A Special Finish

A sweet friend showed up at my doorstep with a huge bin of fabric on my birthday.  It was all of her mother-in-law's fabric.  I never met Shirley.  She passed away a year before we moved to Oklahoma.  I loved her husband.  We referred to him as Papa Wade.  He was a spiritual giant, former Patriarch, and he just had the most amazing smile that could instantaneously make you happy when he walked into a room.  He passed away about a year ago, but he never touched any of Shirley's things, so when the family cleaned out their home, it was a treasure trove full of Shirley.  My friend was so sweet to give me all of Shirley's fabric.

I took a day and went through all of the fabric, organized it, and turned the large bin into my scrap holder.  Among the stacks of fabric I found a partially pieced Dresden plate that Shirley never finished.  My sweet friend's birthday is this weekend, so I decided to take the Dresden, finish it, and turn it into a pillow for her using only Shirley's fabric. 

 My only sorrow is that I didn't even notice that my bobbin thread was bright red until I flipped the pillow right-side out.  Oops!  There's one random line of red thread showing, but I'm choosing to believe it gives it character.