Sandra Detrixhe - Zen and the Art of Quilting: Finding Peace Through Piecework

Avon, Massachusetts

For my friend Mary Peeler, who predicted this.

CHAPTER ONE:
Let the Possibilities Unfold

CHAPTER TWO:
Commit Yourself to the Task

CHAPTER THREE:
Red and Yellow, Black and White

CHAPTER FOUR:
Great Deeds Wrought at Great Risks

CHAPTER FIVE:
The Words of My Mouth

CHAPTER SIX:
Join the Sisterhood

CHAPTER SEVEN:
All You Need Is Love

CHAPTER EIGHT:
Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled

CHAPTER NINE:
Follow Your Bliss

CHAPTER TEN:
All Things Must Pass

Zen is the Japanese translation of a Sanskrit word meaning meditation. Zen proposes that we better understand ourselves and hence our place in the world by looking inward, knowing our true selves, and losing ourselves at the same time.

Zen is not a religion, although it is usually associated with Buddhism. It is actually a route toward enlightenment, the aim of Buddhism. But then, Buddhism isnt really a religion, either. You can be Christian, Jewish, agnostic, or anything else and a Buddhist at the same time. In fact, Buddhists believe we are all Buddhists; most of us simply havent discovered our Buddhist nature, thats all.

Zen is about our innermost life, about reality, about achieving our greatest potential. In Western cultures parlance, we call something Zen if it emphasizes the process over the product because self-discovery awaits in the doing. We call something Zen if it locates connections between seemingly unconnected things or finds dual truths in apparent contradictions because with Zen all things are connected. And we call something Zen if it recognizes the spiritual nature of ordinary acts or activities.

The word quilt comes from an Old French word meaning mattress. Though quilting, or sewing layers of fabric together, originally came from Asia and was influenced by Europeans, our usual image of a quilt as the pieced or patched handmade blanket is very American.

These two seemingly unrelated images, Zen and quilts, come together in meditation mats and sweet dreams under warm quilts. Yet everything about the process of making a quilt, preserving Grandmothers quilt, or giving a quilt to a newborn child can be full of spiritual meaning. Symbolism abounds in the marriage of beauty and function, the joy of a vision fulfilled (though not always as expected), or the union of, say, 612 individual pieces in one quilt.

Making a quilt comes down to the here and now, the moment-to-moment handling of the cloth, the threading of the needle, and the rocking of it back and forth in and out of the cloth. This is at once an activity both absorbing and mind-freeing. This is what meditation is, essentially: quiet surroundings, sitting still, repetitive mental patterns.

Not every quilt is going to be a Zen quilt. Certainly all of mine arent. You cant look at my quilts and tell which ones are and which ones arent. So what do I mean by a Zen quilt? A Zen quilt is one begun out of a desire to make it rather than to have it. It is a quilt made with an anticipation of the surprises, rather than a desire to make it just so. In other words, Ive let the spirit move me rather than the rules.

If youve never made a quilt before, be assured that it isnt an exact science, and you can do pretty much whatever you want. If you approach it with a spirit of adventure, itll be a rewarding experience. You dont need to make a big investment. You dont need a sewing machine, although it can speed things along, and you dont need a huge quilt frame, although some kind of hoop is going to make the stitching smoother. Youll need scissors, needles, thread, and faith. Oh, and cloth and batting, but well get to all that. Right now, concentrate on the faith part.

If you are an accomplished quilter, consider giving up a little of the perfection your experience has taught you for some recklessness of creativity. Whats the quilt you always wanted to do but were afraid would somehow look wrong? What are the color combinations you like that make everyone else cringe? What is the one idea you want to express but havent figured out how to yet?

Close your eyes, say a prayer, smile, and go for it.

New fabric requires preparation before you can use it. Machine-wash it. Then to keep it from becoming too wrinkled, cut away the worst of the frayed threads and shake out the fabric before tossing it into the dryer. Pull a thread near one cut edge to find the grain and cut along this line. Fold the fabric in half along the trimmed edge and hold it up to see if the selvages align. If they dont, pull the fabric on the bias until they do. Iron your fabric before cutting out your pieces.

Theres a little fabric store called Country Cousins two half-blocks and catty-cornered across an intersection from where I work. I go there sometimes during my lunch hour, foregoing food in favor of walking among the bolts of fabric or searching through the stacks of remnants and fat quarters.

Quilt making has become my favorite hobby in the past few years. As with any hobby, its an opportunity to leave my worries behind for an hour, or an afternoon if Im lucky. The quilt-in-progress will wait for me during the busy times, and I can jump right into it again when things ease up a little.

Quilt making is a whole-brain activity. The left brain is active cutting precise pieces and fitting them together like a puzzle, while the beauty of the quilt and the creativity of sewing appeal to the right brain. I love the feel of the fabric, the look of a well-made seam, and the surprises that sometimes come when fabrics blend in unusual ways. I enjoy counting down the progress: Last week I had 200 pieces to fit together, and now there are only 112. I need something to keep my hands busy while I watch TV, but I also like sitting in a quiet place while I piece or quilt, alone with my thoughts. Antique quilts have always fascinated me, but I appreciate them more now that Ive quilted, too.

Psychologists say our hobbies should be, in most respects, the opposite of our work activity. If our work is basically analytical, we need a creative hobby. If our work is physically demanding, we need a restful hobby, and vice versa. The only thing that keeps quilt making from being an ideal hobby for me is the lack of exercise. But at least I walk to the fabric store.

My daughter, Eden, a new convert to quilting, has recently earned a masters degree in political science. Her thesis dealt with women and minorities. For her, quilt making takes on additional meaning. She writes, A work of art that is also functional, a quilt is in the nitty gritty of everyday life, keeping a child warm, telling a story of a marriage or birth, noting personal memories of dresses worn or flour sacks used. It also tells womens stories at large: Of and for the home, it illustrates the sexual division of labor and gender expectations. Historically, its one of womens few sanctioned creative outlets and an excuse to get together with other women. The quilting circle or bee was a rare womens forum for whatever topic, perhaps foretelling the feminist consciousness-raising groups of the 1970s. At the same time, a quilt transcends all of that because it is art. Heart and soul, imagination and skill come together to create a work of useable art.