She Loved Me Most!

Our latest contribution to the magic quilt comes from Springrose. Thank you so much, Springrose for your beautiful story. I LOVE HOLLY HOBBIE!

I have been thinking for quite sometime about what story to write for the Magic Quilt book. But I just keep coming back to my grandmother. So the memories I share will be of her.

I have 4 girl cousins and 3 older sisters. I am the youngest in my immediate family as well as the youngest of the cousins. We all lived with in 10 minutes of Grandma and Grandpa's house, we always called them Gram's and Grampies. They had lovely large fruit trees, and grape vines crawling all over the patio, forming a lovely canopy in the summer and fall. The grapes would hang down in large bunches to be picked in the early fall. They had flood irrigation and weekly they would turn the handle and water would rush into the yard until it was a large pool.

One summer I remember being at Gram's and Grampies house and the pears were big and green and ready to pick. I had never picked pears before. Gram's took me by the hand and led me to the tree and showed me how to tell if it was ready to be picked, then she let me pull a big juicy looking pear off the tree. She came prepared and with a sharp knife she cut a slice of the fruit off and gave it to me. It was Heaven! Everything with Gram's was that way! I was all that mattered when I was with her. Always lovingly teaching and instructing and leading. Never scolding or anger!

Every morning Grams would kneel down by her bed and pray. I would sometimes sneak into her room so I could hear her words. Always praying for each of her children and their spouses and each grandchild by name. Her prayers seemed to last forever, I often thought she would never get up again. But the fervent manner and the loving words and the relationship I could feel she had with her loving Heavenly Father. What an example of faith and prayer!

She made each granddaughter a Holly Hobbie quilt. Tied with love by her hands. I still have mine and when I am sick or feeling blue I pull it out and wrap up in it. Only at her funeral did all the granddaughter's make the same comment, “She loved me the most!” We each could feel her love, and when we were each with her we were all that mattered! No wonder I missed so many days in elementary school, I would fake sick just to go to Gram's house! Mac and cheese and French style green beans were always on the menu when I went for lunch, they were my favorite and she always had a cupboard full for me “just in case” I got “sick”!

I hope I can be the same type of Gram's to my future grandchildren as she was to me and all my cousins! She is my hero! I miss her desperately especially now that I have my own children. But I know I will see her again one day! What a glorious day it will be!

I couldn't find any Holly Hobbie fabric to send. But I will be sending some red and white cherry fabric that reminds me of her each time I see it.

Chicken Soup For Samantha's Soul.

Remember Amanda's story?

She needs our help. A darling little 6 year named Samantha has a very aggressive brain tumor.

Samantha and her family could really use some love notes with words of hope, faith, love, and inspiration. Please take a few minutes to share your testimony, a story that might be uplifting, an encouraging poem, the lyrics to an inspirational song, your favorite uplifting scripture, ANYTHING to help Samantha and her family through this difficult time. They continue to fight, but some days are harder than others.

Please email your contribution to dicia@hotmail.com

Here's a link for the full story.

And look below for Swirl's contribution to the magic quilt.

A Prayer and a Snug

Our next sweet story and fabric swatch comes to us from Swirl @ Girl in a Swirl

LY Swirl!

Thanks for making the magic happen.

I've been wanting to contribute to this quilt for a while, but finding a magical piece of fabric is hard.

Then I was putting some sheets away in my linen closet and saw this blanket.

All my children were born early.

I had one son who was only 2 weeks early, then two others were born 1 month early and my last baby was 2 months early.

This last one had me worried. To me, he was so small. I spent as much time as I could holding him--kangaroo style. (That is what they called it in the NICU when you hold them flesh-to-flesh, bare chest and have them bare and then cover up the both of you to keep them warm.) Premies thrive when they have lots of human touch and can hear your heart beat--which only makes sense because that is what they are use to hearing-- your heart beat.

I was so scared to bring him home. He was still so small and sometimes would stop breathing, but the nurses assured me that was normal--premies sometimes forget to breath so you have to "jump start" them. I was scared that would happen when I brought him home so I snuggled him lots just so he could hear my heartbeat, feel my warmth and hopefully the rising and falling of my chest would remind him to keep breathing.

Whenever I had to put him down to take a shower, or for a car ride to the doctor, I had a ritual of wrapping him up in a blanket. Criss crossing the blanket and tucking it tightly around him so he would be snug and I would always say a quiet prayer that he would be okay and feel loved until I could hold him again.

That's what makes this baby blanket magical. It has so many prayers already infused in the fabric. I hope that the person who recieves this magic quilt will wrap themselves snuggly up and feel the love.

Finding Comfort through an Article of Clothing

This submission comes from Anjeny @ Ramblings of an Islander. Today is her Mom's birthday so this submission is like a hug and a kiss for her.

LY Anjeny! Happy Birthday Anjeny's mom!!


I have been thinking about my mom a lot.

See, April of this year will mark the 2nd year anniversary of my mom’s passing. Last year around this time, I went back to Micronesia, my home island, to commemorate her first year anniversary and help my brothers finish whatever unfinished business my mom might have left behind.

I was going through her belongings to see what needed to be given away, thrown away or keep. I came upon an old skirt that my mom made for herself. My sister-in-law told me that was one of her favorite things to wear. I could tell from the way it looked. It looked like it’s seen better days. One look at the skirt and I knew I had to keep it. It reminded me of one that my mom used to have when I was a little girl growing up.

I took the skirt back with me when I returned to Hawaii.

This is where my story begins . . .

Back when I was a little girl, around the age of five or so, my mom was the most important person in my life. To me, no one else compared to my mom. She was beautiful and very talented in any creative home making skill. She loved her family more than life itself and she was constantly making sacrifices for them. The list goes on and on.

She was an amazing seamstress, she could sew anything. I remember when we would go shopping and she’d see a beautiful dress on display that was over her budget to buy. She would walk around the dress, studying it from top to bottom, check out the style, then she’d buy the fabric and material (which was a lot cheaper than the dress itself) and go home and make the same exact dress on her sewing machine. I’m sorry to say that I did not inherit that amazing talent from her, one of my biggest regrets.

You know how when you have a favorite shirt or an article of clothing you find yourself wearing it a lot more often than any other clothing you have? That’s how it was with my mom and her skirt. She made this skirt out of scraps left over from dresses she would make to sell to people and she loved it so much that she wore it a lot.

In my culture, whenever a boy decides he wants to marry a girl, his whole family (parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts) have to go with him to ask the girl’s parents’ permission to marry their daughter.

One of my brothers fell for a girl from another island so my mom had to go with him to get his future bride to be. That was the most devastating and saddest time of my life. I have never been separated from my mom before and for her to leave the island like that, it was hell for a little girl like me back then. For some reason, my mom left her skirt behind. Since it was a skirt she wore so often, it even had her sweet smell of the perfume she wore . . . gardenia. I would cry myself to sleep every night missing my mom. The days were not so bad because I was always kept busy, but the night times were the worst because my mom would usually sing us a couple of songs to sleep or tell us bedtime stories.

You can guess where I turned for comfort. Yes, that skirt of hers. Some nights I would curl up with her skirt to sleep or other nights I would wear it over my clothes so I could bask in the smell of her and dream about her.

For the two weeks she was gone that was my source of comfort. Who would have thought that an article of clothing would be a good source of comfort for a little girl who was missing her mom who she had never been apart from?

That's why when I saw this skirt left in her belongings which happened to be her favorite one in her last living days, I was reminded of my childhood and I just had to have it. This skirt is little of what I have left of her and believe it or not, whenever I am missing my mom a lot I take out her skirt and remember all the different times things we’ve done together and I feel better.

It may sound crazy that I could actually look for comfort from an article of clothing but I don’t care. I hope that if ever my kids are separated from me and missing me that there would actually some visible evidence of something I own besides their memories of me that can bring them some small measure of comfort in their time of sadness.

By donating a piece of this skirt to The Magic Quilt, I feel like my mom's legacy will live on and bring comfort to others in need of comfort.

With that said, I want to tell everyone out there whose moms are still alive to make sure you let them know how much they mean to you and how much you love them.

Safe in the Arms of A Loving Heavenly Father

Our second submission comes to us from Sandi, Kute Kasey's mom. Mahalo Sandi. LY!!!



I have a friend who is a great inspiration to me--such a great example of faith.

I met her more than twenty years ago, while we were both attending college in Hawaii. We became good friends and as I learned more about her life and the struggles she had gone through, I began to see a glimpse into the wonderful person that she is. I was amazed at what a great attitude she had and wondered how a person goes through such heartache and comes out smiling.

We both went on to get married and have families. She married an Air-force officer and lived all over the world, having great adventures. At last they were stationed in Las Vegas, happy to be close to both of their families in California. They were so excited to get to spend Thanksgiving with her husband’s family. It was during this happy trip that yet another tragedy occurred in the life of my friend. Her sweet little boy, who was just 18 months old at the time, somehow managed to slip away. He fell into a pond that was on the property, and by the time they found him, it was too late. Their precious little boy was gone. A parent’s worst nightmare--the thing you think you could never survive--had happened.

Since they were in the military and didn’t know where they would be stationed next, they decided to have the funeral and bury their baby there in California so his grave would be near family. I simply cannot imagine how they ever managed to pack up and drive away, making that drive home to Nevada without their little boy.

I visited with her when they returned and was so amazed at how peaceful she seemed to be. I know that had I been in her situation that would not have been the case. I did not know how she could take the death of her baby so calmly. She explained to me that Heavenly Father had been by her side, and had blessed her with such a spiritual experience that it would make her seem ungrateful for that blessing if she were to act any differently.

She received a personal witness that her little boy was safe in the arms of a loving Heavenly Father. She knew without a doubt that she would one day be reunited with him. I watched her explain this to her other children, and saw them accept without question. They missed him terribly, but because of the faith of their mother, they were able to look forward to seeing him again. She is such an example to me and to everyone around her. She inspires me to not get discouraged, to know that we have a Father in Heaven who never leaves our side. She shows me that we can bear heavy burdens and still feel blessed.

My contribution to the wonderful magic quilt is a piece of fabric that I recently got in Hawaii--because that is the place that this wonderful friend of mine came into my life.

Amazing Lessons from a Three Year Old

I'm so excited because we got our first submission for The Magic Quilt!

It comes from Amanda @ It's What's For Dinner

LY Amanda!



A few years ago I met a special family with a precious little girl by the name of Katie.

Katie and her family had moved across the country to my city for medical treatment; at 1.5 years old, she had been diagnosed with brain tumors. Katie was only 2 years old when we met, but she had already accomplished so much in her life. She had taught her parents what love truly meant. She had inspired so many through her optimistic outlook during treatments. Her smile could melt anyone’s heart.

Katie would spread her love of Heavenly Father and sing I Am a Child of God for all to listen.

Katie was not scared. She made friends everywhere, especially her cancer buddies that she met in the hospital while undergoing treatment and prayed for daily until she died--her baby sister and mother still pray for her cancer friends almost 2 years later.

I knew Katie for 2 years before she lost her battle with cancer. I held her hand and watched her dance. I brought her a puppy to cuddle and play with--one of her wishes in her last few weeks. I held Katie’s mother and cried with her, and sometimes for her.

I was not able to save Katie. I was not able to keep her family from grieving. I felt helpless on so many levels, but I did find one thing I could do for Katie. Two months before Katie died I created a Relay For Life team on behalf of Katie. Relay For Life is an annual fundraiser for The American Cancer Society. I had one month to gather a team, put together a fundraiser and hopefully reach a goal of $1000. Katie had touched so many and everyone loved her so this was an easy task, after all. We raised over $4000 in just over a month. I brought together a group of friends and family who felt helpless and gave them a chance to show their love and support for Katie and her family.

Katie was limited by her physical body, but her spirit reached thousands. She was a joy to be with and wise beyond her short three years. Everyone was sad, but no one could speak of Katie without smiling.

Katie taught me to love life, cherish every moment you have with your family and to live unafraid--what amazing lessons from a 3 year old!

Our First Recipient of the Magic Quilt

Meet Marjorie.

I like to call here Marjie. She looks like a Marjie to me, don't you think?

Marjie is Pat's mother. Her granddaughter, Susan (Funny Farmer's beautiful daughter) sent me a few photos of Marjie and told me a little bit about her so we could all get to know the first recipient. Now that I see her I want to work even faster and harder to get this magic quilt finished so she can be healed by the hands of love.

BTW, to give you some idea of how committed I am to this project, I just bowed out (gracefully, of course) of my Spring class so I can focus on getting this quilt/book finished.

Bring on the magic fabric!

Sandi asked if she could send non-magic fabric and I say YES! Non magic fabric becomes magic when sent by a caring hand.

If you don't have an inspirational story and fabric swatch, please share a brief account of a time someone did something to comfort you when you needed it most.

Okay, back to Marjie!

Marjorie is a loving wife, mother, and grandmother.

She is very good at sewing, cross stitching, and darning lace! She is very talented at making crafts of all types.

Marjorie uplifts those around her and each of her family members are honored to be related!

She has eight children, six of which are married and have kids. Her husband is a wonderful man who only magnifies Marjorie's splendid personality.

Marjorie is very kind and gentle in nature. She is very maternal, and is loving to all of her children and grandchildren. She is full of faith and hope, which warms the hearts of all around her.

Marj is currently fighting breast cancer.
--Susan, Marjie's Grandaughter