Here she is: Miss February!
I’m officially two for two in my UFO busting quest this year. (If you missed Miss January you can see her here). As I alluded to last month, Miss February comes with some baggage. Twice a year I head to Camp Lebanon in Upsala, MN for quilt retreat with my good friend Lori, her sisters and all their friends. A few years ago Lisa, the retreat ‘hostess’ asked for volunteers to make quilts to go in the rooms (extra quilts are always nice to have around) They even had fabric pre-bagged for our use! So of course I took a bag (or two) with good intentions to make at least one quilt. I think I got as far as cutting the fabric and sewing all the blocks…. and then Life got in the way.
Back of Miss February
It wasn’t just ‘normal’ Life stuff, normal I could deal with, this was major Life stuff. Life stuff that kicked me so hard I landed on my butt, and when I was down it kicked me hard again, spitting on me before it turned and walked away. I had been hit hard before – but not like this. I was so down I could not pick myself up right away. Instead I relied on my friends to hold me up – and that they did until I could stand on my own.
Close up
Needless to say the quilt blocks ended up in a bin along with so many other projects. The next time I headed to quilt retreat I left the blocks at home because I didn’t want to show or announce to anyone that I wasn’t able to get to it. And the next time I did it again, and again, and again…. for the next 4 years.
At some point the guilt got to be too much and I mentioned to Lisa that I haven’t forgotten about it (how could I), but you know, Life got in the way. And, Lisa in her sweet way, said she understood and not to worry about it. But I did worry about it. It’s not like me to make promises and not follow through. PLUS, every time I looked at that bin it would bring up painful feelings of the days when Life was not easy on me.
Now fast forward to last Fall when I started sorting through all my unfinished projects, when Life and I are once again in sync. I knew I couldn’t toss this one in the bag to go to the Textile Center. I needed to finish what I started and follow through on my promise. I’ll admit working on this quilt wasn’t easy, but she’s done! I know that when I head to Quilt Retreat this Spring I’ll feel ‘lighter’ when I finally hand her over to Lisa. I’ll feel good about being able to once and for all close the door to a very painful chapter in my life.
Until then, I’ve moved on to Miss March and Oh! she’s going to be a pretty one. Here’s a sneak peek.
