Hard Evidence: Aristotle Was Right

[Originally published August 25, 2015]

Five years ago, on an August afternoon, I saw a quilt like this hanging in one of my favorite quilt shops. Pine Needles was doing a "block of the month" class, and each of these adorable paper doll dresses was one of the monthly blocks - along with the two paper doll blocks, which reminded me of the Betsy McCall paper dolls that used to appear monthly in McCall's magazines. But, oh, the clothes...my response to seeing this quilt that day in the store was visceral - I WANTED IT. (please imagine a bigger font) Everything about it - the fact that it was paper dolls in the first place, the fabric choices - even the tiny "tabs" of white grosgrain ribbon on the shoulders of the dresses - all of it hearkened back to endless happy hours from my childhood playing with real paper dolls.

Before I knew it, I had pled with my mother to consider giving me my November birthday gift (money) and Christmas gift (money) - NOW, so I could purchase the kits that were available, finish out the year, and purchase the remaining kits so I could make this enchanting homage to one of my most cherished childhood memories. She agreed, happy birthday / Merry Christmas to me, the kits were in my home, I was ready to make it up!

Or... not. Problem: I had taken one hand applique class, sort of learned how to hand applique, and in typical ADD fashion, the sample / practice block from the class was in... which drawer? I did not have the skill set to make this quilt.

Please absorb that again: I DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO MAKE THIS QUILT.

But... I WANTED it. I. WANTED. IT.

And thus began a kinetic experience that God used to teach me one of the most important lessons of my life. Again.

First, I dug out the practice applique from that one class I took a few whenevers ago...

If you look very carefully at this sweet little pillow, you will see that many of those apples have strange little non-applish lumps and bumps. The stems and leaves weren't too bad, but those apples...! I worked on it for months to teach myself the technique of needle turn applique. Confession: to this day, I can't really "needle" turn as much as "finger" turn, with the help of my needle. Let's just say, thank heavens it's not being graded by Mrs. Linford, my 8th grade home ec teacher. The lumps and bumps don't really spoil the overall effect, don't you agree?

Then, as each apple got smoother and smoother, and I actually finished the pillow and decided I was ready to tackle the quilt.

A few months later, I decided I was really ready to tackle the quilt.

And a few months after THAT, I was really, truly - I MEAN IT THIS TIME - ready to TACKLE THE QUILT.

I decided I couldn't mess up a dress with mostly straight lines, so I started with this one.

Emboldened by the success, I picked the next not-too-many-weird-little-curves looking dress..

And so continued on until one day, my denial could no longer deny that I had to make those dang dolls, and make gathered or pleated skirts, or tiny little balls - or tinier still little dolls! Again, I say, Mrs. Linford would not be impressed with some of the finer points of my workmanship. But I wasn't making this for Mrs. Linford, now was I?

After the quilt came back from the quilter's - thank you, Cindy Leon, for your love, care, and brilliance on behalf of my heirloom! - I still had to learn one more untried skill - scalloping the edges and binding around those curves! And thank you to my long-time quilting buddy sister-friend, Connie Bell, for holding my hand yet again, and being a kinder, gentler home ec teacher, with the affectionate alias of Mrs. Pixton.

Finally, this weekend - almost exactly five years after I first saw this quilt in Pine Needles, I hung my own version of it in my sewing room. Please believe me when I tell you this: I can't believe I made it. I can't believe I made this. When I first saw it, all I knew was that I wanted it...with only a hint of a clue of what was required to make it.

I look at it now, and think of two powerful statements that teach the same lesson:

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."

- Aristotle

"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." - Philippians 4:13

ALL things? Make a quilt? Seriously?!?

Yup.

Every single thing we do to grow makes us more like the only perfectly obedient Son, so He helps us. And why would Jesus Christ, with all the chaos and suffering in this world, help li'l ol' me, in my currently sheltered corner of the world, make a quilt?

1. It taught me patience. FOUR YEARS? The pre-quilting me could not have conceived of sticking to this project and actually finishing it. Those four years? They would have passed anyway...and now I have a quilt!

2. It taught me perseverance. Almost the same as #1, but if you squint you'll see a finer point: with my highly distractable brain, steadily working on something, off and on, over four years, has given me a kinetic experience akin to perfecting my life. I have actually experienced, with my muscles, the process of sticking with something, over time, and changing because of it. I've experienced putting it down for long periods during those four years, and picking it up again, just as committed to finishing it as I ever was.

3. It taught me that if I really want something completely out of reach, there is actually something inside me that doesn't shut down and dismiss it as impossible. That is never a bad thing to learn, especially because...

4. It taught me that I can, in very deed, become like Jesus Christ eventually. I can practice being like him every day, making lumpy bumpy apples and doing it quite badly. But because of His grace - both in allowing me the experience of practicing and having His Atonement clean up the messes I inevitably make along the way - I can keep at it, and over time, that grace will make me...enough.

5. It taught me that God wants me to be happy. I mean seriously, it's only a quilt, right? But it makes me happy. And God - my Father - my Creator who takes joy in creating and calls His creations good - loves that I find joy when I copy Him in creating beauty.

It's a chatty little quilt, isn't it? If you know me very well, this shouldn't surprise you. :)