Quilting your life

I love making quilts. Piecing the quilt together is my favorite part, hands down. There are so many different fabrics in all sizes, and when you start it looks like a big pile of nothing. However, as you cut and pin and sew it all together, something beautiful is created. Something from nothing. It’s a remarkable feat.

Thanksgiving was last week, and that means a significant amount of cooking is done. We were lucky to have family in town, so that meant even more cooking than normal. As I prepared dish after dish, flipping through my cookbooks and recipes to get everything ready, I noticed how my cooking journey has made a quilt of its own.

I still make my mom’s pumpkin chiffon pie, and I think of her every time. That pie brings memories of past Thanksgivings, memories of my grandparents and my dad, and of my childhood. The mashed potatoes I make came from a friend I rarely see anymore, but memories of our time together come to mind when I cook the potatoes. The yams we make came from a sister several years ago, and they have become a family favorite. I have shared them with as many people as I can. I love making them and remembering how I really hated yams until I got this recipe. We added a pomengranate jello a few years ago that I got from a friend at church. I make a fruit salad that goes back to my husband’s grandmother in St. George, Utah—maybe futher back than that! We always have sauerkraut, which is a long-held tradition from my Danish ancestors. (I didn’t even realize sauerkraut wasn’t a staple at all Thanksgiving tables until college😂). This year we needed things to be gluten free for my daughter with celiac disease, so the quilting continues. My sister-in-law shared a wonderful gluten free roll recipe that we will continue to use from now on.

I have hundreds of recipes in my arsenal. Some are just from a cookbook I was given, but even they have stories behind them. My cooking quilt is ongoing, that is for certain. I think the recipe’s connection to loved ones is one of the reasons I love cooking so much. Some nights it’s like a big old hug from a loved one. There is nothing better than moments like that.

A few weeks ago, my husband said he didn’t think I was enjoying cooking anymore. It took me aback.

What?! How could he say such a thing?

As I thought about it, I saw that I was irritated and stressed, and he was right. Cooking had become a chore. I had forgotten all about the quilt I was making from the time I was young. Yes, I’ve had to unpick some things like muffins made with baking powder instead of soda🤢, a mushroom lasagne that caused some puking, and even a gazpacho soup that everyone hated except for me. Sigh. Unpicking will always be a part of quilting, and it is a part of cooking as well.

Gratefully, Thanksgiving 2023 changed my perspective. I remembered why I loved cooking so much in the first place, and gratitude filled my soul. I loved reminiscing about the people who had shared their beloved recipes with me. I loved remembering their part in my life, and their influence on me.

What quilt are you creating?

You may not love cooking the way I do, but don’t think that you aren’t making a quilt of some kind. Truthfully, your entire life is a quilt. You are piecing together piles of nothing into something. So be intentional.

Don’t forget, the qulting process is a remarkable one.