a good week

Mmmm... this has been a good week.  Spring has sprung here, and our home is surrounded by life: flowers in the trees, green in the meadows, friends in the sand box.  We're anticipating our annual Easter Egg hunt tomorrow.  It'll be our biggest group yet - 23 hunting kids!  Lots and lots of eggs.

 a good week

The other day I asked Brandon to cut down a large dogwood branch that has been hanging by a thread from the tree for months.  It was knocked almost off by a truck that came through here in January, actually rescuing one of Eleni's oxygen supply delivery trucks who got stuck in our muddy field.  Gosh, just two months ago?   It seems both forever ago that we needed oxygen trucks and just recently that the branch was damaged.  I was hoping it would blossom. And it did!  Now our home is filled with spring too.

a good week


It feels like I haven't made much progress sewing-wise though.  I think I'm puttering about with too many projects to feel momentum with any one.  But I don't mind too much.  I've been working on the first project for my next class.  Still enjoying this rich, inky blue so very much.

do re-cycled zippers usually break?

Actually, I had a pillow finished this week.  Or so I thought.  I had installed a zipper rescued from a pillow that needed to be retired.  Yep, I took the time to rip an invisible zipper out of the old pillow and then installed it in this new one.  The zipper opened and closed just fine until I went to make the final, finished zip.  Then, no dice.  No one can get it to budge.  I've just ripped out the old zipper again and will install a brand new one.  Should this discourage me from re-using zippers or was I just unlucky?

 a good week

Here's where I've been lucky.  This beautiful surprise arrived.  It's a quilt made by a reader who was touched when she discovered Eleni's story this January.  She'd been out of touch with my blog for a few years and came back just when Eleni was leaving us.

made with Eleni's fabrics

There is nothing more special that has been made in Eleni's memory than the quilt Linh dreamed up.  After my baby died I have somewhat regretted that I was using up the fabrics I had photographed her with.  I felt silly about that though, since I don't keep fabric for non-use.  It never occurred to me to make something to capture the fabrics as a collection.  Each one brings me back to that moment of our journey.  And some are very sad and some are quite hopeful and all of them are incredibly special because they are all I have.

I love that she sashed the fabrics with so much white, which reminds me of the onesies I always had Eleni wear for the photographs.  And, I also think she chose the perfect block and size.  I like that each cut is large enough to really appreciate the fabric and framed so beautifully with the tan.  Plus, the quilting.  Wow!!!  I'm super impressed and blessed.  

a good week

Yes, I am blessed.  Yesterday Aria embroidered a skirt she's making while Liam finished his day's math.  They laughed.  I smiled.  And I thought, this has been a good week.