I spent many years building a foundation of quilting experience. In that process, I lost my touch with a true creative process and took my art for granted. In the end I wasn’t joyfully making and pouring my soul into something new, I was just producing an iteration of someone’s preconceived ideas.

So I quit.

I used my entry into motherhood as the excuse to walk away from my heart song. I had no idea how important it is to a soul to faithfully cultivate a creative practice. There is something within us, as created beings, that needs to create. The medium isn’t important, but what is important is to know which medium it is that makes your own soul sing. I’ve tried so many, from pottery to lettering, gardening to crochet, and more. I can confidently say I’m a quilter. Quilting just fits like a native language.  That’s an important thing to discover for yourself.

I was blessed for many years to have a room of my own for making. Who doesn’t want to shut the door on an in-process creative mess?! But babies came along and that room as called to serve a different process. And so I thought the thing to do was to box up my tools and focus on other things. I had no idea that doing this also meant that I was shutting away a piece of essence. And at such an important place in my story.

How grateful am I, then, for a renewed connection. An undeniable, visceral connection.

There’s a reason that art is treasured. But I think we forget, while treasuring the pieces that are made, that we should also treasure the act of making art. Each of us. No matter what that art is. There’s a soul-filling mindfulness that encompasses all of the senses when we set out to bring life to an idea.

Find your thing. Dive deep, and gratefully listen for the heart strings. And then carefully cultivate a daily, intentional practice of making something beautiful.