Right Where It Belongs

I finished my quilt for the Craft Hope // Security Blankets drive. Good thing, too, since it's due on Wednesday. It felt SO good to get it in the box (had to do the old sit-on-the-suitcase maneuver, though!), and take it to the post office and see it on its way.

I've been working on this quilt for about a month. Not a record time for anyone, but since I can only work on it, really, after the girls are in bed, it has taken me a while. I remember hearing about the Craft Hope drive the first week of May, buying my fat quarters around the 11th or 12th of May, and then really hitting it hard after that. I quilted it Memorial Day weekend, and bound it this last week. I washed it last night, took pictures this morning, and then took it to the post office.

It's gone. I don't know its future. I know it's going to New Jersey, and will then make it down to a charity in Alabama, but from there, I do not know.

I don't know anything about the family that will get it, what happened to their property when the tornado hit, or what devastation they have been through since that awful day in April. I don't know if they believe in God now, or whether the tornado had anything to do with that. I can imagine that for some, their faith was quite shaken after the dust settled. But I can only hope that more people came to know that God was with them as they huddled together as a family, unsure of the future.

So many people lost so much. So many lost everything. And even what was left had to be destroyed because it was so far beyond repair. And yet they have hope. Beautiful, enduring, peace-giving HOPE. And the knowledge that they are not alone, that they will be cared for, and their needs will be met. As I was working on this quilt, I prayed that the family receiving it will have all their needs me, and will know that God is with them.

And as I worked on this quilt, I knew I would have to send it off before our next Modern Quilt Guild meeting. Kristen stopped by the LQS as I finished quilting it, so she got to see it (sorta/kinda) as I was taking it off the long arm. My neighbor saw it when I brought it home that day. You've all seen it in pictures on the blog. But that's it. That's IT!! 

I've spent more than a little bit of time this last week wallowing in the fact that no one else (that I know) gets to see this quilt. No one else gets to appreciate it. No one else gets to tell me how beautiful it is, or how colorful, or how much they love how I quilted it, or how perfect my hand-binding and mitered corners are. No one.

But as I was finishing the binding, I felt God saying that this isn't about me. I didn't do this for the glory. I didn't do this so people would tell me wonderful things. I didn't do this to feed my pride.

I made this quilt for a family who lost everything. I made this quilt for a mother who doesn't have anything to wrap around herself as she thinks about how she will rebuild her life. I made this quilt for a young couple who don't have anything to cuddle under and remember that they can get through this together. I made it for a couple of kids who don't have a big enough blanket to make a fort. I made it so they would know they are not alone.

So, rather than have this quilt here where people can admire it, it is on its way to its new home...where people can admire it. Right where it belongs. And I've put my pride away. Right where it belongs.  :o)