Aesop's Fable Archives • Stitches Quilting

Tula is a storyteller in each of her fabric lines! Her stories enrapture us and draw us to her fabrics and art. She has told many stories to enthrall and entertain us, but it isn’t until this Slow and Steady collection that she shares her personal journey through her fabric. To celebrate Tula’s 20th Anniversary Collection, she decided to share her own personal story with such a big milestone. Her story speaks to me in such a beautiful way with the things I want to do in my own personal life. I’m sure this story will speak to you too!

Do you remember learning life’s lessons from Aesop’s Fables when you were young or reading them to your own children? Aesop was known to be a slave and storyteller in ancient Greece between 620 and 564 BC. That was a LONG time ago! The fable of the Tortoise and the Hare was something that always resonated with Tula. In Tula’s own words she says, “It’s a story about staying the course against all odds, championing heart and hard work over arrogance and giving it your all, every time. It is a story about focus and drive, integrity and determination.”

We can all relate to this! Can’t we? It’s a classic and there are some parts of the story that Tula bring to our attention in her newest fabric collection Slow and Steady.

Tula takes the story a little further, and mention that the Tortoise and the Hare are like one coin that has two sides. One side of the coin is the Tortoise and the other side the Hare. Is there maybe a little bit of the Tortoise AND the Hare in each of us. Do we personally struggle with feeling like we are in a race and just need to keep running and running incessantly without a break? We feel great from the progress then like the Hare we take a break. We decide that we have been working so hard and getting such great results that we just stop and don’t realize that life starts to pass us by. The quote below is on a coordinate of the Slow and Steady Fabric Collection that is called Clear Skies. Let’s keep those skies clear to see just what is out there in the world.

Do we sometimes take a slow pace and just ever so methodically get things done every day? Do we enjoy the journey and simple joys to feed our soul to keep our steady pace going like the Tortoise? The Tortoise has a big heart and keeps his heart strong by just continually keeping a pace. Feeling progress fuels our spirits no matter what speed we are going.

Tula mentions that the Tortoise represents heart and the Hare represent ego. Sometimes our heart and ego conflict with each other. We want to win and succeed don’t we? I certainly don’t want to win at the expense of others though. I don’t want to win for accolades.

I’m a personality not in competition with others. My life has been too difficult to spend any energy of mine focusing on others. I’m only in competition with myself and the person I was yesterday. I don’t know about you but my life has not been an easy one. I’ve been told that what I have experienced in my lifetime is unreal in terms of trauma. I am just proud to be the person that I am today. I’m proud that I am a survivor. I am proud that I am a good mother. I’m proud that I get up everyday, take care of myself and others, I think if my mom would be alive today that she would be proud of me too. I’m glad that I can find simple joys in life and appreciate them. I like to surround myself with things of meaning reminding myself of who I am and who I can become.

Sometimes we can be the type of people that are in competition with others or ourselves. Both can be a dangerous path. With a person like me, being in competition with myself, I have to be kind to myself and benevolent. Do you think that you need to be kinder to yourself? If you are not going to be kind to yourself then who will? We don’t need to be victims; we just need to be ourselves. We need to overcome whatever tiny thing it is that is pulling us down. But most of all don’t be the one pulling yourself down. Tell yourself how wonderful you are, be kind to you!

Tula truly inspires me! Like the heart shape above is a coordinate piece from the Slow and Steady collection. If you look closely at the pattern it is the Tortoise’s shell. Don’t you love surrounding yourself with meaning. Sometimes I’m like the Hare and think I need to go fast to achieve something but it really is the slow steady pace of the Tortoise with blind faith that gets us where we want to be in life! Does she inspire you? I’m going to make something extra special with this fabric collection that not only represents Tula’s story but represents my own story. It is a story I want to share with my children. What I make with this collection will sit out everyday to remind me that life isn’t a race but to be slow and steady in my personal and life goals.

Tula says, “The tortoise represents that magical thing in all of us that drives us to do the thing that we NEED to do even when there isn’t any evidence to support it. The tortoise is blind faith, he continues on when no one is looking. He keeps marching forward when no one expects him to win.”

That just resonates within me! Does it resonate within you? I am no one special and no one is watching me. Everyday we get up and do our thing that we need to do. There is a magical thing within each of us that speaks of our integrity to be true to ourselves and take care of what we need to do. There isn’t evidence that what we do today will give us a good result tomorrow but… we do it because we know we need to. Let us all keep marching forward not because we are going to win or receive accolades but because we know what we are doing is right.

I have dreams and I’m sure that you have dreams. Here is the word dreams on the racing flags coordinate of Tula’s Slow and Steady collection. Are our dreams a race? No. I don’t know if our dreams will come true, but I do know that if we are helpful to each other we can help our dreams come true. There are many people out in the world that their dreams our so simple and we can help those dreams become a reality. As we lift and encourage each other we can make a difference in our lives and the lives of others.

I’m grateful for a talented person like Tula that can reach into our hearts with her storytelling art and help us discover the best within ourselves. The items I create with Slow and Steady will be a token and reminder of just how I can become the best person that is within me.

As Creatives, there is always a struggle between getting it done fast versus doing it with the heart.

In reference to the Hare, Tula shares, “The Hare tells us that we can rest on our laurels and take it easy. The Hare needs other people to tell him he is good enough. The Hare doesn’t run unless there is someone there to watch him win. The Hare can win but will always get in his own way.” I don’t want to be an obstacle in my own path. May we always search deep to improve ourselves.

My hope is that I will slow down and keep my focus on doing things with my heart. We can truly succeed personally if we just do it with our hearts. I know that Tula does! I have never seen a person work so hard at what she does, sharing so much of herself with everyone. She is one talented individual with her art! She is able to express things that are at a cutting edge artistically in bright beautiful colors. Not only is she gifted in her art, but she knows how to quilt and makes art that works for us as quilters. Her fabric collections are cohesive taking every piece, color and motif designed for the end creator.

Tula is smart and savvy as a business woman and an example for us all to be a girl boss of our business and rock it! Tula is dedicated to making her customer, the end consumer, happy with what they purchase. She is kind and generous with her time to everyone. Tula just makes each one of us feel important to her. Feel connected to her, her story and her fabrics. She wants you to feel that way. She feels connected to you whether she has met you or not. She is constantly thinking about you and designing with you personally in mind.

One of the pieces of her collection say, “I’m a winner”. People asked her if she was saying that she is personally a winner. Of course she is a winner to all of us but more importantly to herself! Tula’s message is not that she is the winner, rather we are all winners as we balance the Tortoise and the Hare – the Heart versus the Ego within each one of us. This piece of fabric in my quilt, will remind me that I am a winnner and that I just need to keep moving forward in a Slow and Steady pace even when I don’t feel like it. I love to work hard and I want to work hard at a slow and steady pace. Life is a balance and sometimes we may get a little unbalanced but we can steady it and that’s part of life.

I hope you will enjoy seeing EVERYONE create items from her fabric collection. I will teach you everything I know so that you can make something similar for yourself. Your item might be different because it will speak of your journey and to your heart. I can’t wait to see all the creations that you make that will inspire all of us!

If you are new to quilting, I’m going to teach some basic quilting with Tula Pink’s fabrics. Remember it is a slow and steady pace and we are not in a race with others but just ourselves. You don’t come into the world knowing how to sew or quilt. I remember Tula saying something like, “What’s the worst thing, I can do? Mess up a piece of fabric?”

For this article, Tula’s closing message is, “Creating anything is always a struggle between these two opposing sides but if I have learned anything at all through 20 fabric collections it’s that the heart has a lot more to say than the ego and that people can feel the heart in everything that you do, whether they know it or not. I have learned that you have to try, every time, you have to earn it every time. I have learned that the more you do something the better you get. No one is born perfect or complete you build up to it, slow and steady, one foot in front of the other.”

What you think about Tula’s Slow and Steady fabrics and her message? What speaks to you from the fable the Tortoise and the Hare? What personal message do you embrace within your heart? What have you experienced in life that has helped you grow?

Thank you Tula for sharing so much of YOU with everyone! You have deeply inspired me! Each and everyone of you inspire me!

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