A friend lost her mom. I threw five bucks in a card that was being passed around the office. But I wanted to do something more. I wanted to tell her that her mom wasn't hurting anymore. That she was a great daughter-- beside her mom to the end taking care of her (a true luxury I'll never have). I wanted to let her know that in time-- her sadness would give way to a ton of great memories.
For all those things that for some reason I'm having a tough time telling her I made her this:
A Nine patch table topper.
The base fabric is a Thimbleberries piece, part of a plan to make a quilt that I never gathered the remaining pieces. By far my favorite fabric of all the Lynette Jensen designed. It was time to quit saving it for myself.
A corner patch sewed in to make a label.
You can see the snow is pulling away from the trees. We will get a spring. This journal started out as a daily chat about life and quilt stuff. For some reason it seems to have changed. But I still want to keep it to log my quilts. What they are made of, What I'm thinking about as I sew and the fabrics they are made of.
As a family,we were sitting together a few weeks ago and were talking about our jobs. Don and the kids talked so passionately about each of their own. I spoke about how I work hard but my job always seems to be about making it to quitting time. Don tells me-- it's because you are not passionate about it. ''Mel, your passion is in your quilting. Always has been.'' While I am far from a perfect seamstress and I'm continuing to improve with every project I find myself grateful for every piece of fabric to quilt and time I have to devote to it.
12 comments:
That is such a sweet gesture. She is going to love it!
I'm sure she will love the quilt and know how much you cared. It is hard to like a job that you really aren't that interested in - been there and done that!
lovely idea for the table topper..you are such a kind and generous soul!
it's hard to be passionate about every job we undertake, but so long as you do have a passion in life, it makes the mundane 9-5 so much easier!
A beautiful post, and an excellent quilt. It must be hard to part with such a pretty piece, but what a giving spirit you have.
Will email soon. Thanks for posting on the blog about your quilts.
What a wonderful friend you are.
And I can relate to your thoughts about your feelings about your job. I know that I enjoyed the work I did and my co-workers, but my heart was (and still is) in my quilting ... so when the opportunity to retire early presented itself, I didn't have to think twice. ;-) Praying that your passion for quilting will sustain you to get to quitting time.
From one Mel to another, I hear ya sister! Work is work, but sewing is bliss. =)
What a beautiful and thoughtful gift for your friend going through an awful stage of life. Losing parents is NOT going to be easy.
I hoping somehow I can just skip that part, or that my parents will live forever.
Beautiful quilt. Amazing the feelings we experience when have a "common" factor. You want to tell them it is alright, it will get better, the same thing others may have told you, even if you are not close to help lift their burden. I can relate about jobs, too many times as women we take a job to help with family obligations but we are not allowed to do something we are passionate about. I think that is why we create so we have an outlet.
Melanie you are such a dear friend to all that know you,your love shows through your actions. That is a beautiful table topper and the love you put in it shows through,what a gift to remember all the blessings she shared with her loved one. I love your blog. Blessings and hugs, Marie
What a beautiful little quilt. I just found out one of my sisters is very ill. I've been having a strong urge to make her a quilt to comfort her during the journey towards her healing.
My passion is also in quilting/crocheting/knitting (mainly quilting)so I understand your comment. My brother-in-law suffered a terrible accident and was unable to walk for a while. Family is in NH; I'm in Ohio. I had a quilt I wanted to make but made it up for him (was gathering pieces for it for 7+ years). I, too, wanted to provided comfort.
Beautiful quilt
So thoughtful of you to make that beautiful quilt for your friend. I had some of that Thimbleberries fabric and LOVED it! I know it is often difficult to express our love and faith to friends but when someone is hurting they need to hear it. We all need to know that our friends understand what we are going through and support us.
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