Dull and grey but.............

Yesterday was gorgeous.  The sunroom was full of light and warmth and all my planned activities were shelved to enjoy this.  In January you bank sunny days.

So I sat with tea;watched the pets snooze and leafed through old quilting magazines and truth be told closed my eyes in the absolute peace.  The quilt at my back was certainly comfortable.   I pondered a quilt in which a cat was cuddled and thought about its inception and creation and my reaction to the finished product.  This is the back that is providing the comfort to a spoiled cat.   The front is from a non promising jelly roll with vivid but dark colours.  It did not portend a happy quilt.  But the colours when put together transported me to a wedding in Chennai, India where the women wore saris of every brilliant colour and where as a stranger I was welcomed with warmth.  Then I found a batik backing that set my heart going.  Leftover squares made the center on the back.  So back or front this quilt provides memories; lessons; and a cuddly bright addition to the sunroom.  Quilts do this.  They tell stories to the creator.  Sometimes they do not look promising like the dark, vivid jelly roll and turn out just great.  Not perfect but perfect would not make it fit for kitty naps.  So the lesson is perseverance; do not give up.  Someone will like the final product.  As the sun started to disappear a friend dropped in and the sun shone again; inside at least.  In the evening I dug out a UFO and if you are a quilter you know they like to stay hidden or is it me who likes them to hide?

Today the sun shone in my mind when I visited briefly a house in which there is love and caring and comfort.  So I will consider that an applique on life.  Events are like appliques on a quilt.  You take a background that is simple and put bright pictures on it.  You stitch them in and they become an integral part of your quilt and your life.

Think of your quilt as a story.  It has a beginning; it has a middle full of events of cutting, sewing, planning, ripping, changing.  And it has an end where a kitty just might enjoy the January sunshine as much as the quilt creator.  So it is not such a dull, grey day after all with yesterday's banked sunshine and Italian beef stew in the oven and rosemary bread in the machine.