At a recent meeting of a quilt organization I belong to (Michigan Quilt Network), we had a speaker, Kelly Smith, who authored a book entitled, Open Your Heart With Quilting-Mastering Life through Love of the Patches. I found when reading Kelly's book that we shared a mutual appreciation for another book, Simple Abundance, by Sarah Ban Breathnach. In introducing Kelly, I cited a favorite entry that contains a statement about the creative process attributed to St. Francis of Assisi. It says,

"the women who works with her hands only is a laborer; the woman who works with her hands and her head is a craftswoman; the woman who works with her hands, her head, and her heart is an artist."

Kelly talked about how she came to write her book and what she learned about why people quilt. The presentation was followed by a special show and tell where members brought in quilts that they had made to commemorate a special event or person in their lives or for someone they knew. As each person came forward to share their narrative and show their quilts we were touched by heartwarming and emotional stories about life experiences, some happy and some sad. It seemed that although many of us entered the room as strangers we were going to leave with new friendships and understandings for our passion about quilting. It was also clear to me that I was in a room full of artists as each quilt contains a piece of the heart from the person who made it.

Happy Stitching,

Karen Gibson