the big give

I have to back burner my plan to show pages from the craftapalooza known as The Family Creative Workshop to tell you a story of giving.

It all started one day when I was reading Lilia's blog, something I love to do because Lilia makes wonderful projects and has two über cute girls. I was reading, and she mentioned something about a gift she'd received, a cooling rack, that a friend had purchased for her after seeing it in the wish list at the bottom of her blog. A little bell went off in my head, and I thought about how cool it would be to do random gifting, just because. Who wouldn't like to be sent something solely because she'd mentioned it on her blog? Or because someone thinks she's swell and wants to express it. We deserve that, don't we? We work, take care of our kids, tend our marriages and relationships, look out for our friends, comfort our parents, and try to care for ourselves by indulging whatever hobbies or passions or interests life affords us time for. It's a nurturing act to say, Maybe I don't know you, but I KNOW you. Know what I mean?

So that's what I decided to do as the first part of paying it forward. I sent Lilia Kathy's great Note Taker pattern; she wanted to make it for her mom. (See? More giving.) Then I went to eBay and found a lot of buttons for her, what looked like a good one -- Lilia says it is -- and sent that to her because I wanted her to have something she could enjoy without having to do any work. (I always swoon over buttons more than I use them.) Plus, while the Note Taker pattern could kind of have been expected, I knew she wouldn't be looking out for buttons, even though we'd chatted about them, and this made for a better surprise. I was thrilled when she told me her daughters had fun helping her sort the buttons and trying to hide their favorites from her.

This would've been enough, but I knew I'd be getting something from Lilia, too. When I asked her for her address, she told me she'd been thinking of asking for mine. Yesterday, the same day she got her buttons, I got this:

I know what they say about giving and receiving, but this experience was wondrous. I adore this apron so much I can't even tell you. I'm all about orange. And silver rickrack? C'mon.

I sometimes watch "Leave It to Beaver" just to ogle June Cleaver's wardrobe. The minute I put on Lilia's apron, I felt a little bit closer to that '50s housewife glam that I love infinitely.

The warm fuzzies don't stop here. The winners of my Pay It Forward contest are commenter #2, my sister across the pond, Heather, and commenter #9, amazing Ally B. Ladies, please e-mail me your mailing addresses and expect something good over the next couple of months. To everyone else who played along, you'll soon have another try, because this giving thing is something mighty sweet.