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This is the 1992 column Words to Live By, written by Helen Kelley, that Sue McLeod wrote to us about in Quilting Bee in the September 2003 issue:
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Words to Live By
By Helen Kelley
A cross-stitched sampler hangs on the wall in my downstairs bathroom. It's garish in its lavender frame, and I laugh when I see it because I know that when I die, an estate-sales person will come into my house and sell that picture for an antique. Perhaps, since I sewed it when I was in high school, it may very well be an antique by the time I am gone.
My sampler has a garland of embroidered flowers across the top and across the bottom, and in between, in large rosy block letters, it reads "LORD, HELP ME TO KEEP MY BIG MOUTH SHUT."
I read this sampler daily and I recite it like a litany, over and over to myself. It does no good. I get very excited about things. I am a creature of the moment, and I tend to blather without thinking. My more sophisticated friends speak in well-modulated voices, and they say considered things of great import. I have resolved that I will read my sampler every morning and imprint it upon my brain so that I can try to keep my comments on any one subject controlled and thoughtful.
If a quilter shows me a quilt, newly finished, and it is absolutely wonderful, I must not gush. I will not go into raptures. I will make only pertinent, calculated comments that are thoughtful and appropriate. Otherwise, Lord, help me to keep my big mouth shut.
If I am shown a quilt that has been labored over long with fingers pricked, threads scattered, and it comes from the very heart of its maker, but the color is not quite the color I would prefer, or the edges are not quite as straight as I could wish, Lord, help me to keep my big mouth shut.
If I am standing at the counter at the fabric store, and the lady in front of me is struggling with a fabric decision, and she doesn't ask me for my help, Lord, help me to keep my big mouth shut.
If I am standing in an elevator and someone gets on wearing an absolutely marvelous piece of quilted clothing, and she doesn't know me from Adam, I must not embarrass this stranger. Lord, help me to keep my big mouth shut.
If I go to a meeting and hear two people who are seated behind me discussing highly personal problems like families who are upset about things like pins in the carpet or too many microwave dinners, and no one asked me for my opinion, Lord, help me to keep my big mouth shut.
There are things in this world that are none of my business. Nobody asked me my opinion! I must learn to be discrete, courteous, and to keep quiet. If you do ask me, however, and you have something wonderful or intriguing or exciting--if you do ask me, then I don't need to keep my big mouth shut.
©HK 2002
Helen Kelley is a quiltmaker, lecturer, author, and teacher from Minneapolis, Minnesota. You can visit Helen on the Internet at her website www.helenkelley-patchworks.com or email Helen at this address: helen@helenkelley-patchworks.com.
Helen's book Every Quilt Tells a Story: A Quilter's Stash of Wit and Wisdom is a collection of two decades of Loose Threads. Now in its second printing, the book is available at quilt shops, bookstores, or from us at https://secure.tpli.com/VillageQuiltShoppe/QV_Products.asp. Helen will be signing copies of her book at our Primedia booth at the International Quilt Festival, October 30 through November 2, 2003, in Houston, Texas.
View our archive of Loose Threads columns.
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