A Special Quilt for Noah

I have been meaning to post about this quilt for months!!!  My friend from Buffalo, Margaret, told me that she was going to make me a personalized baby quilt as my baby shower gift.  She said I could pick the theme and give her a list of people to contact, and she would get all of my friends and family to contribute to it.  I chose the theme "Books."  I know that is really random, but I thought it would be cool if friends and family could contribute titles and quotes from their favorite books.  I wasn't sure how Margaret would work it all into a quilt, but I had faith in her abilities. :)

I love the way the quilt turned out!  She designed it on her computer, and it is really unique and fun.  I hope someday we have a kids' play room or library or reading nook where we can hang this quilt.  In the mean time, it is in Noah's room, folded right by the rocking chair where we read to him.

Some people contributed fun and silly books, others contributed serious books.  These are some of my favorite profound quotes that are included on the quilt:

"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." from Harry Potter by J.K Rowling, contributed by my sister Laura

"Children are a burden to a mother, but not the way a heavy box is to a mule.  Our children weigh hard on my heart, and thinking about them growing up honest and healthy, or just living to grow up at all, makes a load in my chest that is bigger than the safe at the bank, and more valuable to me than all the gold inside it." from These is My Words by Nancy Turner, contributed by Rachel Fordham

"'It doesn't happen all at once,' said the Skin Horse. 'You become.  It takes a long time.  That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept.  Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby.  But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real, you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.'" from The Velveteen Rabbit by Marjery Williams, contributed by Kristen Farrell

"Atticus was right.  One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them.  Just standing on the Radley porch was enough."  from To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, contributed by me (are you surprised?)

"Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs." from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, contributed by Amber Price

"We have only one story.  All novels, all poetry, are built on the never-ending contest in ourselves of good and evil.  And it occurs to me that evil must constantly respawn, while good, while virtue, is immortal.  Vice has always a new fresh young face, while virtue is venerable as nothing else in the world is."  from East of Eden by John Steinbeck, contributed by Fran Hauser

"'I'm glad that you are here with me;" said Frodo, 'Here at the end of all things, Sam.'" from The Lord of the Rings by J.R. Tolkien, contributed by Rabecca Pierce

"Isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?" from Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery, contributed by Carrie Schneider

"A person's a person, no matter how small." from Horton Hears a Who by Dr. Suess, contributed by my sister Sarah

"A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly.  You can have a wonky nose and crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely." from The Twits by Roald Dahl, contributed by Julie Bastedo

"...of courage undaunted, possessing a firmness and perseverance of purpose which nothing but impossibilities could divert from its direction..." This is a description of Meriwether Lewis by Thomas Jefferson from the foreword of Undaunted Courage.  My dad said that this quote reminded him of me in my quest to become a mother. :)

So many beautiful quotes from so many amazing books!  I hope Noah will be a reader. I hope he will love books as much as I do!