. Gravity becomes a misunderstood friend, but quilting gives us friends who understand.

The slope of the shoulder secretly reveals the weight of the journey, but quilting gives us sisters who have just enough strength to help support the load.

As exhaustion approaches with the intensity of the road’s incline, quilting gives us a team who will stand behind us should we happen to fall.

You see, quilting is all about cutting and piecing, yet it is only the catalyst to connecting the threads that nurture our awakenings. And comforting memories wrapped about loved ones, the infirm, the lonely and the sick and dying are the fruits of the labor.

Quilting is the action that builds relationships, insures trust, encourages vulnerability, enriches life stories, and presents teaching and learning moments. It calls forth indescribable awe and wonder in the presence of spirit and love in a powerfully creative community of sisters, mothers and daughters, and perhaps fathers and sons. Just as our ancestors before us and our generations to come, it is a thread that spans the miles of the globe and surpasses all time.