Life isn't just about darkness or light, rather it's about finding light within the darkness.~ Landon Parham
When the Project Quilting 12.1 challenge was announced on Sunday the rules were that we were to base our project on Pantone's Color of the Year 2021-which is actually two colors: Pantone 17-5104 Ultimate Gray + Pantone 13-0647 Illuminating. Our project this week must be predominantly Gray & Yellow.
I was excited because I love these two colors together and I already had a spark of an idea. That is until I started digging through my stash. Now if it were a green & brown challenge I would have enough fabric to create 100 projects, but find some grey or yellow in my mess, not a chance.
I did manage to pull out some batiks that were mostly gray, I found one lone strip of bright yellow/gold & was thrilled to find some gray wool pieces. On Sunday I had a plan & I had fabric!
To say 2020 was a rough year is an understatement. I can't really claim the entire year was rough since we made it through January & February with our hopes still intact. But when the middle of March rolled around the year pretty much went south.
Not all of the stress of my year can be blamed on the virus, life can be tough even without germs lurking around, but throw a pandemic into the mix & suddenly the crazy became even crazier. There were days when life just felt overwhelming.
Yet we all know, we have had other equally tough years. Throughout history people have gone through hard times, plagues, sorrows & heartbreaks. What keeps us going, how do we muster the strength to get up every day & face the unknowns?
I believe for many of us it is our faith & a strong sense of hope that keeps us always moving forward. Even when we are in times of deepest despair there is something hardwired in us that tells us that there is something better waiting for us. We may not see it in the here and now, but deep inside us we know it's there. There is always a "bright spot on the horizon."
Seeking out the bright spots in our lives can make the present situation more bearable. This year it seemed there were a lot of dark days for many people, some days really felt hopeless on all fronts. Keeping ones eye on the horizon wasn't always easy, sometimes just when we felt things were working out the way we hoped they would, something else would come along & knock us back down.
I like to think I am a pretty optimistic person, but this past year my negativity came out in full force. I was crabby, annoyed, tense, irritated, down right ANGRY & most of the time honestly irrational. It was probably a really good thing we were stuck at home for most of the year! I know in order for me to keep moving forward, I need to hold on to hope, keep the faith & look for that bright spot on the horizon.
One of the bright spots for me this year has been a running conversation that two of my dearest friends and I have been having together through texts & messages every week. For a number of reasons based around health issues, work issues & travel issues we have not been able to get together in person, yet we have kept in touch almost daily.
This bright spot of shared love for each other has kept me going on some pretty bleak days. We don't really talk about anything overly philosophical, mostly we talk about art & quilting projects we are working on, our grandkids, THEY were able to talk about their gardens this summer (mine was a bust! LOL), we rant about life, jobs, things that annoy us, frustrate us or even things that we are frightened or worried about. Our conversations connect us with the shared hope that soon we will be able to get together in person & spend an entire day together doing absolutely nothing but enjoying each others company!
When I found out the challenge was one using only gray and yellow, I knew I wanted to make something that represented the bright spot that has kept me going through some crazy, rough days.
I got a little carried away cutting my strings & some of them got pretty tiny & hard to sew together. I quilted it with straight lines, adding some zig zags along the edges with a darker thread.
Before Project Quilting started this season I was feeling a little bit meh about even joining this year. But once I starting slashing that gray fabric & sewing it back together, my hope was restored & I was anticipating the next challenge before I even finished binding this one.
Wow, this is really neat! Love your super skinny strips and the bit of hope on the horizon!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
ReplyDeleteLover of strips and strings, here. Beautiful mini! Inspiring story. Thanks for sharing both with PQ12.1!!
ReplyDeleteThis is incredible! It reminds me of a rug too ;) Love seeing your work.
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