Quilts and the Big Picture
and "A Stitch in Time"
by Patricia L. Cummings
Table of Contents
[Antique Designs]
[Pat's Books]
[About Pat]
[Baltimore Album]
[Book, Pattern and Product Reviews]
[Embroidery articles]
[Free Patterns]
[Natural World]
[Historical articles]
[Home of The Brave]
[Hispanic Section]
[International Artists]
[Meet the researcher]
[Musings]
[Quilting articles]
[Travel]
[Recipes]
[Poetry]
[Photo gallery of Quilts I]
[Photo gallery of embroidery I]
[Readers Corner]
[Site Map and Site Search]
[Pat's Blog]
[Song Playlist]
[Links]
[Dolls]
[Redwork Index]
[Quilt Care in a Nutshell]
[Business Resources for Supplies and Services]
[Quilt Care - Audio File]
In many cultures, the butterfly represents the human soul. This design is an adaptation of a commercial pattern formerly offered for sale.
As a quiltmaker, I am constantly thinking about not only the next quilt I will make, but also the process of quilting, and what it all means.
For me, quilting has never meant competition with others. I prefer to satisfy my own longing to be a creative person. While there will always be quilters who are better or worse than any of us, I just try to be the best that I can be for my own enjoyment. Quilting is what makes me happiest.
In thinking about quilting, I often have a very strong sense of my own mortality. That idea came through loud and clear just the other day as I was looking through some photos of needlework friends. In one of the pictures, I am the only one still living. I don't quite feel ancient yet, although sometimes I feel as old as the hills Somehow, there is satisfaction in knowing that the "hills" I include in landscape quilts will long outlive me.
Thinking about the eventuality of one's own demise is not as dreary as subject as one might suppose. This consideration can actually give more direction to one's present activities. When realizing that we will not be here forever, we can free ourselves up from other people's superimposed obligations in our lives, and concentrate on doing some things that make us happy, just because we can. Doing needlework of any kind is the ticket for my own happiness. Teaching others to enjoy these same activities has been an added joy.
Being a full time studio quiltmaker, I have time to listen to a lot of music. There are a lot of Country Western stations in our area and I have become very fond of that kind of music. Much of the music is sentimental, some of it is sappy, some of it is about lying, cheating hearts, but most of all, this style of music is about real people: people who love and who get hurt. The music is about those close to us for whom our love cannot prevent their leaving.
While I do listen to other music, it is just sometimes too much bother to keep changing tapes or CDs, so for the most part, I just turn on the radio to listen to Country Western music. It provides a backdrop for thinking about all of these large and small issues.
Of course, as I am writing this, the biggest hit in Country Music right now is the song about September 11, 2001 "Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?" The events of that unforgettable day in American history really touched my heart, too. Consequently, I wrote the following letter to my friend Patti Ives, and she asked for my permission to reprint it in The Appliqué Society Newsletter. For those of you who are not TAS members, I will share it with you here:
A Stitch in Time
In the past few days, I have questioned my life. I am a quilter.
That is how I define myself. That is what I do...........every day.
Is what I do senseless in light of life and death issues?
If we are going to die anyhow, does it really matter how many stitches I can get per inch?
I have asked myself if how I spend my time makes any sense whatsoever.
Today, as I was quilting on my flower quilt, the answer came. I am a quilter because I need to add a little beauty to my world that was not there before I came along. Working with color and shape, and re-creating symbols of God's designs, like flowers, gives me countless hours of joy.
My stitches give order to my microcosmic world. When I am quilting, I am not planning devious and perverse things to destroy other people, like these terrorists are doing. My "five year plan" would consist of how much more I could learn, or how much more I could share my love of the art with others, or how many more quilts I could make. Somehow, I feel fortified with someplace to turn for comfort, with a quilt in my lap and a needle in my hand.
Like the rest of the nation, I watch and I wait, I pray and I cry, I worry and I wonder what is next. And I hope, as I quilt, that a "stitch in time, saves nine."
Peace to you my friend,
Patricia Cummings
Quilter's Muse Publications, Concord, NH. pat@quiltersmuse.com