Since moving into our home in July of 2012, some of our neighbor friends have become family. That would include Nancy and her husband Rick and Nancy's Mama. We call her Sweet Mama. She lives with Nancy and Rick. A few days ago, she celebrated her birthday. Lisa ran over to give her a flowering plant. What Sweet Mama doesn't know is that tomorrow, a few of us are meeting up to celebrate her birthday.
Sweet Mama is a one of kind lady. She's in her 80's. Fierce. Bold. She's got a big heart. Her laugh is contagious. She has no qualms about dropping the F-Bomb. Her swear jar would probably be bigger than ours.
Lisa and I have always enjoyed listening to her stories. Sweet Mama is a wise woman and the youth of today could definitely learn a thing or two. Or a hundred.
Sweet Mama and her husband bought the house she lives in back in the 1950's. She's told us lots of stories about how life was back then including those in the very neighborhood we live in.
Sadly, Sweet Mama's husband passed away a couple of years ago. He was the love of her life. Her one true love. They were married for over 60 years.
A few months ago, during a chat with Nancy, I learned that they were cleaning out the closet in Mama's room. That included her husbands apparel.
The proverbial lightbulb went off in my brain.
I asked Nancy if she was willing to hand over some shirts. I wanted to make a patchwork quilt for Sweet Mama out of her husband's shirts.
The following day, Nancy gave us a big bag of his shirts. There was 17 in total. Out of the 17 shirts, 16 were solid polo shirts. The only printed shirt in the batch was a bright green pinstriped shirt.
It was her husband's favorite shirt.
In the weeks to follow, I cut out square after square after square. At times, I found myself getting a little teary eyed.
When it was time to piece the squares together, I discovered I had enough squares to do a patchwork on the front and back.
I wanted to do something special with the bright green shirt with pinstripes. I cut out 6 large hearts to applique onto the quilt once it was sewn together.
The quilt came out gorgeous. Originally, I was going to applique 3 hearts on the front and the back. However, to commemorate their love for over 60 years, I put all the hearts on the front.
We are beyond excited to present this quilt to Mama tomorrow during her small birthday celebration. This patchwork quilt was one of my favorites that I've made.
While piecing it together, I thought about so much. Love. The Universe. Fate. Marriage. What marriage meant years ago versus today. If my Grammy and Grandpa were still alive today, they'd be celebrating almost 70 years of marriage.
I know that a few tears will be shed tomorrow. And, that's okay.
It was a great honor to make this patchwork quilt. And I know that Sweet Mama will love it.
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