More Ruminations on Choice

Since my last post, I have continued to work on my Choices project.  I completed about a dozen stitched mandalas of various sorts.  I've basted them to a background fabric and begun stitching them down and trying to capture some of my thoughts as I go.  This is what I have so far.

You can sort of see around the edges that this will technically be a quilt - as I have three stitched together layers.  I have silk noil as the face, flannel for batting, and a cotton backing fabric.  But as I very often do, I am stitching the layers together with words and embroidery.

Creating a piece like this is a very meditative process for me.  I keep  journal handy to write down thoughts that come to me as I stitch and I gradually add them to the work in progress.  For this one I started jotting down either-or choices that occurred to me - often prompted by the news of the day--trust/fear, include/exclude, flexible/rigid,  compassion/ condemnation, speak up/remain silent.  I am still doing that, but as I go I have also been noting realizations about choice that occur to me, and questions that come to my mind.

I've been thinking about such things as

• How do we frame our choices?  What do we see as our alternatives?
• How many alternatives do we really have?  Are there more than just two?
• Is the choice black and white? or gray?
• Results of our choices are cumulative and we often (usually?) can't see the final result.

Working on a project like this gives me a place to put all these swirling ideas and feelings.  It helps me sort things out even if I can't come to any grand resolutions.  It's all about the process for me, less than the results.  So I just keep thinking and stitching....