‘Don’t think too much’ is a pretty good philosophy.

Just finished “The Art of Fielding” where the story follows an incredibly gifted athlete who learns the hard way about how thinking too much can intercept and poison talent.   Thought can interfere with one’s craft as well.  Studying, plodding along, reworking, while essential components of completing work, are often not enough to resolve a project in a satisfactory way.

Which is why I pin works-in-progress to quilts that are already on the wall — so that I can look at them while doing the dishes, or talking on the phone, or while exiting the house in a mad dash.  You get different ideas and solutions at those times, and they seem to come without trying.

This woven cloth is going to become an apron.  Why?  Because last night, after pausing in my stitching, I laid it in my lap.  K. and I were watching a VERY long movie (“Henry Fool”), waiting for it to end, honestly, and I noticed that I really liked having the cloth there.  In my lap.  It seemed to belong there.

So, even though I never would have set out to turn this rectangle of linen into an apron HAD I THOUGHT ABOUT IT, I think it’ll be a really nice one. And a keeper.

Have you made any surprise decisions with a work-in-progress lately?

P.S.  “Don’t think too much” happens to be a good mantra for the days following dropping a first born at college!  In service of not thinking too much, my house is probably going to get pretty clean this week.  A tiny compensation for C’s absence.