Hang with me here friends this is going to take a moment to work through.
Sometimes the swirling, whirling inside my head makes it impossible to work until I can
see the thing I want and need to do in my head.
Sometimes the quilts just show me who they are. Sometimes they show me slowly, because there is a bit of information needed before I can see the whole thing. And even then the quilt might change as I’m working. Because sassy and feisty these things are.
Last night my Sweetie and I watched Leonard Bernstein: Young People’s Concert, What does Music Mean? Part of this program is on YouTube. Mr Bernstein experienced music in the coeur of his being. He felt it. While he conducted he hummed or made some sounds. Watching him move was fascinating because in his moment there was a beginning of feeling.
An idea continued to solidify.
Fast forward to this morning, reading a book where Michael Jordan and William Shakespeare were mentioned in the context of knowing, and understanding the nuances of basketball and writing/language respectively. Michael practiced running, shooting two and three pointers, as well as foul shots, all of it to be the very best at basketball. William learned and used language, words, writing day in and day out until the words flowed from his head, to the pen, to the page, to the actors voice.
Leonard practiced music. He played the piano and practiced. Later on after writing some amazing broadway hits he conducted. He practiced practicing.
The idea settled in.
While watching him conduct, feeling his movement in my hands and head the name of the next quilt came to mind, ”Leonard”. (The name has dual meaning.) I have a background prepped and will know for sure if it’s the right color when I head into the sewing room to stitch. I need a quickie practice piece. Like very quick.
I need to practice something else first.
There’s some prep work that my brain is telling me to do before the doing begins. Gah! I just want to do it! I know in my being that I need to practice. So practice it is.
Practice gets us to knowing our stuff better. The better we know our stuff the better we quilt. The better we quilt the better we quilt. The more we feel this quilting in our being, in our coeur, the inner most part of who we are. Practice.
I know I’ve talked about this before but a reminder is always a good thing. Each quilt we’re making is a practice piece leading to the next quilt. We take with us the experience of each quilt, getting to know our box, and boundaries, expanding our boxes with new-to-us ideas.
Phew. Now that I have this out of my head I can go focus on expanding the boundaries of my quilterly box.
Happy Stitching,
Teri
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