A little known fact about Mother's Day: it was NOT invented by Hallmark. Mother's Day stemmed from ancient traditions to begin with, then was really given its modern form by women who saw other women, mothers, as the key to peace in our world (cf http://www.theholidayspot.com/mothersday/history.htm, as well as other sources).
In any case, having lost my own mother shortly before Mother's Day last year, and also due to my own ever-growing quilt habit (learned from my mother), it seemed fitting to spend part of today in quilty activities, especially those geared towards others.
After church this morning, we held the official drawing for the winner of a quilt that had been made by my mom and her group of quilty friends before her death; her friends finished the quilt and gave it to me to be used in fundraising for my church's work with refugees being resettled in our area. I don't have the total in yet, but from my estimates we raised a significant amount of money to help fund our outreach efforts. Mom would be proud.
Now, as my family is finishing some cleaning downstairs in preparation for my in-laws to come over for a Mother's Day dinner (also cooked by my family)--I was told to enjoy myself in my sewing room for awhile. So I worked on getting backings together for some charity quilts that another member of our church had pieced tops to from some fabric donated by yet other folks. These 5 quilts will have passed through a whole lot of hands by the time they make it to whomever receives them. Definitely women working together for peace.
So, happy Mother's Day, all. May peace rule in our world.
Sandy's blog on quilting, life, and sundry.
