Sailing Takes Me Away

It’s dark. I knock. The door slowly opens. It’s Tom. I’m greeted with a smile.

“We have to stop meeting like this”, he grins.

“  No”, I protest.  “I’m actually enjoying this”.

I’ve made a house call to deliver the final masterpiece to Tom. I enter the house.  I open the bag. The best smile is the one when he sees his quilt.

Last visit he had joked about making a quilt with arm sleeves like a wing suit like I’ve seen cliff divers wear on TV. In a wing suit he could fly to his North Georgia lake house instead of drive.

The smile means (whew!) he’s not disappointed it’s a regular quilt. Not a wing suit.

“I trust you.” Says Tom.

Tom is 88 years old. He likes traveling, going to his lake house—he drives there; and he likes making model ships.  Tom likes sailboats so the quilting pattern is sailboats. The front and back of this quilt was made entirely from his sweatshirts.

We worked with Tom to make a special quilt from his sweatshirt collection. It’s special because it’s all about his life. It’s special because Tom can use it NOW to keep warm by the fire at his lake house.  Special because Tom’s great grandchildren can also enjoy his quilt.  Later.

Tom tilts his head.  There’s a twinkle in his eye as he looks off into the distance “I just realized”  he sighs  “that I may not live forever”.

“The quilt will outlast me”.  He smiles.

Give the gift of different. It’s special.

For you now.

For them. Later.

This was quilt #4 for Tom and partner Sonja.