
It has to do with simplicity. I love quilting, but it is not a simplicity-friendly hobby. If you are old enough to remember the notions section of your old Five and Ten Cents store, then seemly hundreds of little supplies will appear on your memory counter—pins, needles, thread, scissors, of all kinds, not to mention all that fabric. And, as we who sew tell each other, “You can’t have enough fabric!”
But that’s not all. Along with all the supplies, you need a large work space, and then, since sewing projects take a while to set up, you want to be able to leave everything out—forever, meaning all year. Oh, one more thing—quilting is time intensive. It’s a full time job.
I boxed everything (out of sight) because right now simplicity means not having stuff around (out of mind) to suggest that I “should” finish a project. However, I like having an on-going craft to work on, and so I have resurrected a stitchery project--with a Celtic design--that I purchased last year while visiting Iona. In contrast to all the complexities of quilting, stitchery is simple, and yet it offers many of the rewards of quilting (which I’ll go into on another day).