A Quilt for Meri

Sorry I've been kind of absent lately! There has been a TON going on. For the past 5 weeks I have been working on Meri's birthday present and it has been incredibly difficult to keep that a secret! We were able to visit and surprise her for her birthday along with much of her immediate family. It was an amazing time.

As I've been reflecting on the visit, I think my favorite part of the trip was when we were at her sisters house and doing nothing. Well, nothing of particular "importance". Maybe I was in the living room flopped on the couch and chatting with her sister. Brad would be in the kitchen getting a snack and talking with family. We wandered from room to room chatting and piping into different conversations....all just how family gatherings go. I won't pretend to be lucky enough to say we are apart of their family, but they made us feel that way. I hope we were able to convey back the same feelings of comfort and ease. They're so easy to be around. I don't feel like oh where's a mirror is my hair just right or oh no I only have 1 fingernail painted instead of all of them lol. Or, rummaging around the kitchen trying to find the silverware drawer. Or simply playing dead man walking on the trampoline :) Meri is so lucky to have such an awesome family and we are even more blessed to know them.

We did a lot on this trip. We met with the new case worker and asked questions. We even took a tour of the hospital where Meri will go when it's time. I'm so glad we did that. I'll have to blog about it another day soon. I learned 2 new games on this trip- spoons and another one I can't remember the name but it's like a round game and is kind of similar to ispy. Anyway, I liked them both a ton and can't wait to play again! I like quick, silly competitive games :)

I wish I could show you pictures of Meri opening the quilt.... her surprise and watching her undo the ribbon and unfolding it. Elinor coming over to help hold it up to see how big it is. Meri reading the card that talks about the particular size we made it in order to fit her dorm room bed. And of course that there are purple carnation flowers in the print which are Brad's favorite flower. She seems to enjoy it and I hope it gets good use. Quilts are meant to be snuggled and washed and worn and softened up with love. This was my first quilt and I have a list of wonderful people to thank for all their help in guiding me through it. I don't know when I will make another. At first I thought oh my heavens. I'm never making another! But yet again (just like the quiet book) it is the happiness I see when someone opens a gift that propels me onward to try again. Well, that, and my perfectionist side wants another chance to try soooo hard to get those tricky little triangles to line up perfectly!

Happy Birthday, Meri. We love you.

I just found a couple more pictures to add...

Piecing the rows together. This looks like it was after I realized my mistake and had to unpick a whole bunch of triangles. 

This is when it was all sewed together and then I just had to trim the edges so they were straight. I was pretty proud of myself. LOL. If only I had known then real work would soon begin haha!