The Goal of Our Craft {Thoughts on Writing and Quilting}

I’ve always admired quilts. My grandmother used to have them in her home—draped over the davenport, stacked beside the bed.

I used to study her quilts, tracing the shapes with my fingers. I marveled at the intricacies of the thread, woven through every layer while creating alternate designs.

I thought quilting was like magic.

Colors. Shapes. Patterns. Coming together to form a masterpiece.

Deep down, I wanted to learn how to make one. But I never asked. It looked too hard. Like it was something only experienced people could do. People like my grandma, in their eighties or nineties.

I felt out of my league. And never tried.

Until nine years ago.

I happened to walk past a quilt store. From the colorful display in the window, quilts of every kind invited me in. I entered the store and softly fingered the fabric, admiring the beauty of someone’s handiwork.

An older woman handed me a flier. They offered a class for beginners. So I signed up for a class and selected fabric for my “beginner quilt.”

Eventually, I joined a sewing group. We gathered each month to share our projects and encourage one another. Oftentimes, I looked at their quilts and felt silly in comparison. Some of my quilting friends are experts. Artists with cloth and color. Of course, they’ve been quilting for a long time too.

I realized that comparing my beginning quilts with their masterpieces wasn’t appropriate. Whenever I gave in to that comparison-temptation, discouragement set in.

The same is true for writing.

It’s easy to look at a book we admire and think that we could never write something so life-changing. It’s easy to compare our blog posts to the writing of a “successful” author and feel “out of our league.”

But those authors had beginnings too.

Like anything else, good writing takes time and great writing takes hard work.

Whether you’re a quilter or writer or singer or speaker, we all start somewhere.

Where we begin is not as important as where we end. And where we end is not as important as who we become along the way.

I can easily become so focused in making the “perfect quilt” as a gift for a friend that I neglect the friend! I can easily become so focused on writing a “better post” for a reader that I neglect to encourage the reader!

“If I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.”
~ I Corinthians 13:2b

If I finish a beautiful quilt, but have not love, I am nothing.
If I finish a great book, but have not love, I am nothing.

I remember my grandmother’s quilts. Compared to some of my expert quilting friends, my grandmother’s quilts aren’t as beautiful. But they’re still my favorite because they were given to me in love.

And that is what I want for my craft. Not perfection. But love.

What are your goals for writing?
Do you have other crafts you enjoy pursuing?

Linking with Soli Deo Gloria Sisterhood; Playdates at the Wellspring; On, In, and Around Mondays; Hear It On Sunday, Use It On Monday; On Your Heart Tuesdays.

*The quilt in these pictures is not my “beginner quilt.” At the time, I was so focused on finishing it that I neglected to record the process with pictures!