Friendship Pines

My mother-in-law passed away last week and I had to stay in AZ to run the company while Gary went back to make arrangements, etc.  Last night I made the date bars that she used to make every Christmas in her honor.  Maybe later I will post the recipe.  I needed to make them once again before posting the recipe as it's another of those recipes that all the instructions aren't there and I need to write them in.

Several years ago I was a part of a sub-group in Nimble Thimbles chapter of AZ Quilters Guild.  These were groups that we signed up to participate for a short time - usually a year.  Each participant made kits to give to the others for quilt blocks for a project they wanted to do.  You may have noticed that I'm sort of "into" pine trees so my project was a small, simple pine tree block.  (I've been "into" red and white quilts, too!)

This is the result of that project.   There were 9 people in the group who were given kits to make the pine tree block and a few extra half-square triangle units for the friendship stars used as alternate blocks.

One of the participants very apologetically gave me her block saying that she had problems doing the block and that when she squared the block she cut off points.  After studying the block at home, I could tell it was not salvageable.  I called to let her know that it was a problem and that we had a couple of options.  I could 1. give her another kit or 2. I could just remake the block or 3, if she was willing to come over, I would give her a private lesson in making half-square triangle units that were accurate.  She chose option 3 and we had a lovely day.  She went on to make a beautiful feathered star after completing a block that fit perfectly into my quilt.  I got a better block and got to spend the day with a friend -- how cool is that?.

Recently I thought about how fortunate we are to have some of our friends.  I sent an e-mail to two of my close friends recently pointing out how unlikely it was that we became friends since we were born in different states, went to different schools and churches and did not live on the same street, etc.  One is a native Arizonan and two of us moved here at different times.  We met at the first guild meeting I attended in AZ and they had only met a couple of months earlier when they each attended the same guild for the first time the same night without knowing each other previously.  Lucky us!

This past week, one of those friends, Joyce, has been meeting me at my office every morning so I won't have to unlock and open the business by myself since Gary is out of state attending to the details of his mother's funeral, etc.  How fortunate I am to have a friend willing to take time out of her busy day at the busiest time of year to make sure I'm safe until our employees come in.  A big "thank you" to Joyce!

Have you hugged a friend lately?  If not, at least call them and tell them how much you love them!

Until next time,
Lois