Message from Mom, A Flashback, And A Book

I completed a victorian house quilt for my mom in 2001. I had already spent 2 years working on it very sporadically, and I was about to go to Guatemala, and then to New York City to do a fashion internship, so I'd be seeing my mom in Connecticut on the second leg of my journey and I wanted to bring her that quilt come hell or high water. I didn't actually have time to make my deadline alone, so my mom's quilt was completed with the help of many friends.

Though it was simply a tied together quilt, I knew it just wouldn't be right without hand embroidery trimming every single house, and every single tree and star in the border. That's where my friends came in.(Poor Rita. She was so diligent....) The addition of all these other girls sitting down and decorating my house squares brought alot of new energy, creativity, and ambition into the quilt at a time when I was very low on all of that. I'm still convinced that it all resulted in a spectacular piece.

I just got a message from my mom the other day:

"Hi E. Kim was reading a story to her class today that was about quilts, so she asked if I would bring your quilt in to show the class. They absolutely LOVED it. When I asked them what they specifically liked about it, they all mentioned either a little applique or an embroidery. I thought you should know that you had an entire class of second graders drooling over your quilt. Love, Mom"

The book was called The Quiltmaker's Gift, which makes it even more of an honor to have been the maker behind the quilt that was brought to class.

I'm not just writing this to break my own arm in the act of patting myself on the back for something I did years ago (with lots of help), but because it dawned on me that the things we really pour our hearts into can have a fabulous life of their own, being brought into contact with the community to share the love, educate, and inspire. It makes me feel ---not futile!

I'm so happy that my quilt got to go hang out with little kids, and that they all had lots of fun looking at it and talking about it. Thanks Mom and Kim!