She's a crafty one!

Guest Post from C's friend Nikki!

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Ever since I was a little girl, I've been a crafter. My favorite activity at summer camp was making friendship bracelets. I became so good at it that I started selling them to my schoolmates for 10 cents. (Clearly, I undervalued my work.)

As an adult, I keep trying to get back to it. But projects aren't as simple as making friendship bracelets. I currently have a rug that I have been working on for about, oh, 4 years or so. It should have been done quite some time ago. I go through periods where I forget all about it and focus on other, more pressing needs. But whenever I go through a troubled time (as I am now after having my car totalled), I come back to it as a source of comfort and stability. It's a calming, simple, repetitive motion to keep my hands busy and my mind off other matters. In the times when I'm with my craft, not much can bother me.

It is at this point in my life that I wish I knew how to quilt. I come from a family of quilters--all the women in all the generations of my family quilt. It's something I've always found to be fairly
boring until recently, when my mom agreed to put together a quilt featuring all my favorite album covers. You can see some of the blocks here: http://bit.ly/N3Ewy

As you can see, it's going to take some time to complete. But when it's done, I will own a priceless, one-of-a-kind work of craftmanship made especially for me. I will honor and cherish this quilt, much like the other quilts I have received from the other women in my family. And now, I want to learn this important craft so that I can pass this gift to others. I have but one obstacle in my way: distance. You see, everyone else in my family learned to quilt from their mothers at a younger age. I didn't take advantage of that when I was still living at home, and now I live 2,500 miles from my mom. I will have to learn from a stranger.

Although, maybe I can convince my mom to teach me via webcam.