October quilts

I'm learning that you can tell how stressed I was during a particular month by how many quilts I quilted.  13 for this month: It was a busy, stressful month.

I must change that for November.  With the changes I'm making in the sewing/quilting rooms and the realization that quilting really makes me happy, I am hoping to make more quilting time, even when I've had a bad day at work.  The days I quilt are the days I'm happy.  Even if the day doesn't start out that way, it ends that way if I can get a quilt finished (well, I don't do the binding and often don't do the piecing, so quilting is my finished).

Quilting is my therapy.  It gives me quiet time to pray, think, reflect on the good in people and bring comfort to others who have bad things happen in their lives.

Just this week I had a student who really wasn't present mentally in my class.  He was sitting, staring off in space, not paying attention to what I was saying.  Normally he's a happy kid who laughs and jokes a lot.  I asked him what was wrong and he said his grandma was about to go in for a bone scan because her cancer had come back after 20 years.  He wasn't sure if his mom was coming to school to pick him up or not and he really was having a hard time concentrating on what I was saying.

I think I will make his grandma a quilt.

I know there are a lot of kids with situations like that in my classes.  I had a girl out for three days and when she came back she said it was 'family issues'.  I didn't ask any more because she started crying.

If you have a little fabric and a little time, could you please make a comfort quilt and drop it off at your local high school?  Give it to the front office and ask them to give it to the counseling office or school psychologist.  These kids are going through so many things that you just can't imagine.  A girl at a neighboring school just committed suicide by stepping in front of a train because she was being bullied.  I try to be available to the kids and listen to their conversations about life.  Sure, I teach science, but I really teach life.  I'm not one of those teachers who wants kids to be quiet and not bother me.  I want to be involved with their lives and share with me what is going on.  Some days it's really hard because I don't like hearing what they share, but I feel privileged they feel safe enough to share with me the good and the bad.

And at the end of the day, I need to remind myself that I need the therapy the soft feel of fabric gives to me.  I totally understand why my mom used to pet the fabric at the store when she walked through the isles.  It brings a strange comfort to the soul.