A Day Without Quilts

I just want to say, to begin with, that the comments on my last post really meant the world to me.  I sat and thought about every one of them and really listened to your advice and support.  Thank you for your words.  It reminded me that I should comment more.  I read a lot of blogs quickly on my Kindle and don't comment but those small gestures can mean a lot to the person who wrote the post.

I think somebody tipped off my husband that he should read the post.  He called a family meeting and we had quite a talk about mutual support and taking mom for granted.  Then the talk took a surprising turn for me as it turned to what quilts meant for each of them.

At that point, the house was bare.  Without quilts around, it was cold and generic and really didn't even feel like our house.  The kids were looking around at the bare walls and the window seat where we keep a stack of quilts for watching television.  I hadn't taken the quilts off their beds, just all the ones in the common areas. 

I cried as they talked.

Drama Girl said when she brought friends over they always asked about the quilts and she was so proud to say her mom made all of them.

My husband talked about how he loved to watch them evolve on my design walls.

They each talked about how they loved them and different quilts reminded them of different times in their past and how they liked to watch the seasons change in the house by the different quilts I brought out.  I was really crying at this point.  I never imagined they felt that way.  They had never said anything.

Then Drama Girl made a confession.  By this point she had tears in her eyes too.  "Mom, that one quilt you made for my bed that's really soft?  The reason I always put it with the bottom towards my pillow is so I can keep the label on the back close by and read it."  On the label I had written how I will always love her.

Quilts are love.  I think they have learned their lesson now on how much it means to the quiltmaker to say thank you and I love you back.  And how even though quilts just show up from time to time, it's important to admire them and acknowledge the effort involved.  Most importantly, they realized that there has been a lot of support flowing in one direction around here, and some of it needs to flow back to mom.

So I'll put the quilts back out.  Here's a little bit of the new quilt as I was working on it.  My feelings are still a little raw but I will probably move forward on this one and pick up my hobby again.  Thank you for all of your kind words.  It's been a rough few days.