Bloom Where You're Planted

I know this isn't a great picture but can you see that the trunk of the tree comes out of the ground on the left and instead of growing up it grew along the ground all the way over to the far right.  It's really fascinating to see the way it curves - it has branches growing up all along the trunk.  It has responded to storms and winds and circumstances by adapting itself so that it could survive.  When I saw it I couldn't help but think of that old adage, "bloom where you're planted."

And that made me think of quilters.  Okay that came out of left field didn't it?  :)  But don't we do that when we make quilts sometimes.  We start out with an idea and as we begin to put pieces together and see colors next to each other we like them or we don't and we go off in a different direction than we originally planned.  I can't tell you how many times I've chosen a pattern and all the fabrics I thought would work but then I start cutting and laying them out and all of a sudden I think of another piece of fabric that would look good in a certain spot so I substitute.  And then I think oh I'd love some flying geese in this spot instead of four patches, or I'll do a piano key border instead of an appliqued one.  When I was teaching we called it "monitor and adjust".  But whether it's blooming where we are planted or monitoring and adjusting to time and circumstances we end up, like the unusual tree above, with a beautiful, unique piece that satisfies something in our souls.

So why is it that when we do this blooming we second guess ourselves, wondering if others will like what we've made?  Why is it that we can look at what others have made and see the uniqueness and the beauty and we can't see it in our own work?  Or, sadly, all too often, in ourselves?