Love is all around…

One of my favorite sayings about friendship is attributed to C.S. Lewis:

Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: “What! You, too? Thought I was the only one.”

This of course goes nicely with dear Emily Dickinson, who says:

I’m Nobody! Who are you?
Are you — Nobody — too?
Then there’s a pair of us?
Don’t tell! they’d advertise — you know!

One of the most wonderful things about this here blog is that it has allowed me to literally jump out of the computer and into the real world. As a woman that is virtually home-bound by her care-giving journey I rarely have any opportunities to connect and meet people. Through this blog though, I do. Through this blog I have made true friends.

Last December I experienced the extreme high and then the extreme low of finding out I was pregnant and then finding out that it wouldn’t last. During the high a group of my on-line friends decided to create a quilt for me. And then when the low hit they kept going to create a quilt of comfort. They spent months and months creating individual squares that featured the outline of one of their hands. The squares were unique and absolutely personal. Lots of plaid was incorporated, as well as hidden embroidered messages of love and support. (& seriously- a square with a roller derby girl with “bad-ass” on her pants? Brilliant!)

The squares were sent to Shelli and then she artistically and beautifully shaped the top layer all together. That image alone- of such a great friend connecting all of our other great friends together with needle and thread into one tactile entity takes my breath away. Isn’t that how we all see ourselves? Connected with invisible thread across the world.

The connected squares were then sent across the country to Chicory who has the most talented mother of a quilter, or should I say quilter that is a Mother. She brought the squares to life with her quilting and binding.

All of this, from the planning, to the creating of the squares, to the assembling of the squares to the quilting took nearly a year. And here is the shocker- I didn’t know a thing about it! That is the thing that makes me curl my toes and blush with love. That so so many of my friends, some I have met, and some I have not, were able to come together to create such a perfect art piece of friendship and loyalty is awe inspiring.

And that it arrived, safely, on my doorstop Saturday just in time to hold me tight as we prepare to go through one of the hardest weeks ever with GM is just another perfect loop that the Universe and the U.S. Postal Service joyfully made happen.

Like I told the women involved in the creation of this new life-force in my life: You can be assured that this quilt will forever be a part of my life. Just as I hope that we all will be forever in each others lives.

From the top:

Row 1: Unwellness, Forever Reaching, Caved, Fostering Pride

Row 2: Cheese and Whine, Jen of Addition Problems, Misfit Motherhood, Probably Boring Ramblings

Row 3: Accident of Hope, So Join in the Struggle, Insane Animals, Lo of Family O

Row 4: Cait of Addition Problems, Cha Cherry Cola, One Small Corner, Arcane Matters,

Row 5: Fostering Pride, Co of Family O, EggDrop Post, Hydrangeas are Pretty

In addition to the quilt there was also included something called a purse quilt. This is a square (made by Dos Mamas) that I can slip into my purse and take with me to appointments. You can be certain that it will be traveling with us to meet with GM’s skin doctor tomorrow morning.

More images of the poetic and beautiful quilt of comfort:

Thank you to all who created and all those that planned and all those that were part of the surprise. It is now my most treasured belonging.