grrlTravels

Perhaps my alter-ego is a Pomeranian.

You know that saying "You can't teach an old dog new tricks"? Well what's up with that anyway?

I have spent a good part of my life believing that you cannot in fact teach an old dog new tricks. There were a bunch of people I knew as a child to which the saying could reasonably be applied. And the other sayings seemed to hold a grain of truth:
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Too many cooks spoil the broth.
Better late than never.
So why not this one?

I believed it.

I then became, if not the old dog, the midlife dog, certainly not the young dog.

There are mornings when the children have not slept well when I certainly relate most closely to the old dog. And venues where the young-ish dogs are running circles around me. And days when my thoughts are trickling down my neck like honey when I wish for nothing more than to lie on the hearth and pant.

As the old dog sniffs around my ankles and lays on my feet and humps my thigh I have begun to hate the saying "You can't teach an old dog new tricks". The proverb is moribund, not the dog I want to scream! Old dogs are learning all kinds of things these days I think self satisfiedly, grinning maniacally. The old dogs are the ones that have the luxury of experience and wisdom I tell myself decidedly.

And that is why I joined the doll quilt swap even though I had never made a quilt and had no plans to make a single one.

My mother was an accomplished quilter and she was so old skool that she pieced and quilted everything by hand. It was lovely to watch and it took a long, long, long, long time. I've got three little ones at home—time is at a bit of a premium over here. Plus I'm not very patient. Plus I have the shortest attention span in recorded history. Plus there aren't too many people that I love enough to spend 40 bazillion hours meticulously creating a handmade quilt for.

After some very convoluted reasoning and a few rationalizations and some completely untrue promises to myself and a lot of "You Go Girl!" self psyching and some not very opaque delusions I signed up. And then for the first time in my life I made a quilt.

It is quite small. And very handmade, and I mean that in the least accomplished sense of the word. My seams do not match up in the way they were designed to. My corners are wonky. The quilting defied me. The choice of fabrics is questionable. My hand sewing lacks finesse. The binding..don't make me laugh. I could continue, but I will spare you the minutia.

This sometime old-ish dog attempted to learn a new trick. I feel better for the effort. I did not, in the end, create a thing of beauty, but I did manage to slap a few moribund ganglia into action. E. said, "Mama, I think it is beautiful! Can I put it in my room?" K. willingly drove me to the fabric store. It seems this old dog had her day. Or learned to let sleeping dogs lie.

You've made your bed, now lie in it.

Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.

A word to the wise is sufficient.

Wait, what were we talking about?

Posted by grrlTravels at May 28, 2008 9:44 PM