Tonight I am unpacking my suitcases from last week’s 4-day quilt retreat with my friends. I’ve been a bit busy since my return, so I am just now unfolding those projects and returning my machine and all my stuff to the quilt room downstairs. I finished 7 quilt tops and started 2 new ones. It was heaven. My favorite part of a quilt retreat like this is wandering through the room, visiting with the ladies, watching Creativity at Work. Of course, I also sew like a driven woman, but after every few hours at the machine, it’s fun to stretch and take a wander to see what’s being made by others. The room was electric, filled with the buzz of creative hands and minds and the beauty of fabrics being turned into quilts. It’s really quite a miraculous process. We come with bags and containers filled with fabrics and all our quilt-making gadgets–mats, rotary cutters, rulers, irons, and every possible notion–then we cut that fabric up into little pieces, mix them around a bit, then put them back together into magnificent patterns–creations that will bring beauty, warmth and love to our families and homes.
President Dieter Uchtdorf said, “The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. No matter our talents, education, backgrounds, or abilities, we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before. . . . Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment. We develop ourselves and others when we take unorganized matter into our hands and mold it into something of beauty.”
That’s what we were doing. Making something beautiful that did not exist before. And as soon as we finished one, we started the next. 100 women driven to beautify our worlds. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Here are a few of the beautiful creations made or displayed last week:
Come take a look at these other American Quilting Retreats:
American Quilting Retreat 2015: 144 Women. 144 Machines. One Room!