Still Quilting

And my new fabric arrived yesterday.  I wasted no time...

I LOVE it.  The fabric with the boots, hats and creels is more the tan that it appears in the upper left corner - the other side is just closer to my lamp and got washed out in the picture.  That is the full width, although I think I will add some borders (I have a LOT of leftover dark blue paisley fabric from my daughter's pirate quilt), and it will be 7 rows long when it is finished.  So just 4 rows to go!  And the seams are lining up amazingly well so far.

This really is a labor of love. Over the weekend, my friend actually told me he "couldn't deal" with friendship at the moment, and asked for space. This has happened before, and while I could get angry, I know he'll work through things at his own pace. Well, today I got another message - his aunt is suffering from late-stage Alzheimer's, and the family is working to get her home with hospice before she passes. While that in itself is a huge, heartbreaking thing, the other thing I didn't mention is that my friend is transgender. A lot of his family does not understand or even try to do so, and still refers to him intentionally with feminine pronouns and/or by his birth name. So the emotional toll is HUGE. I can give him his space, and put all my love into the quilt. (I don't think I could have timed this project better, honestly...because spending all night cutting and sewing is a wonderful distraction from worry for ME. Not that this is about me, but self-care is important, too.)