Henry Ward Beecher said, “Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.”

Reading, reading, reading . . . followed by writing, writing, writing.  A seemingly endless project due by the end of October is only relieved by bountiful moments of quilting or knitting.  Today I began reading, my toes curling before the fire.  The chill of the room was muting and my coffee was deliciously . . . warm!  The reading was interesting, but after three hours, lines began to blur, letters popped from the page, and I knew I had to put it down.  No matter how crucial it is that I get to the next portion of the project, I cannot go on if I am having difficulty reading.  I tooled around the house putting away books, throwing away trash, doing dishes, all mundane but necessary tasks. 

And then I realized what I was doing - avoiding, of course, the task at hand.  How to get those creative juices flowing again?  I walked into the craft room, turned on the iron, sat in the swivel chair, and picked up border and block, and began to sew.  Within an hour and a half, I had put together two complete rows of a soon-to-be quilt in delicious tones of pink and green!  How soul fulfilling the play is!

I went back to my reading, a relieved smile on my face.  Creativity spurs on creativity.  The one feeds the other, and the host is satisfied! 

Beck