It is possible that I am making the same quilt over and over again.
Oh look, there’s another blue moon! And — surprise! — another hut, with its two-toned roof angled skyward.
And, my goodness — two in a week!! — ANOTHER two-toned roof and ANOTHER moon — stitched together!
Leave it to a Buddhist to address the matter of repetition with eloquence. Gary Snyder:
Repetition and ritual and their good results come in many forms. Changing the filter, wiping noses, going to meetings, picking up around the house, washing dishes, checking the dipstick — don’t let yourself think these are distracting you from your more serious pursuits. Such a round of chores is not a set of difficulties we hope to escape from so that we may do our ‘practice’ – which will put us on a ‘path’ – it IS our path… The truly experienced person, the refined person, DELIGHTS IN THE ORDINARY. Such a person will find the tedious work around the house or office as full of challenge and play as any metaphor of mountaineering might suggest…. One goes out onto the ‘trail that cannot be followed’ which leads everywhere and nowhere, a limitless fabric of possibilities, elegant variations a millionfold on the same themes, yet each point unique.
From, The Practice of the Wild.
Here is a peak at what I really think about this latest Moon Hut quilt (depicted with my feet above).
I make the sky out of a linen so soft it begs to be touched. The swirls on it suggest wind to me, and are a green I struggle to name – sea foam? Moss? The dragging of thread along some of the swirls pleases me, accentuating their drama and direction, providing a welcome counterpoint to yammering, televised heads debating Medicare’s future. The orange leaves and red leaves play off of each other, and provide a feathery sense of movement, and a nod to the incomparable work of Jude Hill, who explores feathers and wings this season. The moons of the foreground place sky into the ground – a kind of reversal that also pleases me. There’s even a little redemption here – for I am making use of a fragment from a barn quilt that couldn’t find a place until it landed here. How can all of this not be (to quote another icon) a ‘good thing’?!!
Today I will practice thinking about these hut and moon quilts as “elegant variations” – which I already know to be true, if I am honest, if I stay away from over-thinking, if I flick doubt away like a pesky gnat, denying it purchase. That’s a practice, too – flicking doubt away like a pesky gnat, denying it purchase.
Where pleasure resides, repetition is no effort at all.
‘DELIGHTS IN THE ORDINARY’…I love that.
and i think it is all a ‘good thing’.
what a beautiful post Dee!
oh wow Dee, a beautiful and moving post
thanks, all….
That was a good lesson, watching you come full circle. You have a very distinctive voice. I can always recognize your work and it sings to me. I love your houses and I’m so pleased that they still have stories to tell and songs to sing. I say Yippee!
it’s a lovely neighborhood you’re building, house by house by house, and a barn or two, too!
yes, ali, the barns are coming along…
Thank you. Great blog, and the Gary Snyder quote is just what I need to hear this morning….