Blue Ribbon!

I entered this quilt in the Etown fair this week. It represents a significant milestone for me – I had pieced this particular quilt when I was in the middle of surgery and treatment in 2007. Quilting soothed my soul during that season and probably did more good for my health than any supplement or pill I could have swallowed. I had so much trouble sleeping a lot of the time, so sometimes if I was wide awake in the middle of the night and couldn’t get back to sleep, I would get up and sew until I was tired enough to go back to bed. I had finished piecing the quilt and prepared it for the quilting process, but then folded it away and never had the chance to finish it once I was working full time again and trying to keep up with life. Then, 2 weeks ago I spent the day at the beach with my friend Brenda. I hadn’t been there in 2 years because of not feeling well – a crime for me because I love the beach! That day was so restorative and made me realize that I needed to make life-giving activities a higher priority in my schedule; finishing that quilt got bumped to the top of the priority list. I was happy to get it machine quilted in time to enter it in the fair (even though I had to stay up Sunday evening to get it finished)!