I am a Quilter

I can say that now.  I completed a quilt and it is beautiful.

My first ever quilt.  A simple baby quilt - black and white to help the little premie eyes develop with a pop of pink for the girl that she is.  I am proud to give this new tiny person my very first quilt.  It will be used, played on, loved, and washed a million times, and that is just what a quilt wants to be.

As I was quilting away in the final hours before the gift was given, it was just me and the whirring sewing machine.  I began to think:  Why did I think this was so difficult?  Why have I been putting off such a lovely way to make something beautiful?  What is quilting anyways?

- each quilt is a one of a kind

- you can follow a pattern or make it up as you go

- they come in any shape or size

- if you mess up, you just pull the threads out and start over

- you pick the colors, style, and difficulty level

When you make a quilt, no matter how big or how small, you pick different fabrics that are pretty boring on their own, cut them up into small pieces, mix them up, rearrange them until they are pleasing, and sew them all back up into one beautiful quilt.  Well, the same can be said of life too, right?

Your life is a mix of lots of little pieces, put together to make you who you are.  You are one of a kind.  There are patterns for life but you just might learn a little more if you make it up as you go.  We all come in different shapes and sizes.  If you mess up in life, you can either pull those life threads and start over or you can choose to work with the error and move forward.  And, the best part is that you are in control (for the most part).  You choose the difficulty level of your life - challenge yourself with a life of learning and growing, or choose to be content with who and what you are.

Here's where quilting and life are so similar:  quilters are always looking to learn and grow from each other, to try the next pattern, to share and swap and improve their skills.  And that's exactly where you will find me - learning and growing and extending myself to ask the questions and try new life patterns.  Sure, I have found the tricks and tips that have worked well for me, but I want more.  I want to expand my life and my repertoire.  Now I know why my mother and so many before her quilt, and why I will continue to do so for the rest of my life.  It's not just a gift for someone else, it's a gift that gives back to the maker as well - and that's the best kind of gift.