E. ZERO WASTE/COLLECT

Taken from A Patchwork Life: The Hands-On Guide To Living by Louise Silk

Available as an ebook: A Patchwork Life: The Hands-On Guide To Living 

One can never have too many quilts. It’s easy to reach your limit on needlepoint pillows or knitted sweaters, but not quilts. There is always another bed, sofa, table, wall, birth, wedding, or celebration worthy of a quilt. 

Louise Silk; PowerPoint Talks 1998-2019

Being a prolific quilter for close to fifty years has brought me to an interesting juncture; I may have finally reached my quilt limit. Enclosed in this loft, along with enough materials and supplies for many more, sit a hundred or so finished quilts. It feels a little over the top and so methodically, with a clear head, I have switched to contemplate the non-physical benefits of my quilting life. Is it possible to patch together thoughts? Can I texturize my spirit? Will I finally accept myself as I am in the moment without stitching anything?

While I contemplate these questions, quilts continue to fill my days. I listen to podcasts while I cut and stitch. I create projects while taking long walks. I read books, and watch videos, consistently discovering quilt imagery that can be adapted into my current efforts.

My incentive to write about my process came after I saw the movie How to make an American Quilt. I was furious. The movie had absolutely nothing to do with how to make a quilt. It was the last straw in a series of quilt metaphors that by all rights belong to me, the one who truly knows how to make an American quilt. That original idea morphed several years later into my book The Quilting Path. This writing picks up the thread using the title I decided upon then: A Patchwork Life.

This past winter I walked seventy miles along the traditional Catholic spiritual walk, El Camino. At the end, I made the commitment to eliminate judgement toward all, myself included, and to increase body awareness to facilitate wise aging. Adding those commitments to my patchwork life enhances even more joy as I continue piecing together all manner of things in the moment of the day.