My Perfectly Imperfect Quilt

See this beautiful woman sitting next to me?

This is my friend Julie.


See this beautiful quilt?

This is my perfectly imperfect Julie quilt!  Here's the story behind it:

Julie has become one of my very best friends over the last few years.  I've known her casually since shortly after Todd and I were married, and would talk to her occasionally when we visited Spokane.  When we moved here in late 2010, Julie asked me if I would be interested in working for her a couple of days a week.  With Todd going back to school, I jumped at the opportunity to earn some extra money for our family.  The extra money has indeed been a blessing, but getting to know Julie and the friendship we've developed has been the true blessing!

Julie is REAL.  There are no pretenses.  We talk about EVERYTHING and share some of the same fears and struggles.  We take turns falling apart and lifting each other up.  She is wise and offers insight when I can't see around myself to view a situation or trial clearly.  She serves selflessly and is constantly thinking of others -- especially those whom others let fall through the cracks.  She has been a beautiful example to me in so many ways.

One of the many things that Julie does to show love for others is making them quilts.  When I was diagnosed with cancer this summer, Julie decided it was time for me to have a Julie quilt.  She took me to the fabric store and told me to tell her which fabrics and patterns appealed to me.  Now here's the interesting thing.  I like order.  I like predictability.  I like straight lines.  I also tend to lean more towards dark colors.  So when the pattern for my quilt jumped out at me, I was surprised that I liked it, quite honestly.  There are frayed, exposed edges.  The lines are asymmetrical and meet at odd angles.  It's busy and disorganized.  It's crazy, but it's beautiful.  I realized that in many ways that's how I felt about my life at that point.  All of my lines had just been knocked askew.  My edges were frayed and exposed.  My life was full of odd angles and everything had been thrown into complete disarray.  But there were blessings to be found in the trials and life was still somehow beautiful, even more so than it had been during some of the times of straight, even lines.

I also found myself choosing colors I normally wouldn't - bright yellows and loud oranges.  I realized that I needed some sunshine in my life.  Some color amid the clouds.  When I look at the yellow on my quilt, I think of "my Julie."  And not just because she took hours to lovingly create this beautiful gift, but because she has been one of my rays of sunshine during the clouds of the last few months.  One of the very brightest, most precious rays!  I love my Julie, and I love my perfectly imperfect quilt!