A Quilt for Emily

A few years ago when we learned that Star Flyer was cruising in Scandinavia, we knew we not only wanted to spend the week aboard our favorite ship, but we wanted to do more. We wanted to visit three Scandinavian capitals and see Carl Larsson's house. We wanted to spend a lot more than one week in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. Joe thought we could probably make all of the arrangements on our own; I wasn't so sure. What if something went awry? Fortunately, my sweet cousin is a travel agent who was eager and happy to help us. We met with her the week before we left home and she presented us with a packet of information so detailed that we knew we'd be fine. Her confidence in us as European travelers was contagious: we headed out eagerly. The day we left, we sent Em a bouquet of flowers.

She's helped us with a few other trips since then, and we've continued to send those flowers. This year, though, in addition to our spring trip to the Caribbean, she's helping us with a couple of other things. We wanted to give her something that would last longer than a bouquet of flowers.

A month or so ago, we invited Emily's mom over to dinner. I dug out my finished flimsies for her perusal. Her assignment was to pick one to be finished for Emily. She chose my New York Beauty. The machinist finished it very quickly and I got it bound during the last episode of Mad Men. Last night Emily came over to talk about another trip we've got in the works and we gave her the quilt. It was well received.