(Needle, wool, stitches, sigh….)

I was thinking about the quilt I made for my dad about 10 years ago, the Christmas before he died. Well…. it wasn’t exactly a quilt, more of a little blanket. And co-incidentally it was made from old blankets. I got the idea from a class I attended. In the begining it was going to be quilt-sized and perfect… but I had other stuff to do, so it was small and imperfect!

(Detail from my Dad’s quilt)

I got the blankets from my mother and dyed them red, blue and green. She and my Dad originally received them as wedding presents in the 60s. But they’d stopped using them in favour of duvets, easier for bed making. My Dad’s quilt is made from cut up scraps of those coloured blankets, sewn together. Even as I sit here in a noisy Dart in the dark on my way home I can remember the exquisite pleasure of sewing those scraps together with coloured wool.

(More detail….)

This has made me consider two separate parts to creating something…… 1) the creating of it and 2) the finished creation. Even though the finished creation may never be perfect, there is huge value in the creating of it.

Go forth and create something imperfect, Mairead