Life Lessons...provided by Quilting

My most philosophical thinking happens in the shower.  Maybe that's because it's the only place I'm really alone.  Maybe it's the water.  Who knows.  But I like it.

This morning I was thinking about my family, my roles, and my goals.  I was also thinking about my role as "Support Staff."  I think as a younger person, I would have been less happy to be "support staff," but now that's my most comfortable role.  This brought on the idea of my fabric (because everything relates to Quilting), there are star fabrics, and there are support fabrics.  Each fabric is important to make a quilt beautiful, and to make it work.

Let's look at this photo below:

Each of these fabrics could be a "star fabric."  Yet together, they don't work.  They compete with each other, and they don't shine.  Fabrics, just like people, are all unique, with their own qualities. Some fabrics work well together, but clash with others.  This clashing doesn't lower the quality of either fabric, it just means these fabrics aren't meant to be joined.

Let's talk about this photo:

Here are two star fabrics and two supporting fabrics.  Notice, the blue star fabric looks best when it is paired with a fabric that complements it.  The colors are complementary, as well as the pattern, the geometric pattern doesn't compete with the floral.  They each can be beautiful, as they are, and they bring out the best in each other.  Now, notice the other pink star fabric.  It matches the blue star fabric, but does it truly complement it?  The colors are complementary, and these fabrics they don't hurt each other, but they also don't make each other shine.

People, like fabrics, work best with people that complement them.  People can get along with all types of people, but why not work closely with those that bring out your best?  The best quilts don't come from fabrics with colors that match perfectly, and with patterns that are all the same.  The best quilts have colors that complement, and patterns that support and don't compete.  Friendships are the same, the best friendships come when the people aren't exactly the same, and when our qualities bring out our friends best qualities. In friendships sometimes we are the star fabric, and sometimes we are the support fabric, but no matter what happens, we always need to complement each other.  Let's make each other shine.