11-11-11

Yesterday was one of those serendipitous days where nothing turned out as I had expected it would, but actually turned out better.  It must have been the confluence of the date and the full moon.

When I got to the quilt show where Usha was supposed to be vending, I found her booth but her dear friends Cecelia and Gina were there instead.  Usha was fine, they told me, but she was at home in Hudson, NY. Long story.  I returned the quilt to the booth which she had lent me for the book (which I had made for her 8 years ago, before I even thought of writing a book about this method of working)

 

and took back the one I had lent her in exchange. Before  I did, however, somebody came along and asked if there was a kit for this. Uh - NO. It's Usha's fabric and my hand-printed cloth and I would think that people could figure out how to do a square-in-a-square themselves.  But nobody wants to think or make decisions. Cheesh! Everybody wants kits!

Anyway, I wanted to see Usha (and I had a book for her) so I called her and invited myself up to her digs and her store in Hudson. I figured I was already a third of the way there, so I drove the hour and a half on a beautiful autumn day and treated myself to a visit.  While I was there, Usha's friend Dave (who is now a friend of mine) came to visit and it turned out to be another serendipitous event for reasons too complicated to go into.

Usha wouldn't let us leave without feeding us a delicious meal, which she put together effortlessly. Dave and I each had long trips -- his to Pennsylvania and mine to NJ.

Here she is in her dining room, shelves of fabric and other things along the wall behind her.  Unfortunately, the three of us were so busy with other things that I didn't have time to even look at fabric.

Not, of course, that I actually NEED any.  But as my father used to say, "what does NEED have to do with it?

I left a little before 6:00 for the 2+ hour drive home.  And when I got off the NY Thruway, I accidently got off onto route 17 instead of the Garden State Parkway.  Accidently? I had to practically pass my son Jeremy's house on this wrong route home so of course, I called and stopped to see Jeremy, Anne, and my two adorable grandsons.  More serendipity - and it made me wonder whether my wrong turn had been an accident or 11-11-11 and the full moon at work again.  What a great way to end the day!

When I got home and turned on the computer, there was a link to the C&T blog that made me so happy!
Go here to see what Tristan Gallagher, a C&T staffer, did with some orphan blocks when she got hold of my book. What fun!

Today I am off to Larchmont, NY to see a bunch of women I haven't seen in almost 50 years - a college class reunion committee meeting. I'm not on the committee but was invited to the meeting as a guest. Should be another interesting day.