Of COVID-19, Miniatures and the Classics; Or: THE “ART” OF DISTRACTION

In this time of “social distancing” and “flattening the curve” it’s easy for an introvert like me to finally feel justified in being a homebody and preferring one’s own company for hours on end.  If you’re a quilter (or painter or writer or musician) it’s also society’s permission — not to mention “Doctor’s Orders!” — to hunker down and let the creative juices come to a boil.

But this is a time of anxiety and worry, as well. Will the nurses in my family be safe? Will my grandchildren be able to finish out their schoolyear? Will there be enough bread or pasta or soap in the grocery stores? Whom do I know and love who might be carrying the virus; or worse, actually getting sick with it?

To distract my mind from these worries and fears, I choose another miniature quilt to focus on my attention on. I have a collection of patterns created by Lori Smith and in the past week or so I’ve made four more of them.

As a good friend commented, miniatures are perhaps a good analogy for these times when life is greatly contracted to the space of our homes and the smallest of social gatherings. Questions as basic as, Will I run out of soap or tissues tomorrow? What do I make for dinner from whatever is left in my larder? Should I go out for walk, or find a way to get my exercise indoors? How do I keep my house clean enough to prevent contamination? … All these questions seem like the perfect backdrop for cutting the smallest of pieces and having to carefully watch the quarter inch seam in a long string of One-Inch Squares, Half-Square or Quarter-Square Triangles.

And if, like me, you have bags of tiny scraps that you’re loathe to ever discard, then a miniature is the perfect time to dump them out and start the hunt for just the right shade of colors. These days my preferred fabrics are the 1800 Reproductions — the “Classics” of the quilting world — and the colors I keep being drawn to are the dark reds, blues and browns.  And a bit of gold to sing out.

Also, I keep remembering a quote from a journalist a few years ago that went something like, “In times of stress or crisis, read the Classics. They have a way of grounding you.”

From my own bookshelf I have dusted off two: Albert Camus’ The Plague — [Because it seems as good a time as any!] — and Charles Dickens’ Dombey and Son [Because it has lots and lots of pages].  And with apologies to Marie Kondo, author of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, who seems to believe no one needs more than 12 books in one’s house? (Or is it 6?!) and that if you’ve had a book longer than 3 months and haven’t read it, you can declutter by discarding it, well, I have had The Plague and Dombey and Son on my shelves for years and it makes me just so happy to say it. NOW has come the time for the reading of them! No risky outings to a public library (which has closed anyway) or book store needed! Just titles selected from my own bookcase.

And so, the rich dark browns, blues and reds in my 16″ X 20″ miniatures, as well as the language and imagination of fine writers, are providing the ground that I need underneath me now to keep from panicking; to give me the perspective of history and universal human experience; to help me reflect on the things that are most essential in life, things such as how to be human; how to maintain patience and compassion; how to keep faith, to practice empathy, to remain generous and moral.

And having to choose just the right shade of brown (the color of the earth) or blue (the color of water and sky) or red (the shade that runs in all our veins and reminds me that we are all in this together, that we are all one human family!) in order to create something lasting, something pleasing to both hand and eye — no matter how small … Well, what better way to dispel the scary noise and darkness? What better way to quiet the worrying mind? What better way to pass this time of isolation? 

I can only hope many countless others are finding ways to cope. And not only to cope, but to rise above the fear and anxiety, and instead, to create, to stay strong, to keep loving. Not only to cope, but how to BE on this strange and particular ground.