Kait Leininger
Stories (2/0)
How to Learn How to Travel
The hot June sky was swiftly filling with clouds. I was grateful for the shade but I worried it would start to pour before we arrived. A few drops began to fall as we parked and started our short hike. An elderly white man in loose marigold colored clothes had set up a booth on the sidewalk handing out informational booklets about Hindu deities. I was in a hurry but Sophie, my friend and traveling companion, was interested, so we stopped and chatted for a while. I am glad we did. We had a short but lovely conversation about openness and spirituality. It was truly an experience of human connection. Is there anything more beautiful?
By Kait Leininger2 years ago in Wander
To Make, To Change: The procession of slow craft
My Grandma was a Da Vinci of Home Ec and related arts. She cooked, she painted, she made porcelain dolls, she quilted, and she taught. I looked up to her immensely. I wanted to be able to do all the things she could do, and I wanted to have all the things that she had. An entire room for sewing, a cupboard full of paints, a house full of crafts and knick knacks and treasures; I felt like she had the resources and ability to create anything she wanted, and that thrilled me. Every summer she would get in the car and drive two hours to help my siblings and I create our own sewing projects. One of those summers, when I was nine or ten, I made my first quilt. A lap sized quilt that I dreamed up all by myself. I was so excited about it! I found some fabric that looked like a wooden fence and I had a vision! I was going to make a quilt with a dog in front of a fence that said “Who let the dogs out?” I loved making that quilt, choosing the accent fabrics, sitting beside my grandma learning how to topstitch around the letters I had painstakingly traced and cut out, and then finally, after grandma had left to go home, hand sewing the final side of the binding. At this point I had no understanding of the context behind the song. I thought it was actually about dogs, and that therefore my quilt was really quite clever.
By Kait Leininger2 years ago in Humans
