Another Finish for Friday

Sometimes we are lucky enough to have people in our lives who remind us with their love and friendship that we are never alone, and that in every circumstance our best interests are being cared for. Just being with them helps us understand our value to this world.

I've got a number of projects close to done, and this one got finished this morning. Its a tote I made for my friend Debi who is gracious enough to pick me up at the airport in MN and give me an entire bedroom apartment while I am there. Ever since we met almost two decades ago, she has opened her home and her heart to me. I am quite lucky to have such friends.

When I started thinking about making totes to practice free motion quilting, I decided to offer them as Pay It Forward projects in the fall. I still plan to do that. Debi told me she would love to have a tote for her knitting projects & I agreed to make one for her. 

She asked for blues and oranges and gave me the size as well as requesting that the strap be long enough to be over the body. This one has hand-sewn binding around the edges and could be reversible. I had to look up what an 'over-the-body' strap was and did my best to make it work. I am taking it with me to MN and if she needs something different, at least we have this one as a model.

Life is a series of lessons that come before us. If we learn what we need to learn and pass the test, we get a new lesson. If we didn't get it right, we experience the lesson at another level, sometimes even more difficult than the first go-around.

I think our friendships are like life lessons. There is an old bromide that says "we have friendships for a reason, for a season, or for a lifetime". What I do know is that its important to recognize our behavior in those relationships and cultivate them for what they are without judgment. Each is ok. Each is vital to our well-being.