Ripples of Joy

(I’m a day late and a dollar short, but here is my post for yesterday.)

I finished and delivered two items from my UFO pile this week. May I say how pleased I am with myself for being so productive? 

The Yoga Mat Bag - this was not really a UFO since it only went on the list a few weeks ago and so technically is a new and finished-right-away project. My niece is taking her first yoga class. It is her 5th birthday and my sister asked if I would make a mat bag as a gift. My niece keeps borrowing my sister’s mat bag. I made that one years ago. Now my niece has her own. As you can see it is purple and pink, and matches her mat and her Rapunzel dress.

The Quilt - I don’t consider myself a quilter. I’ve made 4 quilts in 30 years of sewing. So I’m not a quilter but I do quilt. I like quilts because they always tell a story.

This is a special quilt for a friend. The quilt top and fabric came from his mother’s stash. She passed away a few years ago. He kindly gave me all of her fabric along with many quilting and knitting related tools. It was a very generous gift. The quilt top was already sewn and my friend asked me to finish it someday if ever possible. 

Well, it sat for a long time. Then a surprise baby came along for he and his wife. This January, the baby turned one. I thought it might be appropriate to finish the quilt to celebrate the happy occasion. So, a few months ago, I dug out the quilt top, backing and binding from the gift stash. It sat again for awhile. In December 2011 I realized I had run out of time. I basted the layers together end of December and started hand quilting beginning of January. I hand sewed every night for 2 1/2 weeks. 

I missed the actual birthday but I gave the quilt to my friend and his family yesterday. They were very surprised and amazed that I remembered. Really though, the quilt is a legacy from my friend’s mother. I just helped finish its story.

Soon after the giving, I watched a large orange coy fish swim just below the surface of the water at the pond in the Chinese Garden at the Huntington Library. The fish’s tail waving back and forth created gentle ripples on the surface of the water. It made me think how joyful that fish must be to swim all day. I thought about how happy it made me to finish the quilt for my friend and how happy it made him. That’s how I create my ripples of joy - making stuff for my friends and family.