She Smiles Tonight
This is part one of a two part story. Tonight I sat and shed a couple tears and then toasted my Mother because I knew she was smiling. Actually I could hear her say "Oh Susan, you did it, you really did it."
You see after my Mom had her heart attack I stayed with her and my step dad. To avoid going more then half crazy I needed a project. My project, which was chosen by and for my sister, may have started out small but before I left Mom's house it had taken up most of her living room. Mom would sit with me much of each day and keep my company. She would ask questions about what I was doing and kept commenting on how these little blocks were beautiful but she was sure that they could never become a king sized quilt. I got half of the top finished before I left her to return home.
I knew in my heart that she was waiting to see our project finished. This knowledge made finishing the top very difficult but I did finish. I hesitated to make that call to let Mom know it was now done. Two days later my Mom died. In a very special way that was how she helped to finish our joint project.
For 2 years I had been talking about wanting a long arm quilt machine. Wanting is a rather weak word, it was more like lusting. My Mom and I talked about it every once and awhile and she would take me by the hand and tell me that she hoped someday she could make it possible for me to get my machine. My last visit with my Mom we both knew that very soon she would do just that.
During that visit I coined a new nickname for Mom based on some silly antics she preformed while in the hospital. My Sister and I began to lovingly tease her and call her Maxine, like the Hallmark character who is a bit old and crotchety and ever so charming.
The last day that I was with my Mom we were saying all those last things- the ones that seemed so important in the moment and yet today I can only remember the look in her eye as we held each other one last time. Somewhere in that moment I told her that when I got my long arm I would name it Maxine after her. She liked that. I went on to tell her that our project for my sister would be the first quilt I did on Maxine.
Tomorrow I will put the label on my sisters quilt and then I will take photos one last time. I have gotten very good at making quilts and giving them away but this one, this one that was so lovingly put together will be hard to let go of but I happen to know that there is one Mom angel hanging out over Maxine pushing me to keep going. I think that all my quilts will now be a joint project- how cool is that!
This is me putting the last stitches in the binding. More photos to follow tomorrow.
Oh yes, this is Maxie. She is my other quilting buddy. Mom would approve as she always liked cats and this one would please her more then most.
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