I read this letter from Kurt Vonnegut to a group of students from Xavier High School here in NY
In particular it is this passage:
Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what’s inside you, to make your soul grow.
That speaks to this quilters soul.
Dear Quilters I can not add to Mr. Vonnegut’s words of wisdom here.
I can only offer that our own inner negative voices are an important part of who we are as quilt makers. They give us information to help us grow and become and understand the places that can use some improvement.
Just go create quilts for the sheer experience of doing it. Mr. Vonnegut goes on to say:
You will find that you have already been gloriously rewarded for your poem. You have experienced becoming, learned a lot more about what’s inside you, and you have made your soul grow.
Change the word poem to quilt and enjoy the experience of learning.
Happy Quilting,
Teri
Thank you. Sometimes I get lost in the process and forget the joy of creating. Isn’t that one of the reasons that we all quilt?
Good words! In every aspect of our lives, not just the artistic or creative sides.
Love this, Teri…..he was a wise and talented man….thanks for sharing it with us….
I occasionally want to make a quilt but worry that don’t have someone to give it to – someone whose spirit it matches. I remind myself that if I want to make it, I must like it…and there are still a lot of bare walls in the house.
The awe in seeing how the colors come together: the whole is a great deal larger than the sum of its parts. And if I smile a lot while I’m making it, and after, when it’s draped over the back of an easy chair…success!