Still Pinching Myself

 . . . that's how surprised I was (and continue to be) to receive an amazing retirement quilt from the Divas at the January retreat.

As you know, emails were sent out over the summer asking for I Spy blocks for me and for Jan--leaving me off of one set of emails and Jan from the other.  I'm sure the fact that I knew about Jan's surprise made me even less aware that one was in the works for me.

As Syd started to announce that the Divas had made retirement quilts for both Jan and me, it just didn't compute. I was stunned.  The quilts are beautiful and I appreciate the work and the heartfelt generosity of time and memories that went into these quilts.  Special thanks to Syd for finding the pattern and facilitating the effort, plus piecing and quilting Jan's.  Special thanks, also, to Laura for quilting mine and to Dianne for piecing the top and back plus designing and donating the spectacular AZ fabrics for the back.  I'm sorry that I do not know who to credit for the binding (maybe Kathy and Jan?).  Thank you to all of the Divas for finding special fabrics and piecing the blocks that remind us of our favorite things.  I'm so grateful for the quilt and for the time we get to spend together.

Here's a photo of both quilts in our room.

Now that I'm home, I took some more closeups of mine.  How lucky am I that Dianne had this amazing AZ fabric and designed (and pieced) a genuine Diane Young original for the back (in addition to piecing the top)?  When I got home and unfolded the quilt for Mike and Brady to see (showing the front of the quilt), both of them said ... "I thought you got the Arizona quilt", not realizing that the photos I'd texted Mike were of the front and the back.  :-)  I can't stop looking at it, discovering new things each time, which I would say is the mark of a truly great I Spy!

I have a feeling I'm going to be pinching myself for a long while.  I love the quilt!

Thank you all for a great retreat.  Jan brought some old photos from the Quilt Local event held in her garage.  None of us could pinpoint the year but there were many familiar faces looking decades younger than we do now.  :-)  It made me realize that I should be taking more photos of us and less of the quilts when I'm lucky enough to be at these special weekend retreats.  We spent lots of time talking fondly about Ruth--wondering what she was up to and reminiscing about the fun times we have had over the years. 

I blogged about my projects for the retreat over at my blog.  Maybe I'll try again to blog regularly.  I still enjoy it but I don't spend much retirement time on the computer.  See you all next time!