The worth of perseverance

The short row of stitches directly under the lower safety pin are those done SLOWLY with my left hand.

In sewing, book publishing, and everyday life....

I considered this post a few days ago when I was happily appliqueing by hand Lucy Boston (LB) blocks. Since then my right shoulder has asserted its right to be cranky, and I don't know for how long this will be the case. Hence, perseverance now applies to waiting out troublesome joints, being fully aware that what will be most certainly will be.

Ahem. Anyways.... I pondered this post while hand-stitching a project I truly had no idea would come to fruition. Perhaps this entry is also about being faithful to one's inner spirit, or Spirit, depending on your beliefs. Either way, being faithful, obedient even (now there's an idea to spark blog post musings....) to what calls upon your heart is EXTREMELY VITAL. It's why I have books available for readers, why a Lucy Boston quilt in an altered form continues to evolve (as earlier today I did some hand-quilting with my LEFT hand, lol), why anything that matters to us that seems DAMN HARD even occurs. Being faithful to the calls upon our hearts and souls requires heaps of determination, at times sacrifices little and large, and certainly perseverance.

In Romans 5:3-5 Paul writes: ...because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. Goodness knows we need hope, but how do we get to that stage? Because for many years I had no hope that my scrappy Lucy Boston blocks would do more than take up space in a tote as well as irritate my consciousness that all the work put into them, from choosing and prepping fabrics to basting and stitching said fabrics together, would amount to anything worthwhile. I began this project shortly after I got into EPP in 2018, so it's been hanging around, at times like a millstone breaking my neck, for YEARS. Why I started it, I have no freakin' idea, and it was with the honest intention of crafting a full-blown LB EPP quilt; I have the paper pieces for accompanying one-inch squares and rectangles to prove it.

I dug through my EPP papers tote, also finding some crown shapes that probably won't be used either.

Those papers, to Present Me's mind, will never be utilized by me, myself, and I, mostly because if I am able to complete the EPP projects already underway I would be THRILLED! My right shoulder barks at me, laughs at me, teases me: Maybe I'll heal. Maybe I'll let you sew. Maybe.... WHATEVER shoulder, jeez! My life isn't all about you, well, the part of my life that isn't about handsewing, lol. Yet I will attempt to do what I can with sewing, left or right handed, and be very grateful that Recently Past Me followed her heart to 1) Finish those LB blocks. 2) Plot out an appropriate project for them. And 3) Be smart enough to let our full-of-itself shoulder dictate what happens next. 

(And yes, I am including Past Me from less than two hours ago in her attempt to hand-quilt left handed. I see her nod appreciatively, a tiny smirk on her face.)

Because Future Me knew that Past Me's smirk-worthy actions would spur Current Me's ridiculously outta left field blog post. LOLOL! Where is the deep analysis of perseverance, huh?  Suffering produces determination, determination produces character, character produces hope blah blah blah.... Not that St. Paul deserves a blah blah blah attached to his writings, but yeah, this post has wound its way onto some other yellow brick road, maybe more about my shoulder than I meant to say, which probably pleases said shoulder, already feeling damn full of its painful self. Yet my life, creative and spiritual and practical, acknowledges that a wonky shoulder fits into the scheme in its own high-handed way, alongside all the rest that makes up my.... My wonky, creative, spiritual, practical life. Because life is made up of so many aspects, some of which require perseverance!

HAH! There is it, perseverance, wonky shoulder be darned!

Anyway, that's my take on why perseverance matters. Obedience is another force, maybe I'll write about it one day. First comes reviewing Draft2Digital's publishing operations, plus telling the story of Owl Chicken's rescue. Eventual tales for Future Me to tell when she's feeling chatty.