t h a n k s g i v i n g t h o u g h t s

t h a n k s g i v i n g

we are all a mix of

friends family culture history

we are a scrap bag of goodness

and our blessings come in the same manner

during this holiday week

let's take a breath

be thankful and grateful and thoughtful

this thanksgiving

take a moment and leave a note of thanks, something you are grateful for

not for a giveaway

not for any reason other than

to give that notion "flight"

I am thankful for all of you!

because of all of you, I can do what it is that I do!!

I am grateful for that...

be.do.create

natalie

(photo:  aunt Laura's lamp, my mother's vase, shells from a friend, orchid from a neighbor, candlesticks from my aunt, my mother, and me, painting found along the way, dishes from a friend)

...would you just look at the time!!!!

I know.

I have been absent...but it IS...

Thanksgiving.

whether or not you are participating in the day

I hope you'll take some time

to just be still for a moment and count your blessings

 

I am thankful for my 'sisters' (see above) who you all know as

quilt show fabric cutters, fabric walkers, register girls

and so much more!

I am thankful for all quilters

for donating quilts all year long

and for digging deep during times like StormSandy

 and when I stop for a moment to be thankful,

I will think of all of you

my beyond the reef family of friends

that enjoy the blog, facebook, twitter, pinterest

and quilt shows and quilt lectures and classes

and that shop at our online shop site

I am thankful for you.

please, take just a moment and leave a comment

about being thankful

one of you will be selected to receive the Martingale & Co. book 

501 Quilting Motifs 

random number generator will select a comment this Sunday

Natalie.

Be.do.create

www.beyondthereefpatterns.com

photos:  Kenna Ogg, Madison Cottage Design; Roberta, beyond the reef & cash register girl; Joanie W, Quilters by the Sea lecture & class; Jill Marie Landis, Author & fabric walker; Lisa, fabric cutter.

dog photos:  Guide Dogs for the Blind; Guide Dogs of America, Buddy.

Happy Thanksgiving 2011

Happy Thanksgiving.

stop.think.thank.

for those of you that know me well

you know that I love Thanksgiving more than just about anything else

it's like Christmas (Hanukkah, or any other December Holiday)

without

the presents

it's the best of both

you get the food the friends the family

without the 

"did the sweater I gave her fit"

but with the 

"I am so thankful for everything and anything I have in my life"

big or small, little or lots

you just have this day, even if you sit alone by yourself outside on the edge of the bay

you can

stop.think.thank.

i am thankful for all of you - my readers, my followers, my quilting friends 

from sri lanka to santa barbara and everywhere in between

thank you

 how many of you have been following

generation q magazine?

well, in honour of 

"oh thank cuteness"

I present

buddy

getting ready for Thanksgiving Dinner travels to a friend's home

(it's as close as I could get to the picture of the kid in the bath tub with bubbles)

I wish you all well this magical day

whatever your circumstance

may your thoughts turn to that for which you are thankful

I am thankful for you

HappiestDays.

natalie.

"You know who your real friends are..."

Maybe some of you have already heard this story.

I tell it a lot.

It's the story about a woman at a farm stand, late summer, outside of Omaha, Nebraska.  

It's a story about the most unusual of friends.

It's a thanksgiving story.

A woman stopped at a farm stand and gathered baskets full of produce - she was staging a magazine photo shoot in a 1910 farmhouse, and needed props for the shoot.  While she was gathering her produce, another woman, unusually dressed, came into the barn.  This unusual woman would wander through the produce displays, admiring the tomatoes, the beets.  She would beam at the carrots.  She would pick out a handful of beans, take them to the counter, ask about them, compliment how lovely they were and then return them. Then she'd pick up a small bag of potatoes, take them to the counter, ask about them, compliment how lovely they were, and then return them.  Finally, she asked about the okra that was growing by the barn.  "It's out of season," the farm stand clerk said.  "if you want to pick some yourself, you can have whatever you can pick, no charge."  So outside she went, to pick her own okra, leaving behind the beans, the potatoes, the expensive beets...  

As the woman from the photo shoot was checking out, she stopped to look back through the barn doors.  "Wait," she said, and went back through the aisles again, picking out a handful of beans, a small bag of potatoes, and some beets and carrots.  She told the clerk, "Add these to my bill, too."  The clerk started to wrap them up with the other photo shoot produce.  "No, these are for the woman outside," she said, "But don't tell her I bought them. Please just be sure to give them to her.  After I'm gone," she added.

it was a selfless act of reaching out - of giving - regardless.  It was a wonderful thing to witness.

So, for this week, Thanksgiving is almost upon us.  

And this Thanksgiving, I want to share with you, that in the last few weeks, I have been moved to tears more than once.

I have been moved to tears by people that have stopped, and looked at me.  

Seen me.

And realized.  

And then they have asked.

"What are you doing for Thanksgiving?" 

And then added, "Come with me on Thanksgiving."

They have looked beyond the quilting.  They have looked beyond the neighbor.  They have looked beyond the busy.  They have looked beyond the every day.  And Seen Me.  Just me.  Only me.

And then they have said, "Come with me - come be a part of my family.  We have room enough.  We have enough for you too."

What a way to find out who your true friends are.  Really.  

And like the woman picking okra in the field, sometimes what you find is that it is the most unlikely of persons that reaches out to you.  That sees you.  That realizes.  

This Thanksgiving, I would ask each and every one of you to be that stranger that buys someone those admirable potatoes.  

Be that person that looks at another and really sees them.  

Be mindful of others' needs.  

Thread a needle for a friend.  

Sew on a binding for another. 

Step out of yourself.

Open your home to someone this season.  

Open your heart to someone this season.

Because you just might move someone to tears with your compassion, your kindness, your selflessness.

And you just might get so much more in return by doing so.

This year, when I count my blessings on Thanksgiving, I will count you.

Thank you, my friends.

Natalie.

be.do.create

2008