Giving stuff away - Really......

The 48th verse of the Tao talks about how we accumulate things.  Not only physical things but the weight of relationships and the experiences of the past.  I have collected my share of these things over the times of my life.  And they have both helped and hurt me. 

The verse says:  "Learning consists of daily accumulating.  The practice of Tao consists of daily diminishing; decreasing and decreasing........True mastery can be gained by letting things go their own way.  It cannot be gained by interfering."

Giveaway

Society tells us that if we have more stuff we are more important, richer, better.  But that is not always true.  I have known people who have very little compared to me, and they are good people. 

My grandfather was one of them.  He lived to 88 years and I don't think he bought a single thing new.  But he could work magic with things that needed fixing.  And even better than that, he would find a junk heap car, grab a teenage boy hitchhiking along side the road somewhere and teach him to fix up that car.  One such down on his luck 16 year old runaway rebel teen went on to become the State Vet of Arkansas after he gained entrance to LSU's first Vet School Class.  So my grandfather made a difference in this world from virtually nothing.

I find it difficult to shed some of those accumulated things.  In my mind there are accumulated thoughts, in my house accumulated stuff.  Some of those thoughts have been useful, like learning and knowing friends.  But some of those thoughts need decreasing.  It helps me to sleep at night if I can turn my mind off and let it drift into nothingness.  I wish I could let my waistline drift into nothingness!   

The Tao says if we decrease and decrease and decrease daily until nothing is left, mastery can be gained by letting things go their own way.  I go to the quilt shop and look at all the new stuff.  I want it all.  But most times I make myself happy to just touch the fabrics.  There are times when I need to own that fabric or that book.  It makes me happy to own it.  I have not come to a place yet where the "need to own" stuff has diminished all that far.   But as I get older the things I need to own are very different from those when I was younger.  Or heck, even last week!

Right now I need to decrease some stuff.  I walk into my quilt room and see a lot of stuff piled up.  I think I really need all that stuff but in reality I don't.  I have to admit to myself I will never make all the patterns I have collected.   And I have a few that I accumulated in the last auction that I know I will never do.  They are very easy quilt patterns that I know you will enjoy.  Diminish, even if it is a little bit, it is still diminishing, right?



giveaway





giveaway

 So to reward you for reading all this way down through the 48th Verse of the Tao Te Ching I have some things to give away.  I am going to put some things in a picture in some posts and you can leave a message on the day of the stuff you want.  I will not think badly of you if you want it all!  I totally understand. 

Today these are what I have to diminish from me to you!

Just leave me a message on this post and I will use a random number generator and you will get both patterns.  I guess I can't really give DiNozzo away, but I may one of these days so keep your eyes peeled for his auction.

The Watercolor Pinwheels - they do have sizes for queen and twin in there as well.  The quilt is designed to be used with a 5 yard pack that is frequently sold at the big shows.  So if you want a nice easy quilt and have one of those 5 yard packs leftover from a previous show - win this and DIMINISH!

The Alice Anne is a Me and My Sister Design.  I can see this being changed by using solid pieces in place of the strips making the blocks if you want an even faster quilt.  But if you have some jelly rolls of which to divest yourself this is the perfect way to do it.  This quilt can be made using 30 fat quarters as well. 

I say -- Go For It!  But diminish something in return!

glen