Friend Vicky

   Today we said good-bye to our Friend Vicky.  We said good-bye to our friend, a fellow quilter, a good and giving soul.
   I met Vicky when she joined our retreat group.  How surprised was I to learn today that she had only been quilting for about 6 years!  She was a sewer but became a quilter when she retired.  Immediately upon discovering quilting she became a quilter and found a community.  But that's what it's like to say "I'm a quilter."   
  One of the communities Vicky discovered and became devoted to is called Love Sews.  These people make quilts for people who badly need a quilt hug.  Vicky, being a good and giving soul found her niche here.

When it was Vicky's turn to need a hug this group gathered themselves in their grief and made this part of saying goodbye easier for her husband and daughter.   This is their work space and for today they lined the walls with some of her quilts and transformed their sewing space into Vicky's space.  

 Walking in here took our breath away, we could point to many of the quilts we saw while under construction, we could attach little notes to the quilts (with baby clothespins) and share our memory of that quilt, we looked at the pictures of her life spread out on more of her quilts (table to the left),
we could fill a plate with the abundant lunch and visit with a room full of  friends.

    You couldn't help but keep looking up!

   We could go into this quiet curtained corner and say our final good-bye to her.  Her remains were in a box decorated with a quilt pattern.

    

Vicky didn't want a sad funeral, she wanted people to be happy in their memories of her and while we are all still shaking our heads that she got sick and left us so quickly,  today we let her have it her way.