Give a handmade gift

My very wonderful friend left town recently with her family for pastures new and distant and I wanted to present her with an appropriately worthy gift. This friend of mine is one in a gazillion. The kind of special friend that frankly, feels more like family. I love to give (and receive!) handmade gifts and as my skill and confidence grow with each new project I undertake, I enjoy coming up with unique and heartfelt items, that hopefully reflect how much I love and care for the recipient.

I created a felt picture a few years ago as a fundraising project for my son’s preschool. It took me months to make, I was nervous for people to see it and more than worried it would remain unsold at the end of the benefit auction. I think I even told my husband he would have to bid on the thing if no-one else did. I need not have worried however. To my complete astonishment, the picture sold for several hundred dollars and was THE hot ticket item that night and no, it wasn’t my husband who brought it home! From that night on, I realized people don’t look at each individual snip of the scissors or every tiny stitch with the critical eye I use to examine my own work. What they see is the overall picture, the main idea; that the piece was made with love.

So, a few months ago I created this felt picture for my friend. It represents her family home here, which is now home to a new family and they are far away. Each cut I made and each stitch I sewed brought me closer to finishing this project, which in turn, prepared me for our unavoidable goodbyes (there were tears).

I must admit to still being nervous when presenting someone with a handmade gift, but these days, I tend to stand further back so I can’t see the small flaws and imperfections I know are there and instead, concentrate on that bigger picture. I hope my friend did too.