In this age of long distance communications and technology it seems no one can claim to live in the middle of nowhere anymore and yet many can claim to live in isolation. Many of us strive for greater connections, stronger links and a thread to tie our story to the stories of others.
This week I attended a funeral for a humble and generous man, who was quietly linked to many community projects and the education of many of the young people in the district. Although he had no children of his own, his story was woven into the fabric of the growth of many children and his story will survive for many more years.
I think we, as a humans want to leave something behind, we want to leave the world better than we found it.
Last week I did my part for a national project that aims to save and record the tales of elder storytellers from the various regions of Canada. This fundraising project is a quilt with squares designed and handcrafted by storytellers from across the country. I'm anxious to see how mine fits in with the rest and I am proud to have created something for the project.
Quilting has always been an art to inspire and delight me. I have a beautiful handmade quilt given to me after my grandmother died. When I run my hand over the tiny even stitches I remember the other work of her hands, the meals, the knitting, the cleaning and the gardens. I recall her stories, our connection and the talents and interests we share.
I've found myself in awe of the works created by the women in our local quilting group and the generosity when the works of art become valuable prizes in raffles and silent auctions.
I've wanted to do some quilting for a long time but like many other things I want to do there just hasn't been time. This project came with a deadline so I knew I had to make a quick commitment and get straight to work. I wanted to stitch part of my story into the quilt and connect myself in a more concrete way to the storytellers of the past, present and future
Quilts are treasures, works of art and visual aids for the spoken word. Quilting has brought people together for generations and as the stitches were sewn, stories were always shared and created. We are all connected, sometimes it's just harder to find the threads tying us together and the time to do out own stitching
