Don’t look (the needle) in the eye

Continuing to work on the free-motion quilting. Still not delighted by my efforts, but I have learned two valuable lessons:

1. I can follow a shape or design a heck of a lot better than I can just “meander.”

2. I need not to look at the needle as I quilt. I need to look ahead (or behind) at the place in which my needle will go. 

The second is harder to do than to say. The needle is hypnotic. But if I look at the needle, I don’t know where I’m going–only where I am and have been.

I suppose I spend much of my time looking back, wondering, worrying about things that have already happened. Perhaps I need to live my life more like I need to quilt — looking forward, seeing what will be in order to get there.