Three Cups of Tea

Three Cups of Tea

 What do Greg Mortenson and Pamela Allen have in common? Probably nothing, but they got linked in my mind. I was reading this book, Three Cups of Tea, when I took Pamela Allen's class, Think Like an Artist back in May of this year. For me, the class was like a focused mini-retreat, as I got to create for 3 solid days, culminating with my self-portrait quilt that won a prize in Houston. This quilt was one of my unfinished quilts. Pamela-la-la-la gave each of us a scrap of fabric and told us to create a picture with it. I remember doing that in grade school, drawing a line and then trying to create a picture from it or with it. It's a fun exercise. We didn't stop to fuse, just cut and paste (yes, literally with glue). Quickly. I struggled, struggled with this quickly part. The absolute best thing that came out of the class for me was the astute realization of what my son feels like every single day in school, that everything was hard and moving way too fast. It seems my process is much slower. But I did want to finish this little piece.

I finally got to it this last week. I was trying to think of a name for it, that's when I decided to call it 3 cups....that's when a bell of recognition starting ringing in my head. I had no idea in May that the cups I placed on it had anything to do with Greg's book. This week I remembered that I had been reading it at the time I made this quilt. An especially appropriate timing, the week of Thanksgiving. What do I have to be thankful for? Well, lots of things, but especially people like Greg Mortenson who remind us that a single person can change the world and that you can fight hate with love. He inspired me, and really I only picked up the book because I thought it was a climbing adventure survival tale. It was so much more! I highly recommend it!