One Small Step for Quilting Women Kind

My travels led me to where I am today. Sometimes these steps have felt painful, difficult, but led me to greater happiness and opportunities. ~ Diana Ross

Another quilt day has come and gone, and this weeks’ focus was basting the quilt. Not fun work, basting. It’s very simple…stitch an “outline” of the applique piece 1/4” inside the cut piece, all the way around until you have a line of stitching that follows the exact line of your cut piece. Tedious doesn’t even begin to describe the process that is basting this piece.

I have to confess, at first, I was all gripes about the basing. Its slow going! After more than 2 hours (most of that procrastinating!) I sat back and saw how little I had accomplished. Not only that, I was getting mired down with the desire for perfection, which is rediculous! And then something brilliant came to mind…this is a necessary step to get where I want to go. With that single thought I stopped my griping, my fingers began to fly and by the end of the day, I had basted almost a third of the piece.

I’m known to refer to quilting as my zen. When life feels overwhelming, I know I can go into the quilt room and find an inner peace I won’t find anywhere else. With this project, I’ve found a new zen that I’m enjoying just as much as quilting. No, it’s not basting…its researching quotes! At the end of each week I take some time to reflect on where I am with my piece and relate them to my experiences as Lourdes friend. What would she think? What advice or thoughts would she add to the work that would be meaningful? This is where the quotes come from.

This week’s quote on “steps” was appropriate, especially since I’m in the middle of a step that’s not much fun, but necessary. It may sound trite, but taking a long journey requires one step at a time. To be sure, there are a lot of quotes on steps. But when I came across the quote above from Diana Ross, I knew I had a winner. Lourdes loved music and loved enduring spirit. I know she would have loved this quote as well.

Aloha,

Wendy