THE wishes.

in case you did not know it, the quilt is finished. it has actually been finished for a few weeks. super exciting. many folks expressed interest in knowing more about the fabric's origins, so here we go, in no particular order...

...forty contributors. forty stories.

#1. from my pops in california. pringle's grandpop. his hands-down favorite activity (other than purchasing glass sculptures) is refereeing soccer. this fabric is a piece of one of his favorite referee uniforms.

#2. from ausi karabo in colorado. she and i were in the peace corps together. she lived in the mountains and i lived in the lowlands...but we didn't let that come between us. this fabric was given to her by another peace corps volunteer who was also stationed in the mountains, so it is sort of a double-wish. lucky pringle!

#3. from one of my mum's dear friends in california, who is also one of my most faithful supporters. i cannot remember a time when she was not in my life, so you do the math...it's been a while. she gave me a gorgeous pair of turquoise earrings to protect me during my time in lesotho. i wore them every minute i was there, so if you see pictures of me from my peace corps days, you will see those earrings. this fabric is from her son's crib bumper. he is now in his twenties, so once again...you can do the math, this fabric has been lovingly saved for a long time.

#4. from a fellow returned peace corp volunteer (rpcv), who also served in lesotho, except her tour was thirty years before mine. we "met" when i started doing graphic design work for a lesotho rpcv organization. we have never actually met in person, but sometimes i find that hard to believe. in 1976 she bought a tablecloth that commemorated the 10th anniversary of lesotho's independence and now here it is...part of our precious baby's quilt.

#5. from ms. pumpky in miami. she and i met when we started teaching together. it has been a long and crazy adventure, but we are still stuck together, like glue. she cut off the leg of one of her favorite pairs of jeans and donated it to pringle's quilt. nifty!!

#6. from mrs. nipper knapp in california, who inspires me (and fills my to-do list) with gads of awesome sewing projects she finds in hidden corners of the internet. i met her at one of my dearest friend's weddings - she is the groom's cousin-in-law, oh, and she was the photographer - and the connection continued. thank you facebook. she sent three fabrics: 1) an awesome floral print, 2) gingham which was used in said dear friend's wedding, and 3) the sparkly skull fabric, which is too awesome for words.

#7. from a lovely lass who i met in miami, when we were both first-year teachers, teaching kindergarten at the same school. sadly, she has since moved to new york, we do not often have a chance to see each other. she sent this lovely pink polo shirt, which she frequently donned during her teaching days.

#8. from my peace corps "parents," who now live in california. during our time in lesotho, they took me in when my host family booted me from my house a mere four months before the end of my service. he was the calming voice of reason and she was a fellow crafting and sewing afficiondo, with delightful night-owl tendencies like yours truly. she groomed my sewing skills...forcing me to do things like iron seams and sloooow down. oh and did i mention that the two of them presided over my wedding to the mister? yup....they are keepers. we love them dearly and wish they did not live so far away.

#9. from another of my mum's friends in california, who has known me since i was in kindergarten. her son and my brother were in the same grade and she and my mums were both involved at the school. and they played tennis together. she has watched me grow up and sent this darling ladybug fabric for the quilt.

#10. from a kick-ass lady, who i met during a summer teaching training program in miami. sadly, she too has moved away...now living somewhere in the 'burbs of D.C. oh and as you can see from the fabric, she switched careers. now she works for the diplomatic security service. she carries a gun, which normally would scare me, but in her case it makes me feel like the world is just that little bit safer. the fabric speaks for itself.

#11. from an awesome lady that was in the peace corps with me and now lives in florida. she is always up to fascinating adventures, which often involve lots of long-distance running. but what i always remember from her is during our peace corps training when we had 11 females in one hut and we wanted some music to play...she jumped up and said "i've got jock jams." it endeared her to me for life. that and her exuberance, smile, and constant laughter.

#12. from another one of mum's dearest friends in california. she too has watched me grow up. she is one of the most bubbly ladies, always excited to hear about my latest escapades and adventures. oh and she is from ireland, so she has the world's most lovely accent.

#13. from one of my dear college friends. i honestly cannot remember how we met, because i do not actually recall having any classes with her, but we were both always working in the same studios, so we spent a lot of time together. there was also a wine festival where we enjoyed the bottle too much..ooops. and a visit to her parents' farm, where she taught me all about the different types of cattle. apparently they are NOT all cows. a lesson i have never forgotten. she and her husband participate in historical reenactments and she HAND-sews (to maintain authenticity, but wow...) her own dresses...this lovely fabric is from one of her dresses.

#14. when my paternal grandmother passed away a couple of years ago, i found this piece of yellow silk in an envelope labeled "china." presumably, it is from the trip she and my grandfather took to china. since it was her fabric and happened to be in my grandfather's favorite color, i thought it apropos to include it in the quilt.

#15. from one of my college roommates, who lives with her lovely family in virginia. she and i were suitemates our freshman year, roommates our sophomore year, and housemates our junior year, so we spent a lot of time together. her darling daughter picked out these lovely fabrics for pringle's quilt.

#16. from one of my bestest high school pals, who lives in northern california. he and i attended the same schools starting in 6th grade, so we knew each other, but we did not become friends until our senior year of high school. he is a free-spirit, with a wonderful heart and a never-ending youthfulness, which is probably why we hit it off the moment we ended up in the same group in physics class. we have not seen each other in years, yet we have kept in touch through letters...real live letters (and some emails). interestingly, he and his wife are also expecting their first child this june, so despite our distance, we are still totally in sync.

#17. from another of my mum's dearest friends in california. she has watched me grow up and encouraged all of my artistic endeavors. she sent a beautiful applique patch that i had to reassemble a bit to fit it into the circle format, but i think it still encompasses the spirit of the fabric.

#18. from my mum's younger brother and his wife, who live in germany. the white hen is the literal representation of their last name, so it is a rather perfect piece of fabric to represent my mum's side of the family.

#19. from one of my closest and darling friends, who i met in middle school..she now lives in georgia with her husband. she and another friend are responsible for naming me pickel. so many stories of so many adventures...early morning birthday picnics, track & field, shakespeare in the park, a thwarted midnight trip to buy glue, a shared fascination for writing snail mail letters, and so much more. the owl fabric is just darling and the other fabric is from a trip she took to africa.

#20. from a wonderful lady that i was with in the peace corps. she now lives in illinois and sent this beautiful fabric, which is actually from a dress that she wore while we were in lesotho!

#21. from a girl in my village in lesotho, who followed me everywhere i went. when i met her she was 11 and she quickly became my shadow. she helped me fetch water, showed me around the village, and taught me all sorts of useful skills, like hand-washing laundry and cooking basotho foods. this fabric is from a bandana that she used to wear all the time and then gave to me when i was leaving.

#22. from one of my bestest friends, who was living with her husband in rhode island when she sent the fabric, but they are soon to be back in their home in tennessee. we met in sixth grade and got to spend a lot of time together after school waiting for our mothers to pick us up...they both had a fondness for being a tad on the late side. sometime that year i declared her my best friend and have never looked back. along with the lass from #19, she gave me the nickname pickel, which stuck so well that i am quite certain her parents forget my actual name.

#23. from the mister. this fabric is from one of his favorite shirts, which he wore all the time, when i met him lesotho. he loved it so much that it was one of three shirts he brought with him when he moved here.

#24. from a darling couple that was in the peace corps with me. they are originally from kansas, but now live in arizona. when i pondered my relationship with the mister, she is the one that i asked...how did you know that your husband was "the one?" although it did not seem like a concrete answer at the time, she said "you just know." and you know what? she was right. she and her husband sent two fabrics. the first is a southwestern design, obviously indicative of their current locale, the second is the peace corps logo cut out of a shirt that i designed for our group at the beginning of our time in lesotho.

#25. from a wonderful lass who i met when we were both teaching at the same school. sadly, she was an international exchange teacher and she had to return home only a few months after we became friends. she is currently teaching in dubai, but she is from ireland, hence the fabric has the lovely green design.

#26. from an awesome lady in tennessee, who i met when we were in the peace corps together. she attended the university of alabama and is a die hard fan, so she sent this hounds tooth fabric to represent the traditions of the crimson tide.

#27. from my brother and his family. they used some photographs to design this awesome fabric for the quilt. so cool!

#28. from a sweet lady in idaho. we "met" after she read about my etsy shop on keri's blog. she ordered a bag and then we became facebook friends. we have never met in person, but that has not stopped her from being amazingly generous to our darling pringle. she sent this gorgeous red fabric along with a beautiful wish.

 

#29. from my best friend in lesotho. she did not have any money to buy fabric, so she was always trying to redesign old clothes. on one of my fabric shopping adventures, i found this fabric and bought it for her. it was so precious to her that she never had the heart to cut the pieces to make a dress, so she just wrapped it around her like a sarong.

#30. from a wonderful lady, who i met during our summer teaching training. she lives with her husband in florida, although no longer in miami. she is a math whiz, so she did not teach at my school, because she was teaching high school math, but i saw her most every friday for happy hour. she sent this fabric, which i believe is from one of her shirts.

#31. from my mom's older brother and his wife, who live in germany. this fabric is a piece of a towel that was one of the linens in my grandmother's (pringle's great-grandmother) hope chest. that makes this fabric over 80 years old!!

#32. from a fabulous lady, who lives with her family in australia. she and i met in florence when we were both traveling solo. i had no plan for the next week of my travels, so she invited me to join her plan...she was heading to verona for a few days. we got along so well, we traveled together to venice, vienna, and munich, which was our final stop because i had to get on a plane to come back to the states. she sent this gorgeous fabric, which features an aboriginal design.

#33. from keri who i met at my darling friend's wedding (same wedding at which i met mrs. nipper knapp)..she is the wife of the groom's brother. she and her husband live in colorado and bought a nifty house a couple of years ago, which has given her lots of opportunities to hone her interior decorating skills, so she is a fellow DIYer. i recently helped convince her to buy a sewing machine. major coup. oh and did i mention that she is a HUGE supporter of my etsy shop...close to 50% of my sales have been people that have found my shop via her blog. she was a bit worried that this fabric might be too "girly," but i assured her that this quilt has no rules, so lucky pringle got this glorious fabric in their quilt.

#34. from a dude who is a dear friend of the mister and i. he was a teacher in miami, now he is a teacher in new york. he taught the mister how to be a male in america...introduced him to the wide world of sports, specifically, american football. turned the mister into a die hard new york giants fan. he also taught the mister how to drive..thank goodness, because i did not have the stomach for that endeavor. he is the king of ties, so this fabric is from one of his stellar ties. the polka dots were actually the lining of the tie, but so awesome that i could not resist including it in the quilt.

#35. from a wonderful couple that i met in college. i met her through the wonderful lady of wish #13 and i met him because we both spent ridiculous amounts of time in the graphic design computer lab. they live in virginia with their three adorable boys. the fabric is from one of their boys' shirts.

#36. from an awesome lady that was in the peace corps with me. she and her adopted basotho son live in california. she loves everything about horses, especially riding them, so she worked with a friend of hers to design this gorgeous fabric for pringle's quilt.

#37. from an amazing lady that was in peace corps with me. she was my closest peace corps neighbor since she lived in a town about 25km from my village. i spent many weekends hanging at her house, drinking coffee, reading, and just being silly. one day she asked me to take her wrap skirt and add a zipper to make it a regular skirt. so i did. and wouldn't you know it, the fabric she sent is from that very same skirt...a few years later and much loved.

#38. from a darling lass that i met in high school. we call her lemon. she is an amazing drummer and photographer. when i decided that i wanted to buy an old slr-camera, she was the one who went with me to pick out my darling nikon. and then we had lots of photo-taking adventures. she lived in new mexico for a long time, but now she is back living in los angeles. this fabric is from shirt for a women's roller derby team. yahoo!

#39. from my mums. the first fabric is a new fabric that represents her wish that pringle's life be filled with rainbows. the second fabric is from her mother's dress. it is a fabric that her dad bought her mother, in vienna, during the beginning of the war years, when fabric and new dresses were a huge luxury. pringle is so lucky to have such a beautiful silk in the quilt.

#40. from yours truly. the first is my favorite seshoeshoe (traditional fabric of lesotho) design. the second is from my wedding dress. the green is my favorite color.