FRIDAY FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Here it is the end of the second week in January and I have loved my "slow-down" time. My friend Marje of Quilt Design Northwest asked me some time back,

"Kay, when IS your slow time?"

When you have to think about what the answer might be to that question, you're in trouble before you even know it. Thank you, Marje, for asking, because it has made me take time to slow down even if it is for just a short while. Time to reflect on goals for myself personally as well as professionally.

During this slower time I have been reading different blogs and stumbled upon one that bears mentioning because of the content in her 2 part post regarding the value of craft. But before you hop over to Paula's site and read what she has to say, let me preface it with some thoughts of my own and some from my daughter. Trust a daughter to always keep you on your toes and to tell it like it is.

I am a collector, a collector of all kinds of things, but mostly quilts. I remember thinking years ago one could never ever have too many quilts. I love decorating seasonally with my quilts ... on the walls, on the beds, on tables and over chair backs, and even on formal quilt racks. Since my hobby has since grown into my business, which I absolutely LOVE, I have lots and lots and lots of quilts. Samples for classes, samples for patterns, samples for quilting designs, duplicate samples for trunk shows, and retired samples which we have for every day use.

In fact I was sharing with my friend Juanita the other day that I really needed to get an inventory and organized storage check-in/out system going for all these quilts. It is amazing to have only lost one over the years for as much as they go in and out to this shop and that shop, to this show and that show, to this class and that workshop. But ... moving on ...

I come from a family of generational quilting --- great grandmother quilted, grandmother quilted, mother quilted, daughter (me) quilts, so it would stand to reason that my daughter might want to quilt. When asked about it this summer at my annual quilting retreat which happened to occur while she was home visiting, she just laughed.

"Why should I learn to quilt?" said Eryn. "Do we have any shortage of quilts in this house!" We all had to share in her laughter and admit, she did have a good point. I will say, in her defense, she asked for (and took with her) a scrappy 1 1/2" English paper piecing Grandmothers Flower garden project I had started over ten years ago with her in her move to Alabama this last fall. She's been working diligently on her project enjoying the journey, fondling the little scraps of fabric pondering which colors would look best as next-door neighbors. It appears maybe she did inherit some of the genes after all. And, she will have plenty of quilts to choose from when the time comes.

After that little prelude or warm-up, hop over to Paula's blog and read what she has to say about the value of craft. Thank you, Paula, for such an thought-provoking couple of posts.