It's never too late to exercise those creative muscles.
Hey there quilters!
This week I had my granddaughter Isabella (we call her Izzy) overnight and a whole day to come help her Nanny in the shop and have adventures. Izzy is 9 and homeschooled but a trip to Nanny's house doesn't mean "no school". There's learning all the time, everywhere she goes.
She's at the perfect age where everything is so interesting and indeed it's very interesting to watch her figure things out. While she did tire of too many customers at one point, she got way too excited about the end of the day sales reports. She's like her grandma that way. ;) Plus she learned some new math skills.
Anyway, it struck me that in all the crafts Izzy does when she's here, she doesn't get hung up on the finished piece. There's no angsting about whether it's perfect enough or the colors match. There were new paint stains on my table, and scrapbooking punch outs flew everywhere when I fluffed my blankets. The little purse or something she sewed when she was here had no rules, inconsistent seams, and some sort of handle she figured out on her own. BUT it was all the about the process for her - not the finished piece.
Emma, on the other hand, is comfortable with the processes and focused on color theory. It was 100% her idea to make a sample for the shop and pick out complimentary fabrics. She was very particular about the quilting, and insistent that I help her as little as possible. She even did the machine binding. It's the first pieced block she's ever done. AND THEN to further jump in the pool, she went to the Keswick Quilter's Guild meeting and showed it off during Show and Tell. The group was delighted to hear her explain the process behind why she picked those colors, that block, and that quilting.
I thought of both girls as I was talking to other quilters, trying to pick fabrics and wanting to make sure everything turned out "right" in the end. There's only one way to get there and that's through the process. It's okay to make something that you think is ugly. It's not wasting fabric to try a new technique or color combination. You're learning too, and it's okay.
Creative muscles need some flexing to get better, and sometimes yes - you have to make things that you aren't 100% happy with. It all leads up to that perfect quilt you'll make some day.
Yeah I haven't made my perfect quilt yet either, so we're in this together! It's good to hang out with kids for a bit and get back to the freeing process of just creating.
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