Thursday, October 8, 2009

Birthday Surprises


I love surprises. Well, not all surprises. I mean, I don't like bad surprises. But good ones? I love those kind of surprises!

Yesterday, my dear friend Nichole phoned me to tell me she'd be picking me up at 9:15am and to be ready. That is all she said (besides "Happy Birthday!" Then, she gave me crap about being old, which sucks because I'm 11 years older than she, so I have no ammunition!).

This morning, Nichole (and her sister, Jen) came to pick me up and took me to a lovely breakfast at our favorite breakfast place in town. The food was, as usual, wonderful. The company was great, too. I'd met Nichole's sister before, but this was our first opportunity to really chat. She's fascinating and lovely; a beautiful young woman. The Boy was with us as well; he had gotten sick on Wednesday morning (which is a whole 'nother post that I'm working on) so had to stay home from school today.

After breakfast, we headed out for destinations unknown (to me, at least). We ended up at a local quilt shop! Nichole had arranged for us to come in and sign-up for and purchase supplies for a beginning quilt class!! What an amazing gift!

You see, Nichole and I have been talking about how much we each want to make a quilt, but neither of us has taken even the first step in that direction. My love for quilts began way, way back in high school when I went to see a local production of Quilters, which I don't recall being a musical, but apparently is.

My fascination with quilts went into a dormant period for a number of years after that. Then, in 1999, I had a neighbor who was a very talented and prolific quilter. She tried to get me to make a quilt, but I resisted. I had two rather small kids at the time and the idea of spending that much time on a single project seemed daunting at best. Still, I loved to watch her work and to look at her fabric stash.

Either that same year or the following year, my mom told me about Jennifer Chiaverini's book, The Quilter's Apprentice. I fell in love. I've read all the Elm Creek novels and, after befriending Nichole, suggested them to her. Her answer was always the same. "OK - I'll read them...someday!" Finally, about two years ago, I went and bought the first three novels and mailed them to Nichole. Having no excuse not to read them, she promptly devoured them...and many more after that.

Now, we are both going to realize our dream of making a quilt. Nichole's dream culminates with her HAND QUILTING a piece. Mine is not so ambitious! We had a blast picking out fabric for our projects. Choosing fabric is WAY harder than one might think (well - for me, anyway!). I'm excited about what I've chosen (most of which is from the Basic Grey collection).

I'll be sure to post the finished project mid-November, when I have it.

1 comment:

  1. How fun & what a thoughtful friend.
    I'm glad you got to do more than deal with puke & snakes.

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