A little while ago as my Sweetie and I sat on the sofa watching tv I took a moment to look up my 2020 word of the year – Imagine. As the end of 2019 approached I knew that 2020 would be different, though I had no way of imagining what that different would look like. In my mind as my quilting life progressed I Imagined that I’d be traveling, promoting my book, teaching at national shows more frequently, and doing that thing I love best, teaching free-motion quilting. While searching for it I found a list:
- 2013 – Epic
- 2014 – Ponder
- 2015 – Journey
- 2016 – Focus
- 2017 – Gratitude
- 2018 – Connect
- 2019 – Build
- 2020 – Imagine
- 2021 – Show Up
- 2022 – Cultivate
- 2023 – Tenacity
I started this One Word, Word of the Year #woty #wordoftheyear in 2013, likely from a post by one of my friends on social media. I’d long abandoned the destructive cycle of making new years resolutions. The delightful thing is that each word meant something to me in that moment, for that time. Each was lived and reviewed in some way. I love each word and sometime soon I’m going to write them all on a quilt, and actually I can see it in my head.
When I got to 2020 and 2021 though there are pangs, did I live those well, and here is where extending grace must take precedence over a hardcore look, examination, at this as there is so much other stuff that filled these years that being overly hard on myself would be wrong. At the end of November, early December another word came to mind, Fallow. I wrote some about the experience of Fallow on A Quilters Heart (<—- link over there). If I had a co-word in 2022 it would be fallow. While so many other quilters were pivoting and getting out there on Zoom and producing video content, I didn’t, couldn’t, over thought and needed to in some way be present to what was happening here in my own small family rather than out and about, even if it was in my own sewing room.
And we arrive here, on the very last day of 2022, with 2023 approaching with the quickness of the very present moment passing with ever increasing speed. The window is open, the breeze zipping by, and I am outside my sewing room looking at Cultivate in 2022. First it wasn’t what I thought it would be and this information is reminding me that when the Word of the Year comes to let it come and lead / teach me what it means. Cultivate, a time of preparing the soil for growth, had me looking at some things that until now I wasn’t ready to do and I appreciate that time. I’ve done a lot of reading, journaling. I started working out.
As an aside that working out part got me right in the gut the other day. I was whining to a friend about how slow my progress seemed. Within a couple of days of this whining, I renewed my membership at the gym and realized (my jaw still hurts from hitting the floor) that I’ve only been working out since June 25th. I went from barely being able to walk a mile in 37 minutes to walking four miles in an hour. In one sense I am patting myself on the back both for the good stretch (go ahead and try that) and for the sticking with it and doing it.
Cultivating good health is hard, it’s a process that takes time, and like quilting the only way to get better is to do.
Cultivating good self-care habits like reading and journaling is good too, and like quilting is a process that requires time, commitment and a lot of ink (thread) to make something beautiful happen. My journals have many a scratched out word as I searched for the right word to capture the thoughts swirling inside my head.
Cultivating a deep friendship, a differently deep friendship, is a big part of 2022. This is something I’ve longed for and am now in awe of it.
Cultivating my new home, learning to live here in Georgetown, worship in and with a new parish, and working on meeting new quilters again is something that is a process and takes time. Twenty twenty brought two moves I had no idea that the gift to be opened, cultivated, nurtured would be these things. Twenty twenty-two held within it some teaching, some health things to deal with, and some surprises.
I do think that Cultivate will live with me for a little while yet. And now to support a couple of people
First up Sewvacology Educators Retreat in Florida. If you are an Educator in any creative industry contact them for more information. The retreat is in February.
Next up Joanne Sharp’s 2023 Artfully Inspired Life “Greatest Hits Reimagined” class. Joanne is a delight and a good teacher.
Debby Brown Quilts has great classes over here and having a sneak peek of what’s coming it’s going to be a great year.
Creative Spark Online Learning loads of my favorite teachers are there.
Beginning in February 2023
