Age and creativity

I am really in the sewing room this morning working on a shirt. There is just an illusion of me clacking away here at the keyboard. Wouldn’t it be nice to be in 2 or 3 places at once? I needed to write and couldn’t move until I did. Has this ever happened to you?

Finally finished and hanging in the hall.

Thursday is Knit Wit’s Day and all of us older women will gather at a table with our handwork and very loud chatter. Most of us are at some level of hearing impairment. The harder hearing one is, the louder the conversation gets.

Jan’s daughter and a knit witter holding it up

There is one that has excellent hearing and no voice range so I’m trying to watch for signs that this sweet woman wants to speak. She has a lot to say at 94 but a stroke a few years ago made that process very slow. It’s worth the wait, always. She received a scholarship to college in the 1950’s to become a physical education teacher and that’s what she did her whole career. She also raised four wonderful children, one of which brings her weekly to our group, teaches pottery at our community college and is an artist.

Jan learned to quilt at 79! She brings her knitting and embroidery to the group and occasionally, we do a show and tell as each of us women of mature years completes something.

The smallest, quietest one of the bunch. Always a smile.

Last week Jan brought in the quilt she made with a friend in her quilt group. I had been asked to make a label for that quilt the week before. What an honor for me.

Machine embroidered Krazi House Shuffle

To see a woman of 94, continue to be creative and not focus on what’s not working in her body keeps me inspired to push on. I hope each of us finds someone around that keeps moving us forward.

I also follow a blog that has taught me that you can’t begin too early bringing music and art into life. Jennie, at A Teachers Reflection, has taught preschoolers for 30 years.  She unleashes her students artistic abilities with great encouragement. There is none of the “you must color inside of the lines” in her classroom. She may have many artists and musicians in her Aqua Room that may one day make quilts at 94 or more. Her methods of teaching even inspire anyone that drops by her site or classroom. Several years ago, she brought in master quilter, Milly to bring the children’s art to life in a quilt. I wish I had been in her class.

Now a permanent display at the National Liberty Museum in Philadelphia

My knitting/quilting friend, Jan raised her children to be artists too. Her daughter that brings her to us teaches pottery at our community college. When I start to think that I’m just getting too old for this, I think of Jan,  Jennie and Milly and  continue to plod on.

Do you think creativity has an age limit or what keeps you inspired when you want to give up?

 “The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.” Sylvia Plath

From my heart to yours,

Marlene Herself