Sometimes I really hate coincidences. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing quite like the magical thrill of thinking about somebody you haven’t thought of in a while, only to have them call you or e-mail you out of the blue. Or waking up a few minutes before you alarm clock goes off with a song in your head, only to have that exact song start playing when it does. Or even running late for an important appointment, only to hit all of the traffic lights right as they’re turning green. Maybe there’s something more to it than just being “happy accidents”, who’s to say, but I’m pretty sure we’ve all had it happen to us in some form or other at some time. It’s kind of like the universe’s way to balance out “Murphy’s Law”, and most of the time, it’s really cool when it happens.

Of course, there is always a flip-side to these sorts of things. Like being in the presence of the local gossip when something completely embarrassing happens to you. Or like telling a joke at a party, only to hear that somebody just told that joke 5 minutes ago. Or even…like being in the middle of writing a post about good and bad coincidences when your friend Jenny blogs about her trip to NYC and it just happens to touch on several things in your post. Weird. I’ve heard of several cases where somebody comes up with what they think is a clever new idea only to find that somebody else has already used it. Not that people are stealing ideas from each other, but rather it’s like they’ve creatively arrived at the same place at the same time. And when you look at the definition of coincidence, that actually kind of makes sense.

coincidence - (1) a sequence of events that although accidental, seems to have been planned or arranged, (2) the state or fact of occupying the same relative position or area in space.

I ponder the coincidence of poor spelling.

So. Here I am, pondering where to go next with the quilty birds I’ve been making, and I decide to try the technique with another animal – an elephant that never forgets or a flying pig perhaps. But, being a busy stay-at-home-mom, I haven’t actually gotten around to making one of them yet (except in my mind’s eye), when I am cruising around the blogosphere and I find this awesome whale at Donna Heart’s site (please follow the link, as I don’t want to reproduce it without permission). Well, poop. Suddenly, I feel like I’ve been beaten to the punch somehow, and the wind slips right out of my sails.

Being who I am, I start analyzing the experience in great detail. I’m pretty sure that even though I’ve visited her site before, I’ve never seen patchwork animals on it. Yes, a while ago she had done a few birds that I liked and wanted to do something similar to, but my birds are clearly different from hers. Plus, it’s not like she sews her patches together like I do, and it’s not like I would paint over my final work like she does. Normally she does motivational pieces using female figures – so where did this whale come from?! Now, if I were to make a whale, it would look nothing like hers, I’m certain. But still. I start questioning the authenticity of my creations.

What would you do if you were in my shoes? Abandon the whole quilty thing altogether? Strive to make my work even more different than hers somehow? Down an entire pint of chocolate ice cream? *sigh* I guess this is just one of those cases when I have to remember Monday’s quote by C.S. Lewis and just keep going. Who knows where my birds will lead me – or where Donna’s whale will lead her. But instead of feeling like a fraud or thinking of myself as unoriginal, I am choosing to believe it is as if we both arrived at some universal creative consciousness for quilty animals at the same time, and then moving on.

Well, I decided to try “Butterfly Kisses” as my next quilty critter. Maybe it was because of the crappy sleep the night before, or because my “domestic assistant” didn’t actually show up to help me out, or because I was already in a bad mood because of finding the whale, I don’t know. But I’m not really happy with the results.

Fist attempt. I like the heart-shaped wing idea, but not the inside patches. I didn’t even bother stitching it down.

Second attempt. I returned to the “old” way of stitching as I go, but it feels unbalanced somehow. Not surprising, really…considering.

Ah, well. I guess they can’t all be winners, can they? Or when would the learning happen? I can only hope that next time there’ll be a little more “happy” in the accidents.