My children have all had a "lovey" to keep them comfy at night or during times of need. As most parents know, when that lovey disappears you will move heaven and Earth to find it. Christian and I went to Michael's shopping this past week and he asked if he could bring his boppy in the car, my first mistake, and I said "sure". We get there and he asks if he can bring it in the store, second mistake, and of course I say "sure" because I am feeling like he will be responsible. Between the time of entering and exiting I have long since lost thought of this beloved blanket from my mind. Fast forward 8 hours to bedtime when it is no where to be found. Michael's was still open so I sent Bob on a wild goose chase to no avail. Not content that he looked "like I would have looked ;)", I proceed to go back to Michael's so that I could be the hero when I found it. Unfortunately, I came home empty handed and felt more like a sap than a hero. So we comforted Christian, got him to sleep and assured him that tomorrow we would tear the house apart and go back to Michael's looking for this boppy. 
This boppy is a well loved blanket that was made special for him by our dear friend and old Oregon neighbor, Auntie Diane. She had monogrammed it with his birthdate and name and this boppy never left Christian's side, think Linus from Peanuts. Sometimes this thing got washed more than once a day when he was sick or it had been drug through the dirt and other times I just gave in and let it be this gross, nasty embarrassment of a lovey that I was horrified for any other mother to see although I knew somewhere in their minds they would understand and had been there too. I just couldn't keep up with all the "loving" he gave this thing. So to have lost it meant that Christian lost a piece of his soul.
Notice all the "loving" he gave this thing? He would twirl the corners of the quilt around his fingers until finally the corners are so shredded and it had been washed so many times that all the batting came completely out of the quilt, it is now merely 2 pieces of old, tattered fabric barely held together. He treats it very gingerly these days!
As any mother would I woke up and began the boppy hunt again to no avail long before any of the kids woke up for school. I even stopped homeless people around the shopping complex to look into their carts as someone had told me that they had just seen it at the store on the bench up front (and even described it to me to a T and said that it was "just here"). They also told me that they had also seen a homeless man loitering right outside the store within minutes of seeing it. I was ready with cash in hand to beg, borrow or steal this boppy back from anyone that may have taken it from Michael's. The employees had seen it, other people from the previous shift had seen it and everyone was sure that it was still there. Again to no avail, no one homeless or otherwise had it in their possession.
Now I am mad, crazy woman because my son lost a piece of his soul. I send him on his way to preschool and everyone off to their respective places and make a mad dash to the fabric store. Who knew that you could buy fabric, cut perfect squares and assemble and sew a full quilt in less than 10 hours? That's exactly what I did. There was no way my son was going to bed without a "lovey" that night. I worked in a mad dash to get this completed and mind you I can sew however I have NEVER made a quilt before nor had it ever crossed my mind to make one but I did. 
New quilt. Every intersection is hand knotted and it is nice and snuggly. He calls it his "new boppy", not quite the same as his original but he "tried" to love it just as much to make me happy since he knew I made it with lots of "mommy love"!
At 8:30pm when it came time to say prayers, I snipped the last thread, said a prayer when I tied the last quilting knot and already washed and dried it. I handed my babe a fresh warm out of the dryer brand new quilt. Whew, disaster averted!
During all this mayhem, I emailed Auntie Diane to beg her for scraps of the same fabric she had made the first one from however I just couldn't wait the weeks it would take to get it and had to take matters into my own hands. Much to my delight she made him another one that arrived as a surprise a few weeks later. So now he has THREE boppies. The one I made, the replacement on Diane made and lo and behold his original one. 
New Auntie Diane quilt! Notice how bright the colors are? Believe it or not, this is the same fabric the original was mde from.
Where was this original boppy? Two days later, Hannah was cleaning out from under her bed and guess what she found? His boppy. The strange thing is, is that Bob and I had both looked under there, the Michael's store manager had personally found it and put it on the bench waiting for the owner to return, other people had spotted it and we could not find it anywhere for 2 days of constant searching. After lots of prayers, I am a believer that no one "person" put that boppy back in our hands, it was a true gift as I am telling you it was NOT under her bed previously!
After all the hooplah of making the quilt, Hannah and Xander decided that they too needed homemade quilts. Here is Hannah's and I have yet to make Xander's but I have all the fabric and Xander has decided that he wants a big X from corner to corner with all the other colors surrounding it. So here is my new claim to fame and I liked making them so much that you too, may find a "Kimberly Quilt" in your mailbox someday as a special gift made with love!
Hannah's new quilt I made for her. Notice the "H" in the center? She picked out the colors and fabrics. I think it turned out nice.
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