Finding Beauty in Unexpected Places, Day 10: Falling to Pieces

As part of my Sarah Ruhl obsession, I recently read an article she wrote about re-runs and repetitions in contemporary American Theatre. In the article she asks, "Does theatre in our culture pretend to be talking to people only with special theatre expertise? And if so, will theatre slowly become akin to quilt making? A sweet, ancient, labour-intensive activity that's ultimately not very practical?"

Set aside for a moment that this is essentially my argument in my dissertation. Ruhl's paring of two things I love - theatre and quilting made me react indignantly: "But theatre and quilting are very important! Theatre can change lives and create dialogues! And quilts are practical! Ben and I use the quilts and blankets made by our mothers and grandmothers daily!"

Okay, maybe I got a little to fired up. That's what we arts & humanities people do when we are told our work is not of practical value.

All of this is just an introduction to say I'm indulging in pretty fabrics this week, be it a practical use of my time or not. In lieu of going somewhere over break, I decided to take a creative sabbatical. Although I have lots of grading and (impractical) research to do over break, I'm letting myself take a couple hours each day to work on a quilt top. I'm making this quilt for myself (and our home), something I haven't done since 2003, shortly before I moved to Virginia.

The thing that I love about quilting is that you are taking fabrics, beautiful on their own, cutting them into pieces, arranging these pieces into a new order, and (hopefully) creating something even more beautiful through the process. It's a lovely metaphor for taking risks, and maybe that's why I tend to undertake quilts for myself at transitory moments of my life.

I spent most of Sunday cutting pieces for this new project. I still have more to cut. I'm hopeful that I'll actually get to lay the scissors aside and maybe sew some of these pieces together over break. Oh, what does it say that I am taking up impractical quilting to escape from my impractical research?