The Anonymous Quilter

I am an anonymous quilter. I don't often show my work to anyone--especially anyone outside of my small circle of friends who like the stuff I make. When my husband asks what I am working on, my usual reply is " Oh just fooling around with an idea--hope it works!" I have a few quilts that I have never shown my daughters--the one I made to conjure a little girl from China--I have never shown them.

More precious than gold, worth more than all the tea in China

I like it that way. It's too personal to show to just anyone.

I also don't tell anyone that I write a blog. It's for me--if you happen to stumble upon it--that's good but otherwise it's just for me. If you enjoy it when you read it, that's good, but not really necessary to me.

The other night, I was watching Madam Secretary. She is the Secretary of Something Big in the US government. Her life is full with trying to raise a family and fight fires for the President. She was invited to make a graduation speech for a big university, but sent her speech writer in her place. She was too busy. Her speech writer, I can't remember his name, apologized for being her substitute but then went on to tell the graduates that there are a lot of very important jobs that go virtually unknown and that maybe that's where many of them should focus their attention. For every Big Wheel there are a lot of little wheels that keep things moving along.

Maybe that speech was for me. Maybe I will never be Nancy Crow or Elizabeth Barton or Lisa Call or any of the other world famous quilters who get invited to put on show, who are paid thousands of dollars to give a trunk show and whose work sells in the thousands of dollars range. That's really OK with me. I don't want to be them. I just want to look at their work, and admire it and them go home and make more quilts.

I think that I am happy just with what I have. I am still going to make quilts--and I am still going to apply to be included in shows--and I am still going to get the rejection letters. My quilts might not be included in a lot of shows but they are still good. They tell stories about me and mine, they cheer people up, they brighten my life. My friends often look at someone's work or a piece of fabric and say "Oh that's one for Karen. She'd like this" That means that they recognize my style. Sometimes, I wonder why they pick a certain thing that they think I would like but that's OK , too.

Bloom where you are planted@2009

I think I have reached an age when I know that a lot of things that I maybe wanted to do at some time are just not going to happen. I am never going to live in a little cabin in the woods.(but I might soon have a little trailer on my daughters property--even better)my house is not going to be in House Beautiful, I am never going to learn how to fly an airplane. I am not going to get a PHD in anything. But I can still make a lot of quilts. I know that I won't need to buy any fabric!!

So, if you stumbled into my little corner, thanks for stopping by. I hope you liked it.

karenwhojustwantstohavefun.