Words and Stitches

For a long time now,  my inclination has been about creating things with words.   I have done a lot of that and have produced everything from sermons to a novel, from short stories to a blog.  The best way to describe my activity is that I made things with words. When bored and looking for something to do,  my first move would likely be toward the computer.

For Christmas I got a simple sewing machine.  A sewing room is being built. A couple of small projects have been completed.  I'm amazed at how much I am enjoying the process of sewing.  As I figured I might be,  I am much more patient, not rushed, willing to take it one step at a time.  Today I worked on a very challenging 'rip it apart' project with a seam ripper.  It was tedious because the stitches were tight and close together and had to be removed one at a time. It wasn't possible to just slide the ripper under a seam and let it rip.  That would have cut the fabric,  so it required a great deal of time and concentration.

Somewhere along the way when I was pulling out a tight knotted stitch,  it made me think of words.  In a way, I have traded in words for stitches. I can see a lot of similarities between the two vastly different activities.   If you put together a string of words in a carefully constructed way, you get a good sentence.  With a sewing machine,  you get a seam.  Lots of sentences make a paragraph, then a page,  eventually a story or poem or novella.   If you make enough stitches, you get seams, and if you sew enough seams, eventually you produce a finished product--  a pillow, a placemat, a skirt.

Both writing and sewing are creative activities.  One is more with the brain, the other more with the hands.  While I do not think I'll be giving up my writing passion any time soon,  I am quite pleased to be learning a new creative passtime.  At the very least, I hope to make some homemade gifts for next year's Christmas!

If words were stitches, I'd sew them straight;
if stitches were words, what could I make?
Create a character, and give her shape;
Sew a quilt, for goodness sake!