Monday 3 December 2012

Accidental friendships & Giveaway Day

Welcome to my blog, Mrs Moen, it is very nice to see you whether you are new around here or an old friend. Today is Giveaway Day at Sew Mama Sew and this is my contribution.

I am a Norwegian quilter who had a first book published earlier this year, designs patterns (in English and Norwegian) amongst others for Quiltemagasinet (a Scandinavian quilting magazine), and teach quilting classes. This year I have been working a lot with a technique I call painting with fiber where I build my designs one layer at a time using all kinds of fiber. It fits perfectly with my love of making quilts with whatever I have at hand and just go with the flow.

“Accidental friendship” (29,5*25,5cm) is such a quilt. It is made in honour of a very special friend of mine who passed away this fall, and I thought it would fit perfectly for this occasion where the main goal is to meet new people and form new friendships.

If you would like a chance at winning this quilt, please leave a comment to this post. As this is a celebration of accidental friendships, I would love for you to tell me about a friend you have met at an unexpected occasion. I’ll save the story of how I met mine for another post.

The giveaway is open until December 7th, at 9pm Norwegian time, when the winner will be chosen randomly. I will ship anywhere!

It’s time to go out and make new friends; you’ll find some likely places here!

You’ll find me right here making a few more friendships quilts in the next couple of days, but first I have to cuddle my grandbaby who is staying with us for a few days. Now, that is what I call a friendship made in heaven.)

I am sorry, the giveaway is now closed and the winner is posted here!

69 comments:

  1. Such a beautiful quilt to remember your friend by! Thanks for a chance to win something so dear to you!

    When I was helping out at my LQS a woman entered the shop and asked for some advice on fabrics and colours. We immediately had a click and a lot of fun. We took classes together and were asked by the quiltshop owners to help out at the store and at quiltmarkets together thereafter on many occasions. We now often go to quiltexhibitions and though we have a different taste in patterns and fabrics and live completely different lifes, we are friends ever since our first meeting. We try to come together at least one evening a month to quilt and chat.

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  2. Du har laget en veldig vakker quilt! Jeg blir gjerne med på trekningen.

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  3. A beautiful quilt Nina Lise!
    An accidental friend? A dear friend of mine died a few years ago and at her funeral I met a cousin of my friend - when my son died this lady came forward and supported me in a way no one else seemed able to do

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  4. This quilt is lovely! Thank you for this giveaway!
    My fiancè and I some years ago stayed for a few days in a bed and breakfast in Sicily. Talking with the owner (a 50 years old man) we discovered to have some friends in common. This surprized us so much that we started to talk deeply about us and our stories and now we are good friends! :)
    We met 1-2 times each year, althoug they live a bit far from us!

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  5. What a beautiful piece in honor of your friend. Sorry for your loss. Thos quilt is a lovely way for you to remeber your friend while creating it. xox

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  6. Blogging is where I met my friend - I live in Canada and she lives in the UK. Even though we have not met in person, my daughter has met her and has even stayed at her place twice while she was living in London. An unexpected friendship but one we both hold dear.
    My little grandson will be a big brother next year and hopefully they will all be moving closer so that I can watch them grow. Currently, they live across the country but we do have skype.

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  7. That's a really beautiful quilt!
    Some of my best friends have been met online. Isn't it great to have good friends around the world?

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  8. About 14 years ago, I met a lady who was a chaperone for a children's program. She needed transportation around town, and I was elected. We hit it off right from the start and even though she lives over 1000 miles away, we have been Best Friends ever since.

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  9. What a beautiful quilt! It brings to mind how long-lasting friendships are built, one layer at a time... I was born in Brazil but have been in the US for 26 years. While living in New Hampshire, with a new baby, I once met a neighbor at the laundry room in the apartment building where we lived. That was 1988. She was older, but she and her husband became like a family to me in the US. Mary and I were friends through thick and thin, until she passed away last December, a heart-breaking experience for me.

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  10. I don't think I've had any "accidental" friends, but my husband and I have moved a lot, and we have always found wonderful friends wherever we go. The quilt is so beautiful, thanks for the chance!
    mjp0419 at gmail dot com

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  11. This is very beautiful. Online is great for finding friends both old and new. A few years ago I re-found my best friend from school days, after over 30 years. We are best friends again, but still have not met in person. We hope to remedy that in 2013. And yes, I have made her a quilt!!

    Thank you.

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  12. I love bumping into childhood friends years latter and catching up.

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  13. I've met many great quiltmakers online -- not an accident, but some of them stumbled over me, or I them as we're websurfing. I'd love to win your quilt! thanks for the chance.

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  14. in graduate school, a friend from class turned into my best friend. she claimed she thought i'd be the last person in class she'd be friends with, and yet we were incredibly close right off the bat. it was as if i'd found my soul-twin.

    almost ten years ago, my friend committed suicide.

    it has been a long process of 'healing.' time has lessened the immediacy of the pain, but i do not think this is something that will ever go away.

    it never occurred to me to make a quilt in her honor, and i think that could bring about more peace for me. i really thank you for this idea. i am making a little quilt in honor of my grandmother's life, and it's been marvelous to savor all my memories of her as i make it.

    the quilt you've made is stunning, and i think the imagery of trees is very fitting. i'm moved by your technique; you are truly a textile artist.

    i would be honored to display your quilt in my home, to let my husband and my little daughters and myself dwell on its image in daily life. thank you for the chance!

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  15. Thanks for the opportunity on a great draw. Love the quilt. I found My BFF at one of the jobs I was working at the time. 28 years later and living in different cities, we are still BFF.
    bonnielarson58@gmail.com

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  16. This quilt is gorgeous (as is all your work). I won one of your giveaways before, so if you'd like to throw my entry out, no worries at all. I think it's such a lovely idea to make a quilt in honor of someone you've lost.

    I'm not sure if this counts, but it was unexpected to me. My best friend is my little sister, and we hated each other, fighting like cats and dogs all growing up. I never in a million years would have thought we'd be close, but I guess growing up changed us both for the better and now I'd be lost without her.

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  17. Oh my! I am normally not a quilt fan, but I have just fallen in LOVE with this quilt of yours! That is gorgeous!

    As for my unexpected friendship- one of my closest girl friends was the ex of a guy I started dating. Unbelievable right! It was not until after I broke up with the guy we ran into each other, struck up conversation and realized we both liked each other much more than we ever liked the guy we mutually dated! We've been friends ever since!

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    1. Forgot one thing: My email is kudra1978 at aol dot com.

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  18. Så artig å komme over en norsk blogg på SMS giveaway! Gledesspreder-boka di er utrolig bra!

    Jeg fant en av mine gode venner i Syden. Vi endte opp i leilighet ved siden av hverandre, og det viste seg at vi var fra samme kant av landet, var i samme livssituasjon og hadde veldig god kjemi.

    Takk!

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  19. You know I love everything you make and I would be thrilled to be the new caretaker of Accidental Friendship. My accidental friendship is actually with my former boss. I met her first during my interview and thought, "Meh" but as we worked together and talked and exchanged stories I began to really cherish her. We only see each other once a month now, but we feel more like family than just friends.

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  20. Your quilt is just lovely. I'm starting a quilt made of my youngest brother's clothing for my mom. He passed away in March at age 38. It's part of my grief journey - and has also made me smile. What a tribute to your friend. I made a quilting friend at a library where I worked part-time - we've been quilting together now for almost 9 years. You never know....thanks for your generosity. Peace....

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  21. You make stunnig and beautiful things - I am so pleased to have found you!! Lovely giveaway!

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  22. I met my best-friend in England when we were both studying English in the summer. After getting to know each other, we realized that we were from exactly the same neighbourood in the same city!

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  23. What a lovely quilt! And a generous giveaway. I guess my accidental friend is one I met online right after I got my computer. We hooked up because of a soap board. We played music games- board against board, and had a ball. When my son got his Master's Degree in LA, she invited me to visit and stay with her. What a wonderful time we had. And people tell you not to make friends online!

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  24. Lovely story behind the quilt--its beautiful! I meet my newest friend at the grocery store. We had been buddies in middle school and went to different high schools. So glad to have her back in my world!

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  25. Vinneren av min forrige giveaway er blitt en god venninne - akkurat som om vi skulle ha kjent hverandre i all tid. Siden vinneren ikke bodde så veldig langt unna så valgte jeg å ta en tur og levere personlig - det angrer jeg ikke på. Vi deler også samme hobby og har fått et evig vennskap :-)
    Lekkert bilde du har laget - så her krysser jeg fingrene.
    Quilteklem

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  26. Lovely!! Hm.. as new-ish mommy, new friends are usually other moms these days. And I don't have a super interesting story there. But I do have virtual/blogging friends that are fun!

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  27. Well, I consider myself an 'old' friend when it comes to blogging, but I will still throw my comment into the ring because I love your work so much :)
    I am sorry that you lost a special friend. You made a beautiful piece to commemorate your friendship. Thank you for sharing.

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  28. what a beautiful piece of art! I met my newest friend when we were at the playground with our kids. i didn't think we would have much in common based on how different we were dressed. well that was a big lesson for me not to make superficial judgements because I probably have more in common with her than I do my longest friends!

    komazalea at yahoo dot com

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  29. I met my best friend at freshman orientation, but didn't know it yet. On move-in day she turned out to be my next door neighbor! We've been friends ever since. :)
    peachstateme (at) hotmail (dot) com

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  30. Just days after losing my son, I was sitting in the laundromat waiting for my laundry. I was just going through the motions of life, despondent and alone. A woman there must have picked up on my sorrow, for she spoke to me and before I knew it I was pouring my heart out to her. I never saw her again, but she was my friend that day, and I will never forget her.

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  31. Such a beautiful quilt!

    I guess the strangest place I met a person was on Facebook commenting on the same page. Then became in real life friends!

    Thank you so much for your giveaway!

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  32. What a lovely quilt, and such a lovely idea behind it and the reason you're sending it out into the world. Thank you so much for the opportunity to go in the draw for it.

    Gosh, I can't think of the strangest place I've met a friend of mine! There tends to only be about 2 degrees of separation over here in New Zealand, often when you first meet someone you do the "who do we have in common?" game to find out who you both know and figure out the connection. (Some of those connections can be somewhat surprising, however!)

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  33. Wow, that is really gorgeous. I met my best friend five years ago in our first semester at university. We were standing around before a Maths test and I made some comment about her wearing shorts, since I was in jeans and a hoodie and cold! We got chatting and the rest,cas they say, is history! She even came back to Cape Town from Oz for a week just for my sisters wedding last week. I am SO looking forward to having her back in CT permanently from next year March!

    Thanks so much for the chance to win!

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  34. This is so lovely! I met one of my friends because we passed each other almost every day at University at the same time, going opposite directions. I always admired her style and I supposed she did mine as we smiled and nodded and every once in a while added in a, "nice jacket... great pants... I like your shirt." Until finally one day we stopped to really talk to each other. We've remained friends over the years and now across continents.

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  35. I was admiring your hanging and thinking it looked like the textile art here in Sweden-- now I know why! Beautiful layer of color and stitch that makes it almost transparent in some areas. What a touching honor for your friend. I made accidental friends twice in my life, both times while moving. I happened to become very best friends with two different next door neighbors, so much so that we spent long nights talking with tea, and we even traveled together. Still friends with them both, and I am sure that if they ever met each other, they would also become fast friends!

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  36. Oh my, that's truly amazing work!! One friend that I met accidentally turned out to be one of my best ever--when I moved to Germany for my husband's school, I was very lonely. I went to all the mothering "forums" I could find, and she actually found me on the only one that neither of us liked! :P We are still close (and our children are too!), even though we live on different continents. I'm sorry about your friend, this is such a great way to honor her! Thanks for the lovely giveaway. :)

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  37. Amazing work of art,lovely story behind it.I don't have any unusual stories.Met a friend in park,our kids was playing and I met they parents.Lovely giveaway,thanks for the chance to win it.

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  38. On the first day of high school I got lost finding my homeroom and was late - and got in trouble for being in the halls. I met another girl that day in trouble for the same reason, and 22 years later we're still great friends :)

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  39. Stunning hanging! I recently re-connected with someone I worked with every day for 14 years. We exchange Christmas cards but hadn't seen each other for 12 years, turns out her daughter plays volleyball and their team played our team at a tournament! Small world or what (we live 3 hours apart). We had a wonderful time catching up.

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  40. Beautiful quilt in honor of your friend. Makes it even more special. My dear friend moved into my neighborhood many years ago and my kids and I went over with a plate of cookies. We have been friends for over 20 years, even though she has moved away. Our kids have remained friends too.

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  41. Hello from Minnesota! Your work is beautiful and inspiring!

    I met my best friend while deployed with the Army to Bosnia. We are both smarty-pants people who whip everyone else in board games but challenge each other. It is so easy to get together with him and just hang out, eat, go bowling...do nothing. Just like when we were deployed.

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  42. thank you for the chance to win this very special quilt .
    Two years ago when we (my gardenerclub) had our yearly plantexchange,there was a Dutch woman(I am also Dutch and live in France) who came to the exchange . We talked and felt immediately good contact. In this first contact she told me about her husband who died some years ago...We still are friends!

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  43. Simply beautiful! I met my best friend the day she moved into my apartment. 15 years ago.

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  44. Beautiful quilt! I met one of my dearest friends when my husband and I played ultimate frisbee. Her husband was on our team, and she sweetly offered to take my son to the playground next to the field with her and her son. <3 Thanks for the chance!

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  45. What a lovely quilt with so much mewing, I am sure your friend is proud of you for reaching out to new friends. I am very sorry for your loss, but can tell you have a good spirit by the way you are handling it!

    I am trying to figure out how to tell the story of my accidental friendship without writing you a novel in this comment. . . Lol! I had been attacked by a worker at a hospital and ended up being featured in the news about it,. As a result, many other woman who had been attacked by this same man came forward. I became friends with one of the ladies in particular as we went through the trial process to get him off the streets! It was a strange way to meet, but I believe that God brought us together for a reason.

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  46. This is amazingly beautiful, and so touching too! Thank you for the generosity. stephw3-at-yahoo-dot-com

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  47. Your work is always beautiful and this is such a nice tribute to your friend.

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  48. I met my friend Marilyn when she called our office having just been diagnosed with a terminal illness. It was my job to take information and assist her in getting her hospital stay approved and paid for. That initial conversation was the starting point for a friendship that lasted for the rest of her life. Five years of talking, sharing, crying, and growing together. It was a privilege, and an unexpected one.

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  49. This is beautiful. Stunning work! I can't say I have made any lasting friendships in an accidental sort of way. I did have a brief friendship with a woman I met while traveling in Europe, but as ours lives changed, we went our seperate ways.

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  50. Thanks for the chance to win. I found my best friend during university :D We still keep in touch once a while when we have time.

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  51. It is a beautiful quilt....I love the sentiment behind it and I hope thru this giveaway you meet a lot of new friends! I had an accidental friendship start just a few months ago when I rode the city bus for the first time. I met my friend Rosie waiting for the same bus. The bus wait and ride were worth it. Friends are hard to find!

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  52. What a beautiful quilt! I "accidentally" met my best friend at work. It seemed like we were destined to meet! Thanks for the giveaway! Amy @ gasudimack(at)sbcglobal(dot)net

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  53. your work is so special, I love it!
    I accidentally met a friend when I had to share a room at a motel we had to stop when our train couldn't continue due to a snow storm
    We made the best of that night, having fun and hot chocolate and although she lives in another city, we keep in touch and visit each other

    DESPINA
    deb_oro@yahoo.gr

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  54. I have made some great new friends at my dog agility classes! Gotta love dog people! Thanks for the giveaway.

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  55. This is a special quilt and a lovely idea!

    A young girl from across town and I were in the same dance classes during elementary school. At that time, my father's military career took him from home frequently, and my younger brother's difficulty in school was matched only by his athletic prowess on the soccer field. And so my mother invested much of herself traveling with my brother to soccer games, trying to keep our family together.

    My friend, Ashley, has always been kind. Her warmth made each week better. She made time for me others could not. Later, we attended a gifted school in our city. She for dance, and me for academics. Then middle school came along. We lost touch. I moved several hours away for high school and that was that.

    On my first day of college, Ashley was in line in front of me at our dormitory registration! We became best friends again. We discovered we were both now devout Christians, and spent the next four years sharing all kinds of adventures.

    During my senior year of college, I fell in love for the second time. This time it was for real. Of course, I asked Ashley to be my maid of honor. Well, in a beautiful story of Providence, she met my husband's best friend at our wedding, they married, and we now have children with shared ages and interests!

    Our oldest daughters are pen pals. Friendship is a treasure, indeed.

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    1. Oops, I forgot my email. It's keasterling(at)usa(dot)net.

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  56. This is very lovely. Thank you for the giveaway.

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  57. After I had my first child, I went to a breastfeeding help group. I ended up meeting 5 women who have become very dear friends. We come from all different backgrounds and have moved apart but we talk often.

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  58. I met one of my good friends at a conference my husband had to chair.

    Thanks for the chance

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  59. I met a friend while hanging out at our rented beach house - the summer I was maybe 13 or so!

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  60. This is a gorgeous quilt and truly koselig way to remember your special accidental friend... I have met many friends in my travels, I lived in Norway for a year--hence the koselig comment--and have been here, there and around... My most accidental friend would have to be my husband who my friends and I used to see everywhere in our town and then one time when I returned from my travels he was working at the coffee shop where I was a waitress!! Ten years and 3 (nearly 4) children later the rest is history!! Thanks for sharing your story and your quilt with us all--

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  61. A friend that I met by accident? I am not sure that I have any friends that fit that description.

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  62. One of my most recent accidental friend was met at a art show; now I see her on a regular basis.

    freesignge (at) gmail.

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  63. Nina,
    My accidental friend became a friend through my husband's friend- we have been best friends for over 25 years now- I am not sure how that happened. Your quilt is beautiful - so sorry for the loss of your friend.
    Warmest regards from Western Canada,
    Anna

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  64. Beautiful quilt. Love the sentiment. Thank you for the give-away and for sharing.

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  65. What a beautiful piece! Wow.
    Even if I don't win, I'm glad I landed on your blog, where I will be very happy to look around.
    Thanks for participating in the giveaway.

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  66. This is a truly stunning piece and I am very thankful to you for sharing it with us. It's such an interesting technique and I am very happy that I found your blog. About a year and a half ago I learned a little about this technique in a round about way and tried to do research on it and had a lot of difficulty finding information here in the US as it seemed to be a method used mostly in Europe. I hope to be able to talk to you more in the future about this as I am truly amazed by your work.

    As for a story about a friend, I used to have a long train commute where most people don't talk and most people are a little grumpy due to working long hours then commuting long hours. I was knitting on the train and at the time I was in my late 20s. I was sitting across the aisle from an older gentleman who appeared to be in his 70s perhaps (I'm not the greatest judge of age). I did not notice him as I was tired, had my eyes closed, headphones on, and was knitting. About half an hour into the trip there was a tap on my shoulder so I opened my eyes and the man asked me about what I was making. He had an interest because his wife was a knitter and he was surprised to see a "young person" who had interest in the craft. We chatted for a little bit and eventually got off at the same train station. We saw each other a few days later but this time on a morning train. As time passed we grew to become friends. As things are right now I am dealing with many health issues and he is one of the very few friends that is still there and will still take my phone calls. You never know where or when or in what form a friend will come into your life.

    Thank you again for the wonderful giveaway opportunity.
    handmadebytracie at gmail dot com

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