Blanket #2 was laid on my heart when I read about Mr. Russell's struggles with his mom's diagnosis of cancer.... I know how that feels to know that you may soon lose your parent to this awful disease.... Nothing you can do prepares you for the loss.... even when you think you might be ready, you aren't.... however, there is a sense of peace I felt FOR my father when he passed.... a peace that he no longer had to struggle and fight and suffer. He didn't have to live a life lacking the quality it once had.... And I realized how selfish it was for me to value quantity over quality.... I wanted him here more than I thought about how much he didn't want to fight any longer. He told us he didn't want to fight any more.... I can only imagine how it must feel to feel like you're slowly losing your battle.... to always have to be strong for everyone else and most importantly for yourself.... an individual's mindset can highly affect the length of their life.... My father KNEW he wasn't coming home, the last time they had to call the ambulance. He said, "this is it Ma. We've had a good life together. I'm not coming home this time." He had his arm around her and they looked back at their house. Of course, she thought it was non-sense, and rushed him along, ran in to pack their bags for their hospital stay. (they lived at least an hour from the hospital).... When I stumbled upon Mr. Russell's twitter account.... when I read his posts about his mother, and saw the pictures of his mother at the doctor's.... when I read about the horrible food he was eating from the hospital cafeteria, running on a lousy 3 hours of sleep, all for the love of his mother, I had to make her a blanket too! I complain about my days, but I'm thankful for all of the blessings I take for granted, daily....
Here is the follow up to the last blog.... The material gone wrong one.... Went back to Joann's to find something with red and yellow in it to send to a very special woman who was just recently diagnosed with cancer. I had picked out a few before deciding. This was option A. I actually really kind of liked this one.... Had a good variety of colors, seemed kind of bright and would have looked good with either color as the backing (although I probably would have gone with yellow).
This was option B and photographed ugly. I really liked this material the day I purchased the wrong material, but it was up too high, otherwise I probably would have gotten extra material that day and had this lying around, which probably would have wound up being her blanket, but I didn't buy it that day, nor did I buy it today.... something about it didn't feel like it was the right match for her....
This one was option C and it, too, photographed poorly. It was REALLY pretty in person. I loved how bright it was and that it was mostly red and yellow (and orange).... however when I consulted with Sharon, she didn't care for it too much, and so it was on to the next....
This one was not as bright but still along the same colors.... seemed a little too old lady-ish for me.... so onto the next.... no option D this time....
Then there was this one, Option E, which just looks terribly ugly in the picture, but it was kinda cute in person. It was pretty much rainbow colored flowers on black. For whatever reason, the reds are photographing as oranges.... which is fine. but there WAS red in this material as well. seemed a bit too young and too dark for me.... so on to the next one!
This wasn't really an option, as there wasn't any red in it, but I do love this material anyway.... will likely keep this one in mind for someone else's personality it might fit....
Option F jumped out as I was going back to get Option A.... it seemed just right. Not too young and not too old. Not too wild, not too dark... had the red and the yellow and felt bright. It was the perfect one for Mrs. Russell. Went with a yellow background for this one.... the RIGHT material this time!!
Here is the finished product.... all ready to go out tomorrow!!! I hope she and her family can feel the love that went into making this blanket. I hope it will wrap Mrs Russell during her future treatments, cover her legs when she's lying in bed.... I hope it will drape the shoulders of her family members who wait at all hours of the night in the cold hospital waiting room, and wherever else this journey takes her.... and most importantly, I hope it snuggles her in a great amount of love and that she knows she isn't alone....
Off to Cordova, TN she goes tomorrow! So long, sunshine!!
and then I came across the white material with the black paws, and for whatever reason, I really loved this one more.... I think because she calls him Moo and it reminded me of a cow, sort of.... and the blue.... after all, Symba IS very much a BOY... but I went with the brighter blue because the navy blue felt too sad, or dark to me.... (that's my little helper in the cart holding down the material).
and the finished product may have looked a little bit plain, but couldn't have been filled with anymore love than it was....
