crafts of love: mary

chip's mother, mary, made this quilt for eve when she was brand new. i love this quilt. it reminds me of the magic that filled our lives when our very first little baby, our little eve, joined our family. it reminds me of the strange and incredible understanding i had of who she was as i carried her those nine months. i knew she would have the attitude and smile she has, i knew what she would look like and how she would remind me so much of myself. . . i just knew her. and each time i pull this out to sit under with eve, i remember that time and i appreciate the little magical girl just a little more.

i also appreciate the magic behind the quilt. this quilt began years and years ago as mary had the foresight and creativity to save all those shirts of chip's and his dad's. all those great shirts from the 80s that were unabashedly full of pink. i'm sure there were moments when she thought of tossing them, wondering if they were really worth the space they consumed in her ultra organized home (mary's homekeeping skills will put anyone to shame). but i'm so glad she didn't. i love looking at the little squares of strips and imagining pink-shirted chip running around with his mullet, knobby knees and a walkman twice the size of our video camera hooked onto his shorts. i love thinking of bob, chip's dad, on his casual day, sporting a pink plaid button up and maybe grilling some burgers. i love the bits of history that are preserved in this blanket. all the time bob put into working to pay for them, the time pre-adolescent chip spent checking out his triceps in the mirror while wearing them, and the time mary spent laundering and caring for them. i love imagining her as she cut them up years later. remembering those pink-shirt times, what her joys and worries were and reflecting on all the change and new life that has come to her little family. and then knowing the care and patience she took as she planned, arranged, pieced and bound. all to give something to this newest little life, to let the tiny baby know that she is welcome. that she is a part of a family that loved her long before we met.

maybe i am over-romanticizing all of this, but isn't that part of the glory of homemade? the thoughts, ideas, reflections and, ultimately, the love that is given through these things? these things we make and are made for us, or even better, for our children? i love it. i celebrate it. and today i celebrate mary for the many ways she loves us; her worry, her conversation, her heralding, her generosity, her intensity, her sympathy, her unquestionable care, and most of all (today at least) the time she gave to the blanket that warmed my first little baby girl. the blanket that serves as a continual reminder of who eve is, because it reminds her of who she came from.

happy birthday mary. i love you.

here is a little movie chip put together of the out-takes that happened this morning as we tried to record the girls singing the happy birthday song to their grammie. for some unknown reason, eve bawls at the end of this, no matter how many times she has seen it. it makes me want to bawl too. where did that tiny baby go?

Comments

[jeanie]

oh my gosh! I LOVE the video, I want to watch it over and over again! I tear up at the sight of your girls being so silly, sweet and shy! Happy Birthday Mary! The quilt is a memory work of art, and you are so lucky to have it in your family Kate!

[Mim]

i watched mom watch this video..she cried and laughed and cried and cried and then we watched it again. these girls are so precious.