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   A wonderful, unexpected gift from my sister... These little cuties made my day.  I love them because they are adorable, but even more because they tell me every time I look at them that someone is rooting for me!

My father-in-law takes a trip to Whidbey Island each year.  It is a quaint little spot off the coast of Seattle where his time is spent hunting crabs, watching birds, and perusing antique shops.  Typically, he visits for a week in early spring to mark the end of winter.  I was making this quilt for him as a reminder during those cold winter days that soon there will be ships on the horizon again! 

It was a nice idea…and it would have been a great gift.  But, I completed the top, and for whatever reason, set it aside where it has joined my "little" stack of tops and kits that we quilters refer to as UFOs (unfinished objects).   I have resolved to wrap up to this random assortment of projects this coming year, and as my father-in-law’s birthday is coming right up, this quilt top is up first.   

The problem with UFOs is that most of them have been around awhile.  This particular quilt uses the Thimbleberries Lodge and Lakeside line from 2008!  I know, right?   I am not likely to find any backing and binding material in my local shop anymore and of course I didn’t buy it back in 08…it never occurred to me we’d be ringing in 2012 together.   What to do?  I guess it’s time to pad over to the computer in my pj’s and spend time shopping for fabric online.  Torture!  I may even force myself to choke down a few left over Superbowl cookies while I’m at it.  This is beginning to border on cruel and unusual….

None of my favorite online shops had any…but luckily I found several good options by running a search through the Find My Fabric search engine.  I even found a few new favorite shops!  So, the fabric is found and it looks like this is one UFO that will soon make an official landing.  I think I will call it “Whidbey Island Dreaming On a Winters Day.”

And now…these! 

Better make more cookies...

Each year unpacking Christmas decorations is a little like opening presents.  I always find something I received the previous year but have forgotten, maybe a decoration the boys made, or the ornament Chris gets me every year, and unpacking it is a sweet surprise.  Sometimes even the things that have been in my life for many years are a rediscovered treasure. 

This little quilt is one of those gifts to me each Christmas.  It is the first quilt I remember my mom making.  I think she had probably made more at this time, but this is the one I picture hanging on the wall of the little sewing room she worked in when I was younger.    I always held that room and the things inside in a place of honor…somehow I knew this was something I would later love.

I acquired this little wall hanging when my mom was cleaning out Christmas decorations and handing them down to me and my sisters.  I don’t think she thought twice about getting rid of it and probably would have thrown it out if I have not taken it.  She has since made many more quilts of greater difficulty and consequence than this and I doubt she even knows I have it still. 

What I am certain she doesn’t know, is that I also have this!  Something I value even greater than the quilt itself.  It is an old, wrinkled, yellowing piece of notebook paper on which she has written her notes on this quilt.  It must be over 25 years old now.  Something about her handwriting, seeing her thought process, and the way I do the same thing when I am making a quilt makes me smile and feel close to her.  I do not know how I came by this, or what inspired me to keep it, other than that I knew it was a connection we share.

There is a quote I read once that brought tears to my eyes.  It said something like: “It is not a woman’s desire to be forgotten, so she signs her name in thread.”  I suppose for me, this quilt along with the wrinkled notepaper is my mother’s special signature. 

It makes me wonder what small things I may be making or doing now that my own children will cherish?