Quilts on display

I spent several hours shopping and gawking at more than 800 quilts this weekend at the Common Threads Quilt Show at Century II. Janice & I went for a bit on Saturday and Sunday, and my friend Chris joined us for a couple of hours on Saturday.

I was humbled at the talent, creativity and craftsmanship the quilts portrayed. They were beautiful. Many gave me a lump in my throat because of the stories behind them or what they represented.

Take for example the heart quilt pictured, titled "It's Like I Said" and displayed as a memorial quilt. It was made by a former quilt guild member who died since the last show in 2006. The quilt summary in the show's program said, "Norma was always collecting sayings and she kept them in a notebook. She loved scrappy quilts and this heart pattern. She decided to use the blank space in the center to write some of her favorite sayings -- they always brought a smile to her face."

Among those sayings: "Contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want, but the realization of how much you have."

"Who plants a seed beneath the sod and waits to see believes in God."

"Count your age by friends, not years; count your life by smiles, not tears."

Now I am inspired to get to work on my own projects. Mom said that I should enter our "Spring Survivor" quilt -- and its story -- in the next show.

Mom update: The event was fun, but I wished that Mom could have enjoyed it with us. Lots of her quilting friends that I saw asked for an update and passed along their wishes for a good recovery. I purchased a CD of photos of all of the quilts, and she & I will have a private viewing later this summer. Mom had a good weekend with more in-house therapy. She told me this evening that she can tell that she's feeling better because it's bothering her that she's been unable to fix her hair or do her makeup. We might just need to have a girls pampering party. Tomorrow she will have been home for a full week, and she has a lot of work ahead of her this week, including tackling the house stairs with a therapist's help.