Light a Lamp for Someone

“If you light a lamp for someone, it will brighten your own path.” - The Buddha

It has been a long time since I've sat down with my sewing machine and made a quilt. Most of my guild work is made up of the duties of the president:  running errands, ordering supplies, receiving donations, attending to correspondence, communication, dropping off quilts for delivery, answering questions, coordinating activity. I have missed the creative part of simply making quilts for patients, but my skills have been needed elsewhere.

Katie's Comforters Guild receives beautiful gifts of new fabric, and I distribute it to those who make quilts. Some smaller pieces remain, however, and yesterday, I decided to try my hand at free-form sewing to make them into quilt tops. I knew that Lucile (our 90+ year-old guild member who sews nearly a quilt a day) would finish them, if I could turn some of the smaller pieces into larger ones.

Lucile gave me a lesson in how to do this a while ago, and I have been impressed by the fantastic creations which she and others like Bonnie P. and Polly have made with smaller pieces and "scraps" of fabric. While I'm nowhere near their level of expertise (or patience), I was able to make five quilt tops.

Fabric sewed into strips, then cut, turned and sewed back together

You could cut and turn these again to mix it up even more

Pale yellows on either side of deep blue

This has brought me a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction, and is so much fun that I'm finding it hard to stop - there are so many creative possibilities! If you have small pieces of fabric and don't know what to do with them, try sewing them into strips, and then cut the strips, turn them around, and sew them back together. It is easy enough for a beginner (like me), is a good way to use fabrics which don't appear at first to go together, and it is a great experience in simple design for beginning quilters.

Since I am awaiting "the call" to my next adventure (finished with class, putting feelers out for meaningful work, sharing my book, getting the house in order, letting go...), I am in a liminal space. This quote was encouraging, and is one reason why I brought the sewing machine out: 

"Those that be perfect (in union with God) carry always this mind, that when they perceive their labour to be fruitless in one place, to remove straight to another, where more good may be done." - Gregory the Great [6th C.], "Dialogues" "Sometimes we need to let go and move on or we do damage to ourselves and others. Where might this be the case at this time in your life?" - A Daily Spiritual Seed (subscribe HERE)

Since my dreams for the video came to a standstill, I have been seeking the place "where more good may be done." Sewing for patients of the hospital is a good place to do some good; it always brightens my spirits and takes me out of myself. This is a welcome movement for anyone whose life has been turned upside down. Even with the love of friends and family, there is a sense of isolation and "otherness" which tends to lead one's thoughts inward. Doing something for others helps to turn my heart outward.

A beautiful prayer, courtesy of the Center for Action and Contemplation:

"May each of us be so fortunate as to be overtaken by God in the midst of little things. May we each be so blessed as to be finished off by God, swooping down from above or welling up from beneath, to extinguish the illusion of separateness that perpetuates our fears. May we, in having our illusory, separate self slain by God, be born into a new and true awareness of who we really are: one with God forever. May we continue on in this true awareness, seeing in each and every little thing we see the fullness of God’s presence in our lives. May we also be someone in whose presence others are better able to recognize God’s presence in their lives, so that they, too, might know the freedom of the children of God." - James Finley

“The personal life deeply lived always expands into truths beyond itself.” - Anais Nin

Dottie's Treasure

Last week, when Gregg was in Spain on a business trip, I received a package. I knew it was coming - I was looking for it - but there was no way to prepare for what was inside.

I wrote previously about sending Katie's clothes to Dottie A., and posted photos of the gorgeous quilt that Dottie made from Katie's T-shirts, which is now on Katie's bed. Last week, Dottie finished and shipped a second quilt, made by her loving hands out of Katie's other favorite clothing. There really are no words to describe how I feel about it, so I will show it to you.

Here is beautiful Dottie, holding the quilt

Here it is, on Dottie's bed, before she sent it to us

This is the fabric I chose for the backing

Here is a detail of one of the squares.
Katie chose this Blondie cartoon fabric when I taught her to sew.
She made a pair of pajama pants, and wore them a LOT.

This is the label which Dottie sewed onto the back of the quilt.

When I called and left her a message of thanks, Dottie replied, "I could just see you snuggled up in that quilt last night! Remember the quilt is truly from Katie, my hands just made it possible."

It's impossible to adequately thank Dottie for a treasure so precious - beyond price. And not just the gift of the finished quilt, but the time she took to find the right fabrics to go with Katie's clothes, the design that went into it, the labor of hand-stitching, the way she handled Katie's clothes, felt her spirit, saw her essence. This gift is an experience of the heart, not really expressible in words. The quilt is now on our bed, bringing plenty of comfort each day.

Dottie, thank you for this treasure!
I'm sure Katie would be very happy to see what you have made from her clothes with your loving hands.

Katie in her Blondie P.J. pants, with Latte (when he was a kitten)

All of this has happened because of Dottie's daughter, Linda, the physical therapist who took such creative care of Katie in the hospital. That relationship grew beyond Katie's passing. The circle of love and caring keeps growing out of that terrible, difficult time; it is transformed by loving hearts and hands.

Finished Pillow, Final Draft & Reunion of Friends

Here is the finished pillow. I used some exquisite, deep-purple satin for the backing, to pick up the purple in the design. I trimmed it with decorative stitching (my sewing machine has this capability) and made a long flap so that the backing folds into the inside of the pillowcase like an envelope. It is closed with velcro dots, out of sight on the inside.

Yesterday was a busy day. I started by taking the final draft of my book to the printers. I had 5 copies made for a small group of readers to review. It still needs work on bibliography, permissions, and the occasional improvement to phrasing. After the comments come back, I will format it for the University Book Store's Espresso Book Machine, and plan to have it printed there.

I feel as if I just had a baby.

After my stop at the printer, I drove to the ferry dock and met David in the terminal. He was on his way to work, and I rode over with him, on my way to meet two friends from high school. Jody, Sally and I were one of those female "threesomes" in high school that worked. They were a couple of years ahead of me in school, but we attended the same church, were part of the same youth group, went to the same summer camp. In addition, one of Jody's brothers was dating my sister; Jody even dated my brother. Our paths were interwoven for a few years, until the two couples broke up...and then, things got a bit too messy for our youthful frame of reference. We went our separate ways for college, and allowed our "threesome" to drift apart.

I reconnected with Jody last year, and it was lovely. She has the same sweetness, intelligence, humor, beauty and positive energy that I remember, just burnished and deepened over the years. It was good to meet her husband, and to have her meet Gregg. We enjoyed a delicious dinner together in the warmth of their hospitality.

I hadn't seen Sally since high school, but she and Jody have stayed in touch with each other. It was lovely to see Sally again. She is just as I remember her: intelligent, whimsical, creative and kind. The three of us talked non-stop the entire time we were together; about 30 years has passed since we were in close contact, and I'd say we made a fair start at catching up!

The interesting thing, to me, was how quickly trust and rapport were re-established. It's a gift to find that all of the qualities which we recognized and loved in one another so many years ago are still there, still sparkling and still beautiful. Though life has thrown all three of us some serious curve-balls, that goodness is still percolating, alive and well.

facebook made this reunion possible - it is one of the blessings of that addictive social medium.

A New Kind of Quilting

I have been working on a surprise for Charlotte. I know very well that giving her a surprise is not going to fill the hole in her heart where Fred and her son belong, but I can't help but try to cheer her a little.

Recently, I wrote here about discovering McKenna Ryan's art quilting. I decided to make one of these squares for Charlotte. Just one square, not the entire quilt, because this is applique quilting with topstitching, and it's NEW to me. This is what the ingredients looked like, as I was getting ready to start:

...and this is what it looked like, partway through the top-stitching:

I've enjoyed every step of the process. Unfortunately, my machine has not taken a liking to the clear filament thread which McKenna uses, so I used a variegated thread instead. It doesn't look quite as perfect as McKenna's does, but I am still happy with the overall effect. It is going to be a pillow. I'm making the pillow case now.

David just returned from his week in Arizona, spent with his best friend from high school. Best friend attends college in Hawaii, and his parents have moved from Washington to AZ. I have never seen David looking quite so tanned.

He had a wonderful trip; they took trips to Sedona and the Grand Canyon, ate lots of good food, did the usual sort of "hanging out," as well as having fun staying cool in the pool.

Thank you, Kimbel family!