Quilt Friends are the Best

Hi All,

I've said it before and I'll say it again--my best friends are other quilters!   No matter if they are people that I've actually met, spent lots of time with, or just have gotten to know from blogging, you all are such wonderful people.

Quilters are so thoughtful and generous as well.  Recently, I received two packages in the mail!

Do any of you know Michelle from Island Life Quilts?  I have followed her blog for over a year.  She is a fellow Schnibbler and a year ago last summer she blogged about their family trip to Hawaii.  I commented on my blog that I lived there, etc.  Long story short, she emailed me late last spring and said that their family was visiting Hawaii again.  I was sure that we would probably miss them since we were moving, but the timing actually worked out.  So on the appointed day, my husband and I took lei to the airport and met their plane.  It was sort of funny, because it was an interisland flight (they'd been to the Big Island already) and there aren't too many people at the interisland terminal with lei, but we wanted to greet them with Aloha.  Michelle has the best husband and two of the nicest boys.  We chatted for a bit and made plans to go to Hanauma Bay to snorkel together.  We met there and had a nice time except that the weather was not the best, but we had a good visit.  Michelle's husband used to be in the Navy and so the guys could even speak the same language, so to speak.  It was a fun day.

One of the packages I got in the mail came from  Michelle.

 

 

Isn't this the prettiest bag ever?  Can you see that the main fabric is a batik with turtles on it?  That is an exclusive fabric only available at Quilt Passions, a lovely quilt shop in Kona. Isn't the hardware incredible?  I'm not sure where she found it, but it is really the jewels on this bag.  Michelle's workmanship is also exquisite!  It was so sweet of her to make it as a remembrance of Hawaii, but it will really be a remembrance of the time we got to spend together. 

 

She also tucked a few more things into the package...

 

...some candy packs of Marmalade and some of the neat red clips!  I have been drooling over marmalade and those clips are awesome!

 

But that was just the first package.  There was another one from a friend of mine in Hawaii.  Maureen doesn't blog (although several of her friends have encouraged her to)  she spends enormous amounts of time quilting.  She is the most prolific quilter that I know!  Not only is she prolific, but she is also the most generous quilter that I know.  She makes quilts for all sorts of charities and donates time to Kid Comfort Quilts, a program by the Armed Services YMCA where families of deployed soldiers send photos of the soldier and the children and they are used to make a photo quilt for the children.  Maureen moved to Hawaii about the same time that I did.  She was living in the North East and gave away nearly all of her stash because she didn't think people in Hawaii would spend time quilting!  She has since reaquired another, though.  This is what she sent to me:

 

 



This is a runner made up of log cabin blocks.  The logs are really skinny!  Maureen knows me and my favorite color scheme!!  I was wanting a small quilt for this table, which is my new coffee table in the living room.  (Yes, it is a child's size picnic table.)  Maureen's quilt is absolutely perfect for it.  Again the workmaship is lovely.

 

 

I can't thank these ladies enough for thinking of me.  While both projects are exquisite and I love them, it really is the thought that counts.  Do you know the saying "Good intentions pave the way to Hell?"  I never used to understand it when I was younger, but now I do.  Just because you have a good idea isn't enough.  You have to act on it.  Michelle and Maureen had the thought and then acted on it.  They are so inspiring!

 

Have a great day,

JoAnne