Today we’re so connected, we’re probably too connected. We’re tied to friends, family, neighbors, colleagues, and even strangers thanks to the internet, cell phones, blackberries, and television, but, even though AT&T seemed to think you could, all of this “connection” has actually made it harder to “reach out and touch someone,” at least literally (a Facebook “poke” doesn’t really count as a touch).

Things weren’t always this way. People used to have real connections to the people around them. Ties that bind, so to speak. And women in particular were tied together with yarn, needles, and thread. They had their crafts to connect them in the days of quilting bees, social gatherings often held to help another woman prepare quilts and clothing for her wedding day or the arrival of a new baby or a move to a new town. Crafts weren’t something you did by yourself, they were something you did communally. They weren’t something you shared after you were finished with your project, but something you shared as you made your project.

Perhaps this desire for “ties that bind” is what is bringing more and more members of our generation back to crafting. And in the process, these creative chicas are changing the way the internet can be used to create a community quite similar to the quilting circles our great great grandmothers enjoyed. Blogs and blogrings allow friendships to be fostered and tips to be shared and inspiration to be given and received. Magazines become interactive online, offering comment sections and message boards to encourage a creative give and take not possible with a mere piece of print and paper. And, if all of this interaction is truly as inspiring as it should be, perhaps your online craft community will instill in you the desire to find some flesh and blood soul sisters to share your love of all things creative with. Perhaps you can even host a quilting bee (or scrapping soiree, or beading bash, or whatever) and get in touch with your roots.