It's become something else entirely.
At this point, I haven't decided whether to keep going with this blog or transfer it to the one I do on my business website: www.SonjaHakala.com.
Some days I'm sure I will continue. Other days, I like the idea of consolidating my writing. My jury is still out.
But the lessons learned...oh, I am savoring those.
I can't put them in order of importance because I believe that's really an arbitrary listing. What's important can and does change, often on a daily basis.
So I'll just begin here, with this quilt.
When I signed the contract for my book Teach Yourself Visually Quilting with Wiley Publishing, I had never finished a quilt in my life. I had finished or worked on several books, however, and in publishing, the ability to write and direct a book is the key element.
Nevertheless, my first instinct was to assume a fetal crouch for a few days after signing the contract while I asked myself over and over, what have I done? What have I done?
But I come from a long line of bootstrap puller-uppers so I marched off to conquer my fear. This quilt top was the first one I made for Teach Yourself Visually.
I remember agonizing over the choice of fabrics, sure that each selection was worse than the last. But as I once heard Taj Mahal say, sooner or later you just gotta commit.
So I cut and sewed. And was amazed to see a pretty good quilt top emerge.
As it happened, this quilt appeared in the chapter on borders. There are pictures of one of its corners with the green border attached and then with the outer, orange border attached. I didn't have to finish the quilt for those photos so it sat in my UnFinished Object box for quite a while.
Until I started the Parkinson's Quilt Project this year.
My autumn quilt became the second quilt donated to the project and it is now part and parcel of the life of a man who sits in a rocking chair with my quilt warming his shoulders.
The lesson here: When I listen with my heart, really good things happen.
No comments:
Post a Comment