Friendship: Cozy and Sturdy

I had a delightful Thanksgiving break, and in addition to spending a lot of time with the family and friends that I hold dear, I spent a lot of time crafting. Not blogging, obviously. Sorry about that!
Hopefully I will get a few pictures of my craft projects up before too long. Although some of them are top secret, since they are destined as Christmas gifts.
But I just wanted to take a moment to brag on my friends. A few years ago, 6 of us took an afternoon and evening to make a denim comfort (like a quilt, but it's knotted, not quilted) together. We started with a big pile of old jeans, and ended up with a sturdy, cozy comfort with flannel backing. Each of us embroidered our name on a patch, and we have lots of pockets in the quilt. We pass it around, and each person gets to fill the pockets with little gifts for the next girl.
Here's a snapshot of the quilt on my bed:



And here's a photo of my loot. One of my favorite things is a notebook where we all write down something that God was teaching us during the time when we had the quilt- it's fun to look back over the past 2 or 3 years and see where we were and what we were learning.



So tonight, as I fall asleep beneath this cozy quilt of friendship, I will be reminded of the sweetness of dear friends.

Old Time Music

After a lifetime (okay, since I was in 3rd grade) of playing the violin, I attempted to play the fiddle tonight. Same instrument, but a COMPLETELY different style of playing.
My roommate, a banjo player, took me to a... a... I don't know what the specific term is, but a group of people sitting in a circle just playing music. Simple, beautiful, Appalachian Folk music.
I only recognized one song, out of the whole 2 1/2 hours, but I have a feeling that I'm going to be learning a good number of these songs.

I felt so much more comfortable with this style of music than I've ever felt with classical. There is an earthy freedom, a lilting joy, in these tunes.

Reason #92 that God placed me in West Virginia.