Unexpected Happiness!!

I didn't wake up this morning expecting anything wonderful... the night was too short, the day ahead promising to be far too long.  I really was okay with a minute or two of quiet, a hot cup of coffee and watching a cool morning sunrise.  I kind of thought that was going to be the highlight of the day. Then it happened!  I made a quilt last month.  It was my first non-family commissioned quilt in years, okay maybe a decade or more, and I have been dying to share it! But the recipient has been known to read my blog occasionally and I couldn't risk it.

The gift!

This morning I woke up to a text message, one of my favorite kind!  A picture of the quilt in the new happy owners arms.  I think I am going to start a collage all pieced together of the smiles!  Oh I love those smiles!!  I always thought t-shirt/memory quilts were fun and cute, but I never truly appreciated their intrinsic value until now.

This is the second quilt in as many weeks that has warmed my heart and made me happy beyond thought.  I made one of the two.  I am finding with each quilt the desire and need to make more of them.  To capture those memories, while creating a warm, useful quilt.  I was beside myself happy when the quilt was picked up a couple of nights ago.  I have been dying to see the look on my friend's face, to see if I had managed to capture her vision for the quilt.  The sheer delight in her jet lagged eyes and that smile, assured me I had.

That is a stressful moment, when you are making a memory for someone else. I failed mind-reading 101, sadly, and I worry endlessly that my vision and theirs might not align.  It tends to make me a bit ill, because those t-shirts or other bits of memories cannot be put back together after they are made into a quilt.  The very act of ruthlessly cutting them up and resizing them a few dozen times insures that. So I always hold my breath when presenting a quilt.  I cross my fingers and toes and send a few prayers upstairs that they will find beauty and love in my work.  It is so stressful!

And then I wait.

I wait for the requested picture, the one showing the look on the recipients face.  Because so far, none of the quilts I have worked on have been given straight to the recipient. My nephew's was given to his mom, as it was a gift from mom and dad...breath held for far too long.  Although my sister's smile and the tears in her eyes told me it was right.  Watching V complete her's and waiting to see... oh my what a great treat that was.  Then this one.  I love the two people that were part of it's circle very much.  They are dear friends and two of the most wonderful women I know.  I wanted it perfect.  I knew when it was picked up that I had met her vision... but would it pass the recipient test?

What do you think?

A picture is worth a thousand words

It's going to be an amazing day!  The stress I am anticipating isn't going to matter, I have a smile to brighten any darkness!  Bring it on world... I helped make a new smile, my heart is full!!