My wonderful Beeg Seester volunteered to do some sewing for her church this Christmas season, thinking she'd be stitching up a few shepherd costumes or some such thing.
No.
They asked her to make a tree skirt for their biggest Christmas tree.
An eleven foot diameter tree skirt, to be exact, from a diamond-puckered taffeta with two bands of velvet and a beaded trim.
She said she had to use pi when she was figuring out her patterns and fabric needs.
I said the only pi I understood was of the eating variety.
I was SEW impressed.
Making patterns, laying out all that fabric, cutting it and then getting it through the machine without creating miles of unsightly puckers?
That was an impressive feat.
Take a gander at this incredible finished product, folded in half here because...well...do you have a big enough space to open an eleven foot tree skirt?
(No. That is not my Beeg Seester.)
As I stood back in amazement and cheered her on, I was quietly lusting after the scraps that necessarily ensue when cutting straight runs of fabric into circles.
I finally just put in a bid for them.
She brought me a lovely, big pile.
I stitched some into a decoration for our front door and pulled, once again, a bunch of greens from the ice storm rescues, and some pine cones, cording and bulbs from the stores in my studio and Christmas boxes.
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
After a lovely day full of creative pursuits, I went to bed last night with ice packs on the hurty places and distracted myself from the pain by thanking God for the treasures from the street.
And Beeg Seesters, and pinecones, and felt, and needles and thread, and hands that work, and the talents He wired into me, and friends to play with, and paint, and color, and berries, and twinkle lights, and...and...and...
Listing every little thing that I have been enjoying was a pretty wonderful way to fall asleep.
Try it tonight and let me know what you think.