Some days it is difficult to feel certain that seeds we are sowing today will bloom and grow tomorrow. We are never assured that the efforts we make either creatively, relationally, financially or otherwise, will yield a harvest. So many variables come to play in the growth process and if I think about it too long and mull over the realistic possibilities, I can talk myself out of starting anything.
But if I remain in the present and the planting…if I let myself go all in and lay down crazy shapes of fabric scraps, stitch them together and mark the furrows of lines where flowers could grow…hope kindles and I believe. Yes, Audrey Hepburn…to plant a garden does indeed hold the seeds of belief in tomorrow. With each stitch, more of the riotous garden is revealed. Like a magic hoe, my needle pulls up color and texture, giving wings to the hope I had in the beginning.
This fragment was actually begun about 3 years ago. I don’t know why I put things down mid-project…but when I fluffed the contents of my box I found this piece and decided it should be completed. As always happens, it doesn’t take too much work to finish what I had put away. A few stitches here, French knots there, words around the image, bring meaning to the fabric garden.
Though it took three years from start to finish, I’m glad I planted this little garden! đź’š It reminds me that tomorrow often brings beauty from the work of our hands. It also reminds me of another favorite quote…a poem by Emily Dickinson—
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all –
And sore must be the storm –
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm –
And on the strangest Sea –
Yet – never – in Extremity,
It asked a crumb – of me.
The Silver Dapple 