Friends

I looked up the definition of friends on the internet.  It says a person who one knows and with whom one has a bond of mutual affection.  Then I pulled an old Funk and Wagnalls dictionary from the shelf and found these synonyms – chum, coadjutor, colleague, companion, comrade, consort. fellow, helpmate, partner, peer, an associate.  Then the dictionary went on to tell how the terms were applied to the word friend.

In our lives, we have many different friends.  Some are neighbors, some belong to a group that you belong to, some are classmates from the past, some just pass through your life, making it better for a while.  Friends come and go.  We do loose track of some, but we pick up right where we left off if we meet again.  Most of our friends do not know our other friends.

One of my group of friends is my Maine Guild.  Every year, we have  a Christmas in July pot luck supper .  What great cooks!  We have great food and lots of fun. After we eat, we  have a Yankee swap.  We swap ’til we drop.  It is so much fun.  During different years, I have had the privilege of going home with three wall hangings made by friends.

Nancy’s wall hanging was the first one that I received when the swap was over.  Her quilts were perfect.  It is 15″ x 19″  Another year, she received  a small wall hanging that I made.

I always wanted something from Shirley.  She is a master of the mini quilt.  This one is 17″ x 19″ I had watched her work on this quilt at another group meeting and really liked it.  Every year, at the Yankee swap when I got something from Shirley, someone took it away from me.  I thought that I would loose this little quilt, but the last person in the swap chose something else.

I went home with Claire’s quilt the last year that Claire was with us.  She moved to Florida and I have such fond memories of her.  I could have swapped for other items, but I wanted a memory of Claire.

Three friends, three quilts, three memories.

Have a great day and happy quilting