Monday, July 27, 2009
Is thread really that important?
I received a wonderful email today. It really touched my heart. I thought I would share.
This girl just heard one of my lectures recently and was moved to write me. She periodically loses her eyesight for long periods of time so she can't quilt. She said she tries but sometimes she can't even get the fabric under the presser foot. This last bout was hard and when she got her sight back she just couldn't go in and quilt. Even her friends didn't know how hard she was struggling with this. Something I said in my lecture encouraged her and when she got home she started to quilt. I am so happy for her.
You know quilting is more that just being in love with fabric?
Being creative, making something with your hands even if your hands don't work that well any more. You can't give up.
Creativity is finding another way to work. Being dyslexic means that I have always had to figure out another way to do the same thing that everyone else was doing. There is always more than one way to do something. We run into problems when we compare ourself to others. We all have one challenge everyday. Some people just have a hard time admitting it.
Two of my favorite artists are Monet and Matisse. Both men lived until their late 80's and continued to be creative even though they where going blind and crippled. Monet just got bigger and bigger canvases and could only see the color blue, which isn't such a bad color to see. He had to read the names on the paint tubes and remember what the colors looked like when he was painting.
Matisse created from his bed or a wheel chair. They would push his bed facing the window so the light would be coming towards him. He could then hold up brightly colored paper and cut out wonderful shapes. These works in their later years are some of the most beautiful art works in the world. All done by men who could not see. They just couldn't stop being creative no matter what their bodies were doing or not doing.
So what are you battling right now? Just know you are not alone. Sometime we need to ask for help, support each other, and once in while get a kick in the pants.
Today I was getting very panicky and worried about thread. Yes, I said thread.
I am trying to finish my Houston quilt. The clock is ticking and I ran out of brown thread, not even blue thread but brown. I spent all day online, then driving to my quilt stores, with no luck so now I have to be creative with what I have.
So I am writing this to kick myself in the pants and learn to take my own advise. It's only fabric and thread. It's not my eyes!
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