The meaning of life is to find your gift.
The purpose of life is to give it away.
David S. Viscott, American psychiatrist and author (1938–1996)
As the first day of the new year draws to a close, I am sipping some of the leftover bubbly – still effervescent thanks to the ol’ spoon in the hole trick. Surprisingly, I am also still effervescent given that I did see the clock tick over from 2018 to 2019. I have not done this in a good many years. While other late night revelers may have been watching the ball drop in Times Square or the fireworks from the London Eye, I was very happily sewing with my glass of Back 10 Cellars Smit*ten at my right elbow.
It has been a very sewy holiday and I have been very content. I set out a few weeks ago to make a comforting lap quilt for a dear lady who is grieving and found myself comforted by its colours and the lines of the Beatitudes worked into its reverse side. Those verses move me at my core and I have fond memories of visits to the beautiful mount on the north shore of Lake Kinnerat so the quilt was a joy to create.
Just in time for Christmas day, I finished a set of fleece-lined shoe bags for S-I-L. Once Dad helped me figure out how to make the grommets, the bags came together gorgeously. Sorry, no photo, so you’ll have to take my word for it.
The next project had me hand sewing the binding of a quilt for my aunt. The fabric reminded me of her lovely gardens and I hope the bright bouquet will be cheery during our gray days of winter. The piece work had been completed a few months ago and then Helen Huburt worked the beautiful quilted pattern using her longarm machine. She finished in time for Christmas so I just needed to finish the edging, which is metres long and requires small stitches to maintain the quilt’s integrity through washings. I never would have thought that I would take so much comfort from working with needle and thread. Yet there I was, sitting in my rocking chair, contently sewing. It’s quite an old-fashioned image and I found myself thinking of and connecting with all the women in my matrilineal ancestry who also took comfort in handiwork.
Last up is a very modern-looking pillow. This is what I was quilting last night and finished today. The design freely evolved as I worked. Thankfully, I like it. ;-)
The unicorn marks the last of the 2018 Christmas presents. It has been a wonderful holiday, full of family, comfort and joy.
I wish all my dear readers a new year full of such comfort and joy, fine friendship and good health.
Onwards into 2019!
(hopefully with more blog posts than in 2018)
