Idle Hands Beget The Devils Work
As a southern girl, sewing was a rite of passage. You never questioned if you should learn, it was a matter of when. Though I possess the skill, it was rarely put to use. One day, while shopping for a quilt, I went back to my roots.
Searching for a quilt with an ethnic feel, I went to several department stores. I found nothing that appealed to my sense of color, style and culture - nothing that spoke to my soul. So, I gave up, went to an African fabric store, selected fabrics, and made my own.
As a child in rural Alabama, this routine restored memories of the first quilt I ever made. I was nine and in fourth grade. Around this time, my grandmother made a quilt for each of her grandchildren as a Christmas gift. Now, my nephew of nine sleeps on that same quilt. Tattered and re-stitched in several places, it remains a familial favorite.
While making my most recent quilt, I rediscovered that quilting is more than sewing, it's a bond from generation to generation. Wrapped in my grandmother's gift, I feel her presence. Hair askew, laughing in her lap, I'm nine again, with all its incumbent joys.
Cutting and stitching, there is a powerful rebirthing of a time gone by - the smell of honeysuckle on a fence, the clang of cow bells heard from the field, watermelon juice circling the curve of a sticky, ashy elbow.
I am convinced that if today's youth were taught to occupy their hands with more than buttons on a video game, they would learn patience, pride, and develop confidence. And just maybe, we would have fewer troubled youth today. As Grandma used to say, "Idle hands beget the devil's work."
At nine, you don't relate to that sentiment. But as I designed, cut, and sewed, the hours zoomed by. I felt as if I was lost in a good book, only I decided the characters, the plot, the ending.
Now that Zola (my sewing machine) has unleashed her magical powers, she refuses to occupy her once familiar place in the bottom of my old college trunk. She sits atop her new surroundings proudly, beckoning me, as if to admonish my idle hands.
There are days when I tell Zola to leave me alone, but in no time at all the fabrics in all their fanciful colors and patterns beckon, and we are one again, creating in unison, literally sewing the seeds of our destiny.
This article courtesy of http://www.timelessquilting.com. You may freely reprint this article on your website or in your newsletter provided this courtesy notice and the author name and URL remain intact.
Yuwanda & Cassandra Black are the owners of EthnicHomeDecor.com. Ethnic Home Decor offers soft home furnishings with ethnic themes at affordable prices.
Latest News
LateRooms.com - Rome Hosts 2010 Hobby Show 24-7PressRelease.com (press release) Crafts are the focus of Rome's Hobby Show, during which people will be able to take part in workshops and peruse art supplies relating to their pastimes. ... |
Crafts and hobbies events Times Herald-Record If you have a special craft, hobby or leisure activity story, or if you have pictures or an event, e-mail Amy Berkowitz at aberkowitz@th-record.com. ... |
Hobbies a benefit for our health Statesman Journal ... her hobbies include photography and card making. Maybe it was the fact our mother was an occupational therapist that we grew up surrounded by crafts. ... |
Crevier, Harvey J. Green Bay Press Gazette He also enjoyed hobbies such as crafts, woodworking, and rebuilding tractors. Another pastime, Harvey enjoyed was square dancing with Beverly. ... |
Hobby Lobby opening Sept. 13 Daytona Beach News-Journal Hobby Lobby offers crafts, hobbies, picture framing, jewelry making, fashion fabrics, floral, scrapbooking, cards, baskets, wearable art, home accents, ... |
Crow Wing County Fair Ribbon Results - part 4 Brainerd Daily Dispatch Red-NH Hobbies,Crafts and Art - Miscellaneous Hobby Craft - Any Other. Blue-Homemaking Crafts - Home Econ for Grade 7-9 - Any other not mentioned. ... Crow Wing County Fair Ribbon Results - part 5 |
 Success Magazine | From the Corner Office: David Green of Hobby Lobby Success Magazine Green applies his people-first approach to employees as well as customers, who appreciate a vast selection of well-priced arts and crafts supplies, ... |
Salem Pig Returns WSLS.com He drove down to the concrete plant in Boones Mill, and spent $300 on a replacement pig that now sets in front of Crossroads Hobbies & Crafts. ... |
 Valley Voice | Hobby Store Eyeing Old Visalia Mervyn's Site Valley Voice Hobby Lobby offers crafts, hobbies, picture framing, jewelry making, fashion fabrics, floral, cards & party, baskets, wearable art, home accents, ... |
Shop Talk: Sept. 1 Gaylord Herald Times This is Hobby Lobby's 18th store in Michigan. The store's grand opening will be this fall. Hobby Lobby offers crafts, hobbies, picture framing, ... |
Resources
-
Sorry Currently Unavailable