Dec. Weekly Quilts: Frank Sinatra's Philosophy

When I set out to do this last set of quilts, I returned to some sketches I'd done this summer and to words.  These circular letters were inspired by that great t-shirt that reads.

To do is to be. -- Socrates

To be is to do. -- Sartre

do be do be do. -- Sinatra

And though the shirt is a joke, it is a quandry I often face.  Am I most myself when I'm working and doing or am I most myself when I am just existing without any production? Surely the world thinks that production is the thing--at least America does, but I can't help but wonder if all this doing keeps me from something essential about myself.  I feel guilty if I don't "do" stuff--my art, housework, writing, gardening, reading.  Just sitting around is frowned upon, even if I'm sitting on my zafu.

Oh, enough of that.  These quilts were also inspired by a postcard Ginny Smith gave me for our Q and A postcard exchange.  She had just taken a class with a teacher who used raw edge applique without any fusible and then quilted heavily over it to hold everything in place.