I've reconsidered my decision to end this blog! I miss it so much, I just can't stand it! So here's what I'm going to do. I will continue Spiritually Speaking, but I may not post every day. And I will continue the Southern Sounding blog as well. If you haven't checked it out, I hope you will. Right now I'm writing about that most Southern of crafts, quilting.
I believe in the spirituality of all things, and quilts express that very well. They are warm and inviting and homey and comforting. Most of the women who have influenced me in this area made quilts as a part of nurturing their families. Their quilts weren't for show, or for self-aggrandizement; they were made to keep loved ones warm.
Quilts also give women an opportunity to self-express in a craft that is useful. For women of past generations, before we claimed our equality and liberated ourselves into the workforce, quilts were a means of demonstrating competence. Women worked together and actually competed to see whose stitches were finest and whose quilts were most beautiful. But their finished product also had to be utilitarian. Women of the Amish traditions always make one or two "mistakes" in their wonderful quilts so as not to fall into the clutches of pride.
Most of us in the South have at least one quilter in the family. In my case, there were many. No one ever taught me specifically, but quilts were always around and in production. I particularly remember my maternal grandmother stitching blocks in her free time. Most Southern women of her generation seldom had idle hands. Even when they were "resting" their hands were busy creating. That flow of creative energy is the source of all life, and of the great and small comforts that we humans provide for one another.
In future posts, I will write more about everyday spirituality--the kind that is so familiar, we tend to overlook it. I hope you will tune in.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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