Sunday, October 27, 2013

Sunday Gifts

This probably goes without saying, but as a traveling quilt teacher, I travel a lot.  I can recognize a hotel brand by the curtains, carpet, or the cookie served at check-in.  I can recite airport codes easier than I can recall my bank passwords.  I know where to eat at every major airport.  I can live for a month out of a carry-on suitcase.  I can pack that suitcase and be ready to leave in less than 10 minutes.  I have been to 39 states and 3 foreign countries (so far).  I meet the most delightful people and love most of the parts of this job.

I'm away most weekends from March - May and September - Thanksgiving.  Things slow down a bit in the summer and winter.  This is the quilt show calendar and I accept it.  One of the downsides is that I miss going to church.  I love my church family and I miss them when I'm gone.

I leave for Houston tomorrow (bah!) so I got to visit with my church family this morning.  It was WONDERFUL!  There were a lot of hugs and "See you after Thanksgiving"s.  Today was even more special because I got to gift a quilt.

Gift a quilt?

Yes, one of my favorite things to do is to give quilts away.  I have lists of people that have/had events that I want(ed) to make a quilt for.  I will catch up on a lot of those in the winter.  Sometimes, though, a quilt doesn't seem right for any recipient on that list and I end up with a quilt in search of a home.  When this happens, I just give the quilt to someone for no reason.  I did that at church this morning.  This quilt reminded me of a very sweet and special young momma at church, and she is now the owner of this quilt:


The pattern is from Nickel Quilts.  It is a scrap quilt, but doesn't really look like one.  (I think Kermit even liked this quilt!)

I had fun quilting this one:


She cried when I gave it to her.  She cried when she called me after church to thank me again.  "It's so special and it's MINE!  It matches my chair in the family room perfectly! No one can touch it!"  I convinced her to use it and throw it into the washer and dryer.

Gifting quilts is always a selfish act on my part, because I get the biggest kick when I give a quilt away like this.  If you've never tried it, I highly recommend it.  I've given a quilt to a lady at the library, friends from church, medical receptionists...  the possibilities are endless!

Last week I ate a few Hello Kitty Cupcakes.  It was MY PARTY and I'll eat cupcakes if I want to.  The Hello Kitty Cupcake toppers were rings and I wore one of them to church this morning.


A young lady (2 years old) spotted my ring and she now owns it.  I would have given this to the first child who noticed it, but it was fun that the recipient is my son's wife's niece.  I call myself her great-aunt, but others dispute my logic on this one.

I hope you all had great Sundays, full of many gifts!

3 comments:

Carla A Few Of My Favorite Things said...

I am gifting a quilt to my sister for her 60th birthday. I have had it ready to ship for a month and her b-day isn't till the end of Nov. I can hardly wait, the best part is, I know she will be beside herself!

Kim said...

There is more joy in giving than receiving:0). What fun you must have had watching her react to your gift. How wonderful of you.
Save travels and Happy Sewing

Diana Louie, The Village Fabric Shoppe said...

Within a week of Hurricane Sandy my Shoppe had sent a dozen quilts directly into a shelter in Long Beach. It was wonderful to see how much it means to give that way. I truly understand.