With a little help from my friend . . .

We went to St. Charles, Illinois, this weekend for a great-niece's graduation party. It was perfect weather, and there were lots of people there, including Rachel, who is 4. She had been bouncing around playing with the other kids, visiting with people, and she came to sit by me, asking what I was making. Working on my sunglass blocks, I told her it was a story quilt about my vacation, and what I saw. And, I asked if she could guess what some of the things on the blocks. She was really excited to go through them with me, and she grasped the concept quickly. Her favorites were the spaghetti and the fireworks blocks, because the glass frames were orange. She told me her Ga-ga sewed and baked cakes, but she is dead now, and in heaven, and she pointed skyward, as she gave that information. She asked about my thimble, so I put it on her thumb and let her push the needle through for me. She sat with me for probably the better part of two hours, and we basted all the remaining sunglass blocks, readying them for the applique. I had just brought a partial spool of white thread to baste with, and when that ran out, I was pulling the previous basting stitches out (that held the sunglass lenses in place for applique) and re-threading my needle to baste the complete sunglass unit onto the blocks. I asked her what she thought would be fun things to put on a quilt, and she chattered away, noting snowmen, butterflies, lady bugs, balloons, and unicorns. She didn't think frogs would be a very good subject.

My brother-in-law sat down next to us, and was watching, and chatting with Rachel, too. She told us her last name, and it was the same as a popular singer. So, Steve told her that he listened to this singer in the car when he is driving. She said, "oh . . . he's my cousin, but he's dead, you know", and once again, pointed skyward. I think that little gesture is going to become a permanent part of our "lexicon". Steve chatted with her some more, and told her she is really smart, and she must be about 14. At this point, she bounced up to her feet on the bench where we were sitting, and gestured from the top of her head to her feet, and said, "Look how little I am . . . I'm only four!"

I spoke to her parents, and told them how much I enjoyed her company, and they thanked me for entertaining her for so long, and I said she did all the entertaining. Later, her mother came to tell me that Rachel had reported that she really likes sewing, and she's going to make quilts, too. She also said that Rachel misses her Ga-ga terribly, and that they were very close. She said when they were explaining that Ga-ga had gone to heaven, she was worried about who would make her birthday cake, because I understand Ga-ga was an artist when it comes to decorating cakes. I thought I was so lucky to have such a wonderful companion for a few hours at the party. I keep thinking about making a little quilt for her . . . with snowmen, and butterflies, and lady bugs, and a unicorn . . . but no frogs . . . and telling Rachel it has lots of Grandma hugs in it, just for her.