My Mama Cloie and my Nanny Katie (my grandmothers) have each made my children beautiful, wonderful quilts and afghans. These are beautiful creations that my children will take into their future homes to share with their children. All are treasured and all are equally special. Today, one is standing out in my memories, and I guess my UFO projects are truly turning into trips down memory lane.
About twelve or thirteen years ago, my Mama was fed up with all those little bits of skeins of yarn left over after making larger projects (which are afghans in her case). So she decided to just sit down one day and crochet all of them together into an afghan. It was more experimental than purposeful, and as she would tell you, “it kept my hands busy.” When one skein ran out, she just started another one. At first, I am sure she thought it was more interesting than beautiful, but as it unfolded an memorable thing occured.
My Papa Reed, who was deep in the recesses of Alzheimer’s disease at this point, looked at her one day and said, “That’s beautiful, and he’s going to love it.” Her immediate thought was, “He who?”. This afghan was an experiment, not intended to be given to anyone. When she pressed further, Papa replied definitively, “Well, little Reed, of course.”
Suddenly the experiment became a beloved object of love with a destination and a purpose. Through phone calls the story was told to me, and through the postal service the afghan arrived. “Little” Reed couldn’t have been more proud, and he immediately wanted to put on his bunk. That night when I tucked him, at his ripe little age of 4, he showed me how wise four years old can really be. “I’m the luckiest boy in the world, Momma.” I agreed that he had lots of amazing things in his life, but he realized I wasn’t understanding his meaning. “No, Momma, I am the only boy in the world who has a blanket of many colors just like Joseph’s coat.” Wow!
Now, I don’t think that was ever my Mama’s plan, but it certainly gave all of us a new idea of what was
capable. Scraps of leftovers lovingly crafted into a priceless treasure. Isn’t that just the way God is using each one of us? He takes all the junk out of our closets, and somehow patiently and tenderly crafts it into something not just useful but absolutely priceless in his Kingdom. I for one stand awed by His Handiwork.
UFO update:
Following in my Mama’s footsteps, yesterday’s UFO was made from scraps of Erin’s quilt, leftover minky fabric from a baby quilt I had made, and all sorts of odd ribbon pieces from my scraps. I had always wanted to make a taggies blanket. So with a little creativity and a touch of Alabamian ingenuity, this is what resulted. Hopefully, the baby that receives this someday, will know God’s love for even the tiny bits. For reference, I used http://www.icanteachmychild.com/2010/11/make-it-taggie-blanket-for-baby/ as a tutorial.