It’s hard to believe that it’s been over a decade since I first met a group of women that I consider my inner circle of friends. We were all participants in an e-mail list dedicated to crazy quilting. I don’t even remember how I first heard about it, but my quilting had progressed from traditional to what I’ll call “embellished” — using various embroidery stitches and threads, beads, buttons and charms to the surface of a quilt top — and briefly entered into the world of crazy quilting before moving on to fiber art pieces. But I digress. Someone on the list happened to mention something about where they lived, or a place they were visiting nearby. Before you knew it, in the blink of an eye, there were eight of us all within a fairly close proximity of each other!
As the conversations continued and we learned more about each other, we decided to have a meet-up. Now you must understand that this group of women at the time ranged in age from 40-60. Friends and family were aghast that we were going to physically meet people we had met on the internet. We must be crazy. We definitely were crazy — crazy about quilting and so we planned a stash enhancement day. For crazy quilters, that means a trip to your local thrift shop where you can find all sorts of luscious fabric, buttons, beads, laces, and trims disguised as clothing. After making your purchases, you then sit in a circle and proceed to cut up the clothing into nice, usable pieces and carefully put aside the buttons and trims.
The original group of 8 — Vickie, Diane, Ena, Laura, Rita, Eileen, Michelle and myself — eventually grew to over 50 people who would get together every other month for a day of stitching, learning, eating, and sharing. We decided we needed a name, and Michelle came up with Crazy Royalty of New England (CRONE) and we’ve called ourselves that ever since, even those that may still be in the “maiden” or “mother” stages of womanhood. It’s dwindled over time, but many a friendship has been made over needle and thread. Our original group of 8 is now 7, having lost Rita a year and a half ago. Her husband, Doug, was an honorary CRONE as he’d drive Rita to gatherings or we’d visit at their home. After Rita’s passing Doug said the one thing he regretted was that he had none of Rita’s beautiful work. She was constantly stitching something for one of her kids or grandkids but had given everything away. The CRONES all participated in making a crazy quilt for Doug using her fabric and threads along with her favorite motifs and stitches.
Why am I writing this today? Another one of us — Eileen — had what was thought to be fairly routine hernia surgery while visiting her sister in northern Vermont but has ended up with a severe infection and has spent the last several days in and out of surgery and ICU in Brigham & Womens Hospital in Boston. I just got off the phone with her daughter and the doctors are saying it will be a very long recovery period and expect her to remain hospitalized for quite some time.
Do you have a dear friend that you haven’t spoken with or written to in a while? Pick up the phone and let them know that you’re thinking about them, that you care about them, that you miss them, that you love them. Time’s shorter than you think.