well you talk about going to the ends of the earth to get that perfect pink. Some of the fabric in this little ditty came all the way from Hong Kong via London to Lagos.
I have a great friend who now lives in Hong Kong with her family. She and her husband have been great supporters of my quilting adventures. He bought one of my favorite quilts ever and it was made up among other things of some old shirts that belonged to my sons. Not only did he buy that quilt he also donated shirts to the cause and I have made many a quilt using his shirts. Well it has been a long while since we have seen them in the flesh as we are now in Lagos and they are in Hong Kong.
one day as I was surfing around on facebook he popped up and told me he had some shirts for me as he had lost a whopping 40 pounds. Now some would have thought well done that is great but me being the fabriholic I am wrote back how can i get them?? Single minded or what.
Plan A was to recruit a young man who was travelling in Hong Kong visiting. His dad Albert was a frequent visitor of ours in Lagos so I did not hesitate to ask. I know they thought I was loopy. well as it happened he had done a bit of shopping (and who can blame it) and by the time I got my request to him he had little to no room left. I was mildly disappointed but that's because I was only thinking of me.
Not to be put off I thought about another way. I thought of sending money so they could post but then really I thought this is really extravagant for some old shirts really.
Another day not long from that one( about 2 months later) I was on facebook again and Matt pops up and says Hey Troye I am going to be in London which one of your kids can I get these shirts to? Talk about shooting stars and all sorts of happy exhilarations, I was going to be in London too in fact we landed on the same day. Though i was in London on pretty serious business this was a really bright spot i had to look forward to. we eventually met up, me Matt and Katherine and he handed over the precious cargo!! The back pack was nice and heavy!! I have to say it was really kind of him to bring it and I appreciate it from my heart.
We had a great pub supper and after it was all over he set off for Heathrow and me and Kath set off for Hillingdon. I had a smile on my face all the way home. I was encouraged to think that my friends went to the trouble they did to bring me some joy in the form of some old clothes that I could transform into something I think is really beautiful. It really does bring me joy and happiness that is hard to describe to make some beautiful things with my own hands to share with others. I got my cargo home and waited to open the bag until i#I had some good scissors to start dismantling those shirts. Boy howdy what beautiful shirts there were too! My favorite was a lovely pink one that made it into this baby quilt here.
A colleague of Andy's had a baby a few months ago and he was after me to make a quilt. I had done nothing about it until I got back from London last week. I picked the fabric once I had chosen the shirt I was going to use. It took me 24 hours to assemble and I enjoyed every minute.
I might get to meet the people who are the recipients but then again I might not. I am satisfied that I did a good job and happy to know that love and kind thoughts have made it possible.
