Merry Chris-demic

It.  Has.  Been. A. Year.

If someone, anyone would have told me during Christmas 2019, that  I would be spending most of 2020 wearing a mask, washing my hands, and standing 6-feet away from people… well, I wouldn’t have believed them.  If you remember last Christmas, we were excitedly planning to surprise the grand darlings with a trip to Disney World. 

There are days I think we’re handing this Pandemic well.  There are days when I want to smash my television set and berate total strangers for not wearing a mask.  I sail through most days okay, following my ever-present lists, attending Zoom meetings, and quilting like a mad woman.  This year my sanity has been saved by stitches and my quilting buddies who send funny texts (those of you out there know who you are…and you’re the best). 

Thanksgiving was different this year.  Christmas will be, too.  However, let us hold tenaciously onto the fact that the Christmas before AD 1 was pretty rough, too.  And humanities’ need for salvation was answered by a baby’s cry from a manager. 

Merry Christmas from my quilt studio to yours.

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Sam

God said:  “I need someone willing to take perfectly good fabric

and cut it up into dozens of pieces.

Then, with the patience of Job,

take those pieces and sew them back together in a completely different order.”

So God made a quilter.

God said:  “I need someone who makes sure her children

are involved in music concerts, sporting events, theatrical productions.

And then, when it’s time for the child to graduate into the world,

Will collect all the tee shirts they’ve accumulated

And make a memory of what they have accomplished.

Showing them they can be successful in the future.”

So God made a quilter.

God said: “It has to be someone whose hands are never idle.

Who’s willing to take her projects on vacation, to play groups, and while waiting in line at the DMV.

Someone who’s willing to rip out an entire row of stitches in order to make the corners line up perfectly.

But who also knows that perfection is a goal, never truly attained,

and that “handmade” means, by definition,

Bumps and “oops,” and “I’ll do it better next time.”

So God made a quilter.

God said:  “I need someone smart enough to cut on a bias, miter corners, and chain piece.

Someone who’s not afraid of pattern names like “Drunkard’s Path,” “Broken Dishes,” or “Storm at Sea.”

Someone brave enough to make that first cut and stitch that first seam and never look back.

Someone who gets goose bumps at the idea of a new project,

Who searches high and low for the perfect shade of blue,

And thinks a good pair of scissors is a better investment than a new pair of shoes.”

So God made a quilter.

God said:  “I need someone who enjoys working with needle and thread,

And enjoys even more lending them out for a good cause.

Someone committed enough to make projects for every conceivable occasion or no occasion at all.

Someone willing to stay up all night to finish a project,

then give it away the next day to a newlywed couple or a wounded soldier or a newborn baby.”

God said:  “I need someone who can send a word of thanks, of love, of you’re important to me

Without saying a word, but using only fabric and pins.

Someone who can gather together their friends and neighbors

and share the same thing.

Someone who understands intuitively why family hand-me-downs are precious,

and who stands ready to teach the next generation,

So that they too can create beautiful treasures for their children.”

So God made a quilter.

Amen.