Friday for retirees.

Almost every week, MJ and I get together and sew.  Mostly we put together pieced comforters for Medical Teams International.  Sometimes we piece comforters for friends or family.  Once in a while we do mending.  There is something so deeply satisfying about doing a task with a friend, and somehow, when we work together, we accomplish more than twice what each of us could have done alone.

Our fondness for pieced comforters has led us to collect fabric stashes.  Mine crowds into cardboard boxes in the bottom of closets.  MJ has hers in a corner of her sewing room.  MJ is a tidier person than I am, and this slumping pile of plastic bags full of fabrics has been a problem to her for some months.  Last weekend, I got a great deal on some wire shelving components, and today, we built cubes.  This is the storage system where you assemble heavy duty wire grids into cubes with plastic connectors.  This system makes sturdy, practical storage, but it’s a pain trying to get all the components to link firmly together in all three dimensions.  Once assembled, they STAY assembled, but getting there is a struggle.

So we built a stack of 18 inch cubes, 5 cubes high, and two cubes wide.  And then we dumped her stash onto the floor and sorted it.  We were like a couple of misers counting our money, reveling in the possession of so much wealth.  This is where it’s funnest to have a friend with you.  “Which  fabric is your favorite?”  “Look how well this goes with that.”  “Does this go on the yellow shelf, or the brown shelf?”

There’s space for more fabric in all of the cubes, and it’s so inspiring to see it all displayed together in one place.  There is the feeling of ACCOMPLISHMENT you get when you have successfully completed a task.  And there is the pleasure   of seeing something that was a mess get organized and made lovely.  We had a GOOD day.

Meanwhile, our husbands were outside in the 90 degree heat, splitting and stacking firewood.  They were using a gas-powered splitter.  It’s not like they were swinging a maul or an axe, but still, they were schlepping a cord of wood around, one heavy piece at a time, and stacking it neatly into ricks.  So when they broke for lunch, they were – well – semi-stunned.  As we enjoyed or iced tea and salads, and they chowed down on honking big sandwiches, we started discussing candy.  It turns out the MJ’s husband likes those yellow marshmallow chicken things so popular at Easter. 

“Next year” I suggested, “We can make them sing and dance so Rick can see a Peeps show.”  The college age sons groaned ao hard.  One of them told me, “You can take your points and go home now.”  That must mean that I am the pun-disputed champion!

Kyle is beat to the ground.  I haven’t seen him this weary in a while.  I’m pouring GatorAde into him and advising against a repeat performance on the 4^th.