Mostly I teach children. But this fall I am guiding two women through the process of making One Block Wonders. This is my current favorite design, and it is very satisfying to share that excitement. My outline for the five classes divided the project into chunks that I believed were achievable even without a lot of sewing at home. I own enough of the necessary equilateral triangle templates, and certainly enough machines. They brought five yards of fabric and we were off. The first day we did not get quite as far as I expected, but we had enough fun chatting to make up for that. There is a reason that quilting bees were the centerpiece of social life for women in the 1800's.

They arrived for the second class with tidy boxes of half hexagons in a stack. 

"I sewed them all."

"WHAT!?" I laughed. That is the biggest part of the project, and I had allotted two and a half classes to get to this point. Besides, the seams were perfect. Both women enjoyed the process enough to just keep going. 

We jumped ahead to laying the blocks across the floor, deciding about color and contrast. We thought about areas of movement, and sections where the eye can rest. The conversation never lagged as we crawled around on hands and knees. I brought out the pins and we stuck them into strips ready for stitching. 

"I would not have gotten this far without your encouragement," one of them told me. "Every time I get to a new step I get scared, and it is your cheerleading that helps me to go forward." 

This is exactly what I had hoped for. I was on the receiving end of that enthusiasm when I belonged to a quilt guild in the nineties, and my own kids can give a rousing "Go Mom!" when I feel discouraged. What a joy it is to be the grease in someone else's wheels. The thing is I believe they can do it, even if they are dubious. It's really a marvelous Design, to have one another to carry us along. To hold the space for both movement and calm, and to rejoice in each other's success.