{"id":472,"date":"2011-01-10T20:28:31","date_gmt":"2011-01-11T01:28:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/50.87.217.193\/blog\/today-sophie-started-a-new-season-of-gymnastics-at-our-city-parks-rec-program-it-is-an-8-week-class-and-she-takes-it-a-cou"},"modified":"2015-03-07T00:14:48","modified_gmt":"2015-03-07T00:14:48","slug":"today-sophie-started-a-new-season-of-gymnastics-at-our-city-parks-rec-program-it-is-an-8-week-class-and-she-takes-it-a-cou","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.equilter.com\/blog\/today-sophie-started-a-new-season-of-gymnastics-at-our-city-parks-rec-program-it-is-an-8-week-class-and-she-takes-it-a-cou\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Today Sophie started a new season of gymnastics at our city Parks & Rec program. It is an 8 week class and she takes it a couple times a year. My boys took this same class, and the highlight of the hour is always the same – running and jumping in the Foam Pit. (A swimming-pool sized hole in the gym that is filled with large squares of foam) Sometimes they swing on the rings like Tarzan (or Jane?) and drop into the pit. Sometimes they run and jump off a spring board into the pit…but the result is always the same. The biggest smiles and giggles you've ever seen or heard. Pure Joy. Even I look forward to the foam pit. Vicariously.<\/p>\n

As I watched the kids, I thought – "That's the way it should be when we start a new project. We should be willing to bounce off the spring board (the inspiration), fly through the air (leap with no expectations), smile and giggle like crazy when we land in the squishy swimming pool of foam. (try something new and enjoy the process, no matter what the outcome)<\/p>\n

Why don't we do this more often? TIME.<\/p>\n

We are all so busy that we think every creative effort has to be productive. We curse the time wasted when we experiment with something new and it doesn't turn out perfect. We plan everything out with obsessive efficiency and sew blocks like we are a factory worker making 500 shirts a day. Why do we do this? Quilting is supposed to be FUN!<\/p>\n

Well ok, I know some of you are saying…'I don't do that!' … so I am speaking to those of you who are productivity oriented, and you know who you are. *smile*<\/p>\n

There was a great article in the NY Times this last week, about the importance of play.<\/p>\n

\nhttp:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2011\/01\/06\/garden\/06play.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=children%20play&st=cse<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

It was about children, but I think it really applies to all of us. My creative time is my playtime, and if I don't get it regularly, I really go nuts. Repetitive quilting is my meditation time. When I am working out a design problem, I seem to be working on other subconscious problems at the same time. I come out of my studio after a few hours, feeling like I have accomplished and solved so much more than just a quilt. Do you know what I mean?<\/p>\nShare Post:<\/strong>
\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"pinterest\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today Sophie started a new season of gymnastics at our city Parks & Rec program. It is an 8 week class and she takes it a couple times a year. My boys took this same class, and the highlight of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.equilter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.equilter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.equilter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.equilter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.equilter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.equilter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1791,"href":"https:\/\/www.equilter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472\/revisions\/1791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.equilter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.equilter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.equilter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}