Daily Courage

You have to know courage to recognize it. In today’s case, creative courage knows no age.

I knew I had met courage square in the face when I rang the bell and Freddy Moran opened her front door. There she stood with her white hair pulled back, and brighter-than-ruby-red glasses crowning her face. In spite of white hair, and at that time a borderline portly figure, she seemed much younger than I was at the time. (Quick note: she decided to “lose some weight” and lost about half of herself which you see in this shot. That pretty much says it without words.) If we’d have swapped driver’s licenses to check ages, I think we’d have discovered about a 28 year divide. But her demeanor, enthusiasm, and whole ‘tude’ made me feel stale and kind of stuck. Entering her house, you are blasted with color.  :)  The inside is painted about 47 1/2 different vibrant hues. (She loves telling you that hers is a perfect marriage, her husband, Neil, is colorblind.)

 She read my energy – or lack thereof. I was there to direct a magazine cover shoot. We quickly raced through the niceties, and were seated in Neil’s office (bright orange and teal, but he doesn’t know the difference). She pinned me emotionally, and called me on being at a creative crossroads. She recommended some reading that I have referred to in previous posts – “The Artist’s Way”. When Frederica speaks, you to listen. She told me she didn’t start quilting until she was past 60 years old. “I had said, I don’t do threads,” she proclaims. Her daughter-in-law invited her to take a quilting class.

The rest is history in Technicolor. Freddy has broken many rules along the way, and while doing so, she teaches us that its better to ignore conventionality and to follow your muse than to conform. In her case its about vibrant color and pattern and not worrying about all the points coming together in perfect symmetry. The best part is that she a world class quilter, author and teacher. And she had not even thought of it until she passed her 60th birthday. 

We give Freddy the Kiss of Courage!

Myrah Brown Green is a multi-faceted woman with some very impressive credentials. She is formally addressed as Dr. Myrah Brown Green. In addition to her teaching credentials, Myrah is an accomplished quilter. She brings a love of cultural anthropology to her quilt designs. The cover proof of Myrah’s upcoming book “Pieced Symbols: Quilt Blocks From the Global Village” arrived today from the printer in Hong Kong. Your mother may have told you not to judge a book by its cover, but we can’t help it. We do. And we love this one!

Myrah has gathered cultural symbols from all the world’s continents, shared their meaning and translated them into quilt block patterns. She teaches readers how to use the symbols to tell their own cultural stories in quilt design. This book explores global consciousness, and inspires readers to learn about a variety of cultures and the symbols that express different beliefs and emotions, many of which are common to all people no matter what their background or demographic may be.