01/16/2022
Hi everyone!
I just celebrated another birthday and I started to think of all the wonderful people lost this past year to things out of their control. The celebrities we hear about on the news that have so many people being thankful they touched their lives. Then you get the families who are famous only to family, friends, neighbors… I have a very small family, the people I’ve gotten to know through work, church,quilting, the dog rescue. Really small amount of people compared to someone like Betty White or Bob Saget.
I wasn’t on a career path to be famous. I am on a life track to do what I can to make good choices that effect the people around me. You know, hey ConnieSue…can you help me make this, or hey ConnieSue I need help Thursday with this activity or that activity. If I can, I do. If I can’t because of a prior commitment or I just don’t feel good I have to say no, maybe next time. What I am getting at is that I am a everyday person who cares about those lives I touch.
Last fall I was asked by a family to help find a new home for their mother’s quilt room. She had unexpectedly passed away and had left a very full lifetime of everything sewing, quilting, cross stitch, knitting and crocheting behind. I know she hadn’t plan to go when she did because there were so many projects she had started and not finished for one reason or another.
Are you someone that has a legacy of quilting or crafting put away for that day when you have time to get to it? I started thinking more about how much I was buying and not even starting let alone being partially finished when a close quilting friend passed away after being sick for a little while. She had time to think about what she had left uncompleted but I have a sense she didn’t feel well enough to use up every inch or quarter yard or five or ten yards of fabrics she had stored away. She had completed projects that she made just because she could and enjoyed it so much. Her family knew her well enough to deal with the legacy left behind.
My question to people who may be reading this is, have you thought about what would happen if something made it so that you could no long quilt, see that baby gift, or make that birthday card you had planned on? I slowed down what I was buying way before the pandemic hit, taking a short detour as my favorite quilt shop was closing, but just have had to slow down buying more then two lifetimes can complete. I don’t make New Year resolutions but I am resolved to finish my husband’s birthday quilt before I miss yet another birthday. I stopped getting mad at myself for every baby quilt I was going to make and didn’t because something came up that I couldn’t ignore.
I have given away a lot of quilt fabric to my church, gave my Cricut to a very talented young person who is making shirts and gifts for others, (especially my granddaughter! I gave away all the card making equipment and hobbies I’m just not as into as much any longer to concentrate on my family’s projects and those that are really important.
It bugs me to see all the Wild fires and storms that have taken away so many homes this last year. I can’t even imagine how many personal loss there has been. If I lost my home, would I be able to find shelter, food and clothing? I hope so. I probably wouldn’t be able to get back to quilting regardless of insurance.
I am leaving you with a thought and a challenge. What if you lost everything in your home tomorrow? What would really matter? Life. Yes life cannot be taken for granted nor the things you have put away to get to someday. Today is someday. Donate what you don’t need,(not you dirty laundry) but maybe the clothes you aren’t wearing, sell the things that have little meaning but still have value. Work on the graduation or birthday gifts. Don’t take every day and everything you have for granted.
I flunked Girl Scout cookie sales, school fundraisers, selling Tupperware and so far online fabric sales. I have gotten the opportunity to use my ability to network and find homes for a quilter’s studio, and another families lifetime of their mother’s supplies and equipment. I have a college degree in Social Work and a mother’s heart for caring. I know I don’t have as many days left to get my projects all completed as I did yesterday.
