Unfathomable Gifts….

With the Summer Series in Pennsylvania over – and finally being back on my own “turf”, in my own bed – familiar sounds of washing machine, dish washer, icemaker in the fridge clunking away as it drops ice into the hopper every once in a while, all of the stress of the past month-plus (that I thought I was handling rather well) is hitting me.

In the chaos of the past several weeks, there are many things that were forgotten, overlooked, in one ear and out the other, should have written this down, assumed there would be a note, pieces falling through the cracks–

I was doing my best to hold it all together, shooting for some semblance of normalcy when the winds of far away family and the grief of Mark’s passing-to-come were shoved back and compartmentalized. 

I received several remarkable gifts in Pennsylvania – but this one thing, this one thing…I didn’t discover until I unpacked the box on Tuesday morning, after waking to the news that Mark had indeed slipped away.

A HUGE box – full of linens, blue mason jars, Hoosier jars, pottery vases – and in the bottom of the box, folded and protected inside a vintage embroidered pillow case was this quilt.

Where is the name on the box?  How can I contact the giver to thank her once again?

I remember going out to the parking lot with her, laughing at the heaviness of the box, and moving my van closer so we could move it without dropping it.

I remember her saying what was in the box, and that she hoped that these items would find a joyful place at the Inn.

Class had close to 60 students that day – it was a 5 minute parking lot run while quilters sewed, and we rushed right back in after many hugs and smiles and thank-you’s.  But it isn’t enough.

Beautiful quilt – at the bottom of the box!

I feel rather embarrassed…mad at myself for not taking the time to take notes.  To get names and email addresses.  But when I tell you that the day was chaos, in every GOOD way that a fun retreat/workshop day for 58 students could be – maybe I shouldn’t be so hard on myself.

But this quilt!  Oh, my goodness, this quilt!

Close up – such fine tiny quilting stitches!

This maker was a master.

Wow.  Just wow.

Hello, Mary Elder Harkless!

If this quilt was made around 1900, Mary was more or less the same age as I am now…I wonder what her life was like.  Perhaps we share some of the same struggles?  And perhaps the same dreams as well.

When she made this quilt, Quiltville Inn had been already standing for close to 16 years.

Who taught her to quilt and to piece so precisely?  What other quilts did Mary make in her time?  Perhaps many utility type quilts were worn out with the using.  Perhaps this one was saved for “good.”

This is a priceless gift, and I need the wonderful woman I met in the parking lot at the American Legion in Bedford, Pennsylvania to email me so I can thank her properly.

While photographing the quilt, the cows were on the mooooooove down by the creek!

I love watching them amidst all of that green nature.
I arrived home in Wallburg a bit past noon, and started unloading the van of everything.  There was a huge pile of mail in the front entrance hall.  I printed 80+ invoices and set in to making sense of everything that was before me, getting things out to clear my schedule so I can go to Arizona next Thursday. 

It was mindless work, and it felt good….sign a book, place it in an envelope, weigh the package, print the appropriate postage, put it in the outgoing bin.  I needed to do something.  It’s done.

Today I’m digging into String Frenzy book edits – the final round. 

The house is quiet.  I’m home alone.  There is nothing else I need to do today.

Doesn’t it amaze you that the world doesn’t just STOP when you get thrown off of your axis? 

It just keeps turning.  It just keeps going on.

And perhaps that is the encouragement we need to also keep going.

Quiltville Quote of the Day.

My thanks for all of the nice folks who lift me every day.

Enjoy your Thursday, friends.