Pushing My Comfort Zone

Last month I did something WAY outside of my comfort zone. I went away for the weekend.

This is unusual for me on two levels. First because I normally don’t have anywhere to go except my home at the end of the work week, my family no longer has a “Summer Place” where we used to travel to for various visits during the summer. And secondly because I went to meet up with a group of people, mostly women, who I only know from the Internet. In fact, there was only one woman present whom I had ever met before in person.

What we all have in common though is our passion for, and commitment to, a program called Warrior Canine Connection (WCC).  www.warriorcanineconnection.org. We were gathering to commemorate the one year anniversary of this group’s inception and connection with each other and WCC’s mission.

So a break in my routine combined with a large number of relative “strangers” and you could say I was a little stressed about the entire endeavor. Adding to my unease were the quilts – all four of them. Two which I had made for donation to a silent auction to raise funds for WCC and two I meant as gifts for the weekend’s hosts: Rick Yount, founder and Executive Director and Molly Morelli the dog breeder and Director of Dog Programs.

The two auction quilts I was feeling a bit calmer about. I had chosen to make one in patriotic themes and colors and the other featured cute dog faces with dimensional ears that flopped. Considering the mission and work done at WCC I felt certain that these two motifs would appeal to the majority of attendees and bidders. And they did – the quilts raised $475, with a real bidding war at the end on the dog quilt.

Dog Earred

Eagle Stars

My real anxiety was over the two wall hanging portrait quilts I had made for Rick and Molly. Over the past year of watching the three litters of puppies, their interactions with all sorts of people and seeing Rick and Molly’s daughter Mia grow up interacting with all these wonderful animals I noticed something. Many of the people who visited and were there to help socialize the puppies would bring presents for Mia. I understand that – she is a very cute inquisitive child and watching her interactions with the puppies can be quite humorous. But more and more I felt that some sort of physical recognition for Molly and Rick should be made. Not just donating to the cause or purchasing something off of the organization’s Amazon wish list. Not that those two acts are not important – but they don’t really honor these two people who seem to devote so much of their time and energies into making this program a success and helping as many veterans as possible.

The idea for the first quilt came to me in February 2013. A very active supporter and volunteer, Alice Belthoff, had been visiting the newly finished Puppy Enrichment Center (PEC) when Misty’s puppies were in residence. While there she happened to snap a picture of Mia – forehead to forehead – with one of the yellow Lab puppies. There was just something in the physical relationship to each other, the colors and composition that really hit me on an artistic level. I posted a comment to the picture on Facebook asking Alice if she would mind my using the picture as the basis for a quilt design. She agreed and Molly made a comment that she would love to buy such a quilt.

That was the spark that made my vague idea of interpreting this image into fabric a more definite plan. And then it was announced that there would be a get together in Brookeville for the one year anniversary. And of course, being me, I thought “I can’t make something for Molly without having something for Rick.” And my Internet search turned up a photograph taken several years ago of Rick with the original service dog Gabe – the one that had started Rick on the path of really looking into the people/dog connection and how it can help those suffering with various mental disorders – like warriors with PTSD.

Now I had my images, but what was I thinking????? I don’t have the skills to pull this off, they are going to wind up looking like caricatures, there is no way I can do two in three months on top of everything else !!! Yep, I had a real melt down there for a few weeks. But at this point no one but me even knew I was thinking about it, so if I started one and it sucked I could just toss it and none would be the wiser. But I found as I began the process that it went much faster than I had expected. And I began to think I could do this. So I told a few people online what was up, and now the pressure was on. I had to finish because others were waiting to see them. 

I do find that we, as artists and craftspeople, are the harshest critics of our own work. Even though people in attendance told me how much they liked them, and I was thanked by both recipients I look at each piece and think of what I could have done better, different or more intense work on. I am trying to just breathe through it, remember that “Done is Good” and trust that if they really were awful someone would have said something along the way. I hope.

"LEGACY" - Made for Molly Morello

"DEVOTION" - Made for Rick Yount