I’ve long had a quilt in my mind called Family Lines in which I would record oft-repeated lines from family members. It would bring warmth as a cover, but also warm memories for others to recall the voices from the past. Some of those lines I’ve already written about, like Daddy singing “Pa, he bought him a great big billy goat…” or Wallace’s oft-quoted line “you shore can’t sop syrup with ‘em.” Advice like Aunt Nellie’s, “Always plant geraniums in clay pots,” and Jim’s query to the girls, “did you unplug the curling iron?” will add practical notes, too. (Details of those stories are here, here, and here.)
One line I would have to include from my mother is, “You can make anything. But you can’t make everything.” I quoted this to a young quilting friend of mine last year as we were discussing some of the tempting patterns for making tote bags. Though they are lovely and give one a unique accessory that displays favorite fabrics and techniques, they are time consuming to make. She repeated my mother’s line and said, “Wow. That’s so true. And a powerful line to remember.”
Yes, she was right – it is a powerful message. I’ve had that line running through my head a lot lately. I look around my sewing space and see fabric waiting to go in the dye pot, fabric that’s been dipped in the dye pot and ready to compose into Rescued Remnant pieces, photos to print on fabric, strips of fabric waiting to be woven backgrounds ala Jude Hill. In my sketchbook is a series of churches I want to put on cloth. On my design wall are components for my Paducah journal quilt in progress. In another basket are luscious wools cut and ready to stitch. Of course, the time for the guild challenge draws closer. And there’s more, including a few UFOs that could command my attention.
Then there’s the avalanche of images and ideas that press into my mind wherever I look. Especially if I look online. Projects that are physically unbegun, but I have to resist the temptation to begin them. My mother also said, “Finish what you’ve started before you start anything else.” ( I know – the mention of a few UFO’s tells that I don’t always follow that advice.)
I try to use the brainpower generated by my morning walk to plan my “work” for the day. (I put that word in quotes because I do think of the “do the work” advice given to artists fits my daily activities, but in no way is what I do in the sewing room anything but FUN.) Lately my focus of that brainpower has been to narrow the field of possibilities and remember, to paraphrase my mother’s advice, “I can do any of these things, but I can’t do all of them today.“
The photos show snippets of today’s temptations. At least one of those will get some focused attention.
I’ve written before about how stitching soothes my soul. That happens when I’m in front of the tv and multitasking, when I’m visiting with family and friends and my hands are busy, or sometimes when riding in the car. Those are often the times when my hand stitching gets done.
As I watched her video where Jude is adding white hearts to a heavily stitched white nine-patch and emphasizing the touch points of the hearts with red thread, she notices that they remind her of a scar. Her perception always gives me pause, and this struck me deeply.
I can’t explain why, but I had a flashback to my life working with teachers. One of my colleagues heard a teacher say, “we like this book because we can go in the classroom and teach without having to think about it.” Harriet said to me, “I don’t want teachers who don’t think about what they are teaching.” Indeed.
Sometimes I sew without thinking about sewing. And, that is relaxing to me, to be sure. The rhythmic pulling of thread through cloth allows my mind to be somewhere else, planning something. But Jude’s symbology in her work, her soul searching thoughts remind me to pursue even more depth in my stitching stories. She reminds me that only when we share the stories behind our work, the symbology we’ve included, the strategies we’ve used, do others really appreciate our art. I admit if I had seen the white hearts on white stitching, I might not have noticed the red thread, and if I had, I might not have made the “scar” connection.
Photos: The photos of the “beast” piece is one I was fortunate enough to buy from Jude. When her pieces go on sale, you have to be sitting at the computer watching (or lucky) because they sell quickly. I love having this piece to examine. Seeing her stitches and handling her work informed me of her techniques so much that I began to consider selling some of my own work. If my work could help another quilt maker with a particular technique, or if the final result gave a viewer satisfaction, than I would be willing to share it that way. You see images of the whole piece, approximately 6” x 9”, and closeups of the front and back.
The photos of the blue hearts are my work. I made that piece after watching Jude’s 
“Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jog,” is one of this family’s oft-repeated phrases when we pull into the driveway. I know, it’s a misquote from the nursery rhyme, but we like it. It has history in our household.