The first blanket traveled all the way from New Brunswick. I'm not certain who started the quilt (Alice?) but it contains a lot of symbolism that is very close to my heart. For example, the three fabrics represent the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The "ladder" motif is the stairway to Heaven. On the reverse side, the Holy Spirit fabric (the dragonflies) form a cross to remind me of God's constant love. When Alice and Louise presented me with the quilt, I was told there is a prayer/poem that goes along with it as this is very much a prayer quilt. Interestingly, while I don't remember the exact words of the prayer, I do remember that it is almost identical to a hymn that means a great deal to me (one that I want sung at my funeral with everyone in attendance doing the actions - really). It goes something like this: "Love before me, love behind me, love under my feet. Love within me, love over me. All around let there be love." To underscore the love aspect of the quilt, each of those little blue knots was tied by a different member of my extended family - may doing their tying at a dinner gathering while I sat unaware of the goings-on in the adjacent room! The knots on the border of the quilt were, however, reserved for my mother so I will always know that I'm surrounded by my mother's boundless love. How cool is that?!? To Alice, Louise, Bruce, Susan, Mary, Melissa, Jacqualine, Phil, Ellen, Ritchie, Cindy, Rielly, Mom and everyone else involved a heartfelt thank you. I love you all very, very much. What a treasure. A definite heirloom. Here's a photo of the quilt:
A couple of days after the quilt presentation, I attended the Sunshine Coast Weavers and Spinners Guild's June meeting. In addition to the usual potluck (swear fibre folks are the best cooks) we had our annual "exchange". This year's project was some sort of hand-warming apparel. Some members made gloves, others wrist-warmers. Mine was a gorgeous pair of mittens and a matching hat crafted by Marjorie Ann Malcolm. The super-soft gold/green/beige yarn was hand-spun and then knit in a spiral pattern. I'd be happy to show a photo, but all the items were whisked away as they were opened - will be part of a guild display during the Gibsons Fibre Fest in August. What I can offer is a photo of the mittens I made for one Deanna Pilling. Here are the mitts I knitted from yarn I dyed some years back:
It was extremely interesting that Deanna should have been the recipient of my mittens because during the "show and tell" portion of the meeting, she stood up to talk about her latest blanket project and then handed me the blanket! Deanna has started a blanket weaving business with input from a couple of other guild members. Most work is inspired by the sea, forest, and other aspects of the local environment. My blanket, however, is "inspired by the women we know who are fighting the good fight", as Deanna said during her presentation. You could have knocked me over with a feather when she made the presentation! I had no idea the blanket was for me. And what a delight it is. My apologies if I have the info wrong - I was so taken aback by the generous gift that I started crying and could only concentrate on keeping my nose from running! If I do have the facts right, Ann Harmer used mushrooms to dye the wool a soft mauve-pink. Yvonne Stowell spun the 100% Sunshine Coast wool, and then Deanna wove it into a cozy twill blanket. The design is called "Group Hug", and I feel that loving comfort every time I touch it! Many, many thanks to all of you for the wonderful gift!
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