On my brothers wedding day in the 70’s, the bride and her family got dressed in my mother’s house. The mother of the bride had sewn the brides dress and at the last-minute needed to put a stitch in the hem.. The mother of the bride who was a very clever seamstress and mother of four or five daughters…looked at my mother and asked for a needle and thread… Mom looked at me helpless. I shrugged and looked at the dog…. The three of us stared blankly back at the woman…. nope.. we don’t do needles and thread…. Mother of the bride was appalled…

There is a group of women on the island who pool their creative talents to raise money for our volunteer fire department. Every year they produce the grand prize for the fundraising raffle. The money they raise for the fire hall is incidental. The gathering of talents, friends and neighbours for the camaraderie and kindness that producing a work of art together can inspire… that’s what is really important.

I say kindness because you have not seen kindness until you have spent an afternoon with MB as she tries to teach me how to quilt. I have no sewing machine, no needle and thread. My arthritic hands can’t hold a pen let alone a needle. Yet I have somehow become involved in the making of this years quilt. The quilt is made up of squares replicating the nautical flags for the alphabet… In each corner will be a lighthouse and they are quite intricate….

I am going back to MB’s this afternoon for lesson two on how to sew a six inch straight line…. In my defence it’s not just once but I will have to sew a straight line a couple of times. Here is what I have done so far….

and here is an example of one of their finished products.

As you can see…MB taking me on as a student, has her work cut out for her.

I was going to finish todays blog at that but E called me to the living room. A pod of five or six dolphins had come to visit…. I froze my sit me down out on the perch trying to get a picture but they just would not stay

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still for me