"Oh, dear, oh, dear, Maggie, what are you thinkin'of, to throw your bonnet down there? Take it upstairs, there's a good gell, an' let your hair be brushed, an' put your other pinafore on, an' change your shoes, do, for shame; an' come an' go on with your patchwork, like a little lady."

"Oh, mother," said Maggie, in a vehemently cross tone, "I don't want to do my patchwork."

"What! not your pretty patchwork, to make a counterpane for your aunt Glegg?"

"It's foolish work," said Maggie, with a toss of her mane,--"tearing things to pieces to sew 'em together again. And I don't want to do anything for my aunt Glegg. I don't like her."

This quote from "The Mill on the Floss (Chapter 2)" by George Eliot has always amused me as a quilter. I suppose to some people our handwork may seem 'foolish' but it is something I do daily. For me, a day is incomplete without having held a needle in my hand. It cheers me to sit with needle and thread whether quilting or cross stitching. My inspiration for decorating my home comes from my handwork. My feeling 'connected' to the past comes from knowing that many woman before me also created daily to cloth their families or keep them warm by making quilts. I find comfort in making quilts from old, traditional patterns that have stood the test of time. They are no less beautiful today as back in the 1800s. I put my own mark on them and pause to think that one day, generations from now, they will wonder about my life and handwork as I wonder about those passed before me.