Every once in a while, something happens in life that fundamentally changes my life. Something happened a couple of weeks ago and I have again changed. The problem is that I feel different but can’t explain exactly why. So let me try.

A week before I was to leave for the cabin, a friend called and told me about a quilt retreat in Three Rivers, Michigan, taught by Beth Ann Williams and June Mears-Driedger about story telling in quilts. Several of the women who were to attend were fun and interesting and I wanted to get to know them better. In less than three seconds, I knew I would go. All I had to do was talk my husband into taking the cat with him on the long, 9-hour “meow” filled ride to the cabin. I got lucky. And off I went to Michigan.

My expectations for the weekend were more than met as I made ten new friends. While I was doing that, something else amazing happened that changed how I see my quilts.

In my mind, my quilts have always been a part of my creative journey and the journey has always been fundamentally important. However, the “journey” portion in each of my finished quilts became lost in their many imperfections. Showing them to people was fun. But when someone offered a compliment, I IMMEDIATELY flowed with excuses to explain away all the big or little imperfections that must be OBVIOUS to everyone. . . . .

And then I met Beth Ann Williams. She doesn’t allow any of her students to make excuses for their quilts. What they ARE allowed to say is this, “Thank you very much. I worked very hard on it. I’m glad you like it.”

In less than two hours, excuses were drowned out by the chorus of the class chanting their new mantra, “Thank you very much, I worked very hard on it. I’m glad you like it.” As we said it again and again that weekend, I began to look at my quilts differently. . . .

And then we began to discuss our “voices” as individuals and as creative artists. As individuals, we like to express our stories, to be heard. And if we are to be heard, we must also listen. And listening is also an act of respect. Simple concepts to understand. I could grasp them.

Then the epiphany. Each quilt we create is also a voice. It is a piece of our journey as individuals and artists. Each quilt is deserving of respect for the story it tells, for the piece of our lives it shares. So why, then, do we make our excuses. The imperfections inherent in the quilts we create fade in importance when compared to the stories we tell through the quilts. We tap into a huge tradition of quilters whose stories were ignored by society but whose voices could not be silenced. They shared their stories in their quilts. Shouldn’t we honor this tradition and our own voices by celebrating our quilts, imperfections included.

With new found respect for my own quilts, imperfections noted and cherished, I feel a burden has been lifted and a new world revealed. And it is this new world that I am having difficulty explaining. I know it is spiritual in nature and a path in my creative journey that I had not seen before. So I think I will take this path and see what there is to see along the way.....