• About Finishedright
  • Grammar Tips
  • Writing Biographies
  • Interesting Facts about Medical Practice 1880-1930

finishedright

~ a proofreading service for self-publishers

finishedright

Tag Archives: quilts

Piecing Together a Story

29 Monday Feb 2016

Posted by Nancy Clark in Uncategorized, Writing Biographies

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

biography, Dr. Blaine, old time doctor, quilting, quilts, writing biography

I have always enjoyed working with fabric. My mother taught me to sew by the time I was 10 or 11, starting with hand-stitched doll clothes and then graduating to my own clothes on her sewing machine. As a young mother, I made clothing for my two children as well as for myself and my husband. Making or adjusting curtains became a necessity as we moved many times in our marriage. I never became what you would consider an accomplished seamstress but had fun challenging myself with creating a wall hanging or completing a quilt that my grandmother had pieced many years before.

Quilt blockRecently I completed another quilt that someone else had started. It was a simple task of assembling already sewn blocks into a top and then lining it and providing a backing. But it gave me such unexpected pleasure that now I can’t stop. It wasn’t so much the stitching together (the quilting part) of all the layers of fabric, but more the design and assembly of the pieces that intrigued me. Working with colors and patterns to create something uniquely my own feeds my need to bring order from chaos, beauty from randomness.

And then it struck me. Isn’t this the same fulfillment that I find in writing the biography of my great-grandfather? To gather all the disparate facts and episodes of his life and create something new that will be his unique story?

But the analogy doesn’t end there. (Aren’t analogies fun?) In the process of creating a quilt top, I sort through the fabric that I already have to see what blends with what, what makes for interesting contrast, what can  be used for borders or trim, what general theme I want to follow. In the same way, as I write the biography, I sort through the tons of material I have collected to see what might be appropriate for this or that chapter, what little detail might bring a story to life, what is interesting but may be only a sideline, and what general theme will tie it all together.

As I continue to lay out the various fabric pieces for a new quilt, I sometimes come to the difficult conclusion that a certain piece (Why does it have to be my favorite?) just doesn’t work with the others or with the theme I have chosen. So out it goes, perhaps to appear in a later creation. Similarly, as much as I would like to include in my book all the fascinating facts about the development of medicine in the United States from 1880 to 1930, too much of it will bog down the flow of the story. So out it goes — or much of it anyway — perhaps to appear in a blog post or an essay somewhere down the line.

Since my Scotch heritage demands that I pinch pennies, I try very hard to use up the fabric and other supplies already on hand for whatever project I’m working on. Invariably, somewhere in the middle of my planning, I suddenly realize that I need another yard of white cotton or a spool of red thread, and off I go to the nearest fabric store. As I continue writing chapters of my book, I come across blank spaces in my knowledge: What year was the city of Attica electrified? What does “chirurgery” mean? Why did the B & O Railroad help fund a community hospital in Willard? And off I go mining the Internet for those hidden gems.

Of course, as with any analogy, even a fruitful one, the comparison eventually breaks down. In my case, the planning and execution of a  quilt (at least the kind I make) is much less involved than the writing of my great-grandfather’s biography. And once a quilt is completed, I can give it to a loved one or a favorite charity, but its distribution is very limited. My book, when eventually published, will be shared with a much wider audience.

So as I work on both my quilts and my book, I’ll continue to find joy in their similarities and satisfaction in their differences, using my God-given talents for both to create beauty from chaos.

 

Share this:

  • Share
  • Facebook
  • Print
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

Blog Stats

  • 2,078 hits

Previous Posts

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 24 other followers

Blogs I Follow

  • A Church for Starving Artists
  • Charity Singleton Craig
  • Giselle Roeder
  • http://five2onemagazine.com
  • The Historical Diaries
  • My Mysterious Musings
  • G-Lines - Updates/Thoughts
  • siuquxemovies
  • Power Plant Men
  • Squirrels in the Doohickey
  • Jay Leeward
  • finishedright
  • The WordPress.com Blog
  • SheepCarrot
  • Writing Naturally
  • The Daily Post

Blog at WordPress.com.

A Church for Starving Artists

Jan Edmiston writes things here.

Charity Singleton Craig

Chasing Wonder through Stories of Faith, Hope, and Love

Giselle Roeder

Relating to Books by Giselle Roeder

http://five2onemagazine.com

The Historical Diaries

My Mysterious Musings

Where you never know what you're going read.

G-Lines - Updates/Thoughts

a proofreading service for self-publishers

siuquxemovies

thriller,spy,action,drama,detective,medical thriller,horror,mystery and paranormal movies

Power Plant Men

True Power Plant Stories

Squirrels in the Doohickey

...and other profound observations of the absurd

Jay Leeward

Hard at work (hardly working?) at The Salt Mine

finishedright

a proofreading service for self-publishers

The WordPress.com Blog

The latest news on WordPress.com and the WordPress community.

SheepCarrot

The Random, Uncensored Musings and Writings of Eliza Winkler

Writing Naturally

Inside, Outside and from Within!

The Daily Post

The Art and Craft of Blogging

Cancel

 
Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×
    loading Cancel
    Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
    Email check failed, please try again
    Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
    %d bloggers like this: