You can do it!

This quilt wasn’t made by the women at the Historical Village. It was actually created by Patty, another wonderful quilter, who lives here in the valley.  She must have quilting in her blood as she gets second hand clothes from various places, figures out a pattern that she likes, cuts up the clothing and begins to sew.  I am always amazed at what she comes up with. This particular quilt she made as a donation to help refugees.  Each time it was taken out to be shown at a fundraising effort, people sighed with delight.

The last time I took it out of a bag, it was to box it up at the post office. The quilt was about to be sent off to its new home and for whatever reason I always seem to do my boxing up at the post office on their counter.  Two women in line watched me and when I shook the quilt out to fold it up as small as possible (a trick with a double bed quilt), they exclaimed simultaneously how beautiful it was.  I agreed.  One woman lamented that she always wanted to learn to quilt but had never had the chance to try.  I pointed out she could easily join the Friday quilters at the Historical Village. They would be happy to teach her the joys of hand quilting. There are other quilt guilds in town that would be glad to mentor her along as well.  But she had reasons – Friday’s weren’t the best day and she didn’t know if her sewing machine worked and besides where could she spread out a project like a quilt in her house.

There are always reasons aren’t there?  Reasons why we can’t study Spanish or call up that older friend we think about.  Reasons why we aren’t able to volunteer or clean out the top of the closet.  Of course sometimes the reason makes sense.  But often times we find ourselves justifying why we can’t do something that part of us really would like to do.

Rather than focus on all the reasons one can’t do something, this quilt made me aware of what we can do.  Patty finds the used fabric and inspiration to make quilts.  This particular one helped support a family who had the gumption to come to a new country.  There is a friend in town who decided to learn Spanish so he bought some CDs, a bilingual dictionary and some books.  I must admit I had my doubts about this self-teaching method until a few years later when I heard him converse in Spanish with a musician visiting from Mexico.  There’s Bernice Ende, another friend from the valley, who has been a long rider for years now. She rides a horse across to all parts of the US.  She tells me she can’t keep track of all the people who say they would like to do what she does. But they don’t.  Sometimes their reasons make sense. They have young children at home or need to be available for aging parents. But sometime their reasons are downright flimsy.

So when you hear someone say with sincerity that he or she really wants to do something, tell them – you can!  Push aside all the thin reasons they might offer up as to why they can’t.  Encourage them to climb on that horse or pick up CDs to learn Russian or walk into the Historical Village on a Friday ready to learn how to quilt. Our world needs people who follow their dreams. Turn those dreams into realities.  Yes, you can.

 

 

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