Last weekend, while visiting family in Chicago, I got to see an interesting fabric show at the Art Institute.  The full name of the exhibition is Fabric of a New Nation: American Needlework and Textiles, 1776–1840 and it covered all sorts of impressive and intricate textile treatments employed by some incredibly patient women. I kept thinking about how long it took to make some of these quilts and embroideries and it really gave a sense of how much slower life used to be. It would be a great exercise to take on a year-long project, challenging our need for immediate gratification and our reliance on throw-away objects. Wouldn’t it be incredible to invest so much time and skill on something that you could hand it down for generations to come?

-Claudia