Within the Lutheran Church it is understood that God comes to us and is available to us. In my life I experience this over and over. My awareness comes in streams of creativity – the solution to a problem or an idea for a project. Always the “bottom line” is a choice – to do the loving thing. Loving is the risk and the creative fuel.

Before I was old enough to write, my Grandmother Welsh would listen to my ideas and say, “God gives you good thoughts. We must write them down.” She would do just that and put them in a small “idea box” so I would not forget them.
I keep that tradition.

My mother’s family lives in rural Kentucky where the art of handcrafts is respected and celebrated. There the Shaker verse is understood – “Tis a gift to be simple. Tis a gift to be free. Tis a gift to come down where you ought to be. And when we find ourselves in the place just right, we’ll be in the valley of love and delight.” When my parents retired to Greensburg, Kentucky to restore an old house that was on the National Historical Register my reason for weaving, knitting and quilting became more clear. I did “serious” weaving to support their efforts!

Handcrafts are time and labor intensive art. They are also “family friendly.” Children delight in the process and are able to meaningfully participate as soon as they are interested. At my father's suggestion I registered Restoration Crafts as a business. This, he said, would allow me to more seriously do what I love doing. He had a good idea!

My opportunities continue to grow. Life itself is a weaving. The more each of us learns the more meaningful our life becomes and the connections we can make become greater. Colors remind us of experiences. The feel of fabric triggers a memory of touch. The scent of melting wax gives us a vision of candle-lit late night conversations. All of this the saints and mystics of earlier times knew. As each of us continues to create we weave our own life into the tapestry of time...