Coffee Time

Coffee can teach us a lot about quilting and a lot about life. And while I would love to have the philosophical discussion on the whys and wherefores of this statement there is something at the core here: in order to become, to be, to make, to engage in, something really beautiful, anything really beautiful the work of changing, of being transformed is necessary.

Making a cup of coffee, a pot of is something of a ritual:
make sure there are enough beans in the hopper
grind enough beans for the pot
put the dry grinds into the filter

take a moment to inhale deeply enjoying the fragrance

(before getting all tetchy about not liking the smell of coffee, please take a moment close your eyes and open a new box of 64 crayons and inhale deeply – see what I mean?)

let the fridge fill the water pitcher and pour into the reservoir
press the buttons to set the coffee to brew for the morning and go to bed

wake up to freshly brewed coffee
fill the coffee mug (you know, the big one)

Enjoy

There is the other ritual of meeting a friend for coffee and conversation. This ritual is a necessary part of life, it’s not so much about the chatter, the conversation, though this is a key element, it is about the connection to other human beings. The conversation matters in that it is a place to expound on ideas, the express concern, to fill up someone’s cup, to fill our own, to empty out the cup of ideas and concerns filling the space between our head and our heart.

The memories of conversations over coffee race to the forefront of my brain asking me to remember this or that conversation. These kinds of conversation happen in the quilt shops as well both when shopping, when working and when I worked as a sales rep.

As a free-motion quilter and teacher it is ALL about the process. Sometimes making coffee is a mess, or it really needs to be tea. Either way the only way to get good coffee is by steeping the grounds in hot water. The only way to get to be a better free-motion stitcher is to do the stitching trying out various combinations of things until we get to the place of sublime enjoyment.

Still need to deal with the messiness of getting there. So off I go to deal with some messiness and have some coffee.

Happy Quilting,

Teri