‘Rather than donating his shirts, what about repurposing them into a patchwork quilt? That way you can retain the memories but gain your wardrobe space back. There’s a wonderful mixture of plain and patterned shirts and a strong colour scheme of blues, greys and purples.’
While Veronica searched on her phone for alternative ideas, I considered her suggestion of a quilt. She was right about the complementary range of fabrics and colours but making a quilt was a big project and, if I was finding it hard seeing all of Cliff’s shirts right now, would I only be prolonging my grief? And what would I do with it anyway when it was complete? The colour scheme wouldn’t work in my bedroom and I wasn’t sure I’d want to wrap a quilt around me made from my dead husband’s shirts.
‘If you fancied making something smaller, what about a memory bear?’ Veronica handed me her phone and I scrolled through some of the images of teddy bears, large and small, made from the clothing of a loved one. It would be perfect. I’d never made a teddy bear before so that could be the new craft I learned this year, and a bear made from Cliff’s shirts would be small, subtle and special.
‘I love that idea,’ I said, smiling at Veronica.
‘Wonderful! I’d suggest you start by selecting your favourite shirts – the ones which will blend well together – and then we pack the rest away for charity.’
‘Thank you for doing this with me. It’s so good of you to give up your Sunday like this.’
‘Yvonne, I’ve been where you are. I know how much it hurts and, if I can take even a small part of that pain away, my Sunday will have been well spent. Although I wouldn’t say no to us taking a break for a carvery at The Fox and Rabbit if you don’t have any lunch plans.’
I smiled at her. ‘I’ll make the booking.’
In some ways, I was glad that I hadn’t been able to get hold of Paulette as it gave me a chance to spend some quality time with Veronica. How lucky was I to have found so many kind friends who were helping me heal and get my life back on track?
31
At noon on Wednesday, Veronica, Paulette, Milly, Laughlin, Saffy and I all met at the village hall to go through our Created With Love homework before Cake & Craft Club. I’d wondered if anyone would have changed their mind after they’d had time to properly think about it but we all remained fully committed and had similar thoughts about how everything should work, so it didn’t take long to finalise everything. Saffy, who’d started a part-time role at The White Willow on Monday, offered to set up a website as well as being our social media guru – a role she said she could easily manage around her shifts.
Shortly before 2p.m. the other group members started arriving and we agreed not to say anything to them about Created With Love until we’d definitely secured the premises. No point getting anyone excited about a place to sell their crafts if we fell at that final hurdle.
We were half an hour from the end of the session when Lorna’s name flashed up on my phone. It was noisy in the hall with the whirr of sewing machines and general chatter so I nipped out into the entrance lobby.
‘I’ve got some great news for you,’ she said. ‘Both couples have called me today with offers. They’re in the same strong position – chain-free with mortgages lined up – and both want speedy completions, so my suggestion is to go back and ask for best and final offers. Do I have your permission to do that?’
‘Yes, please. Do you think they’ll come back with the asking price?’
‘I’m confident they will, or perhaps even above it.’
Ten minutes later, Lorna rang again. One couple had come back with one grand under the asking price and apologies that they couldn’t stretch any further and the other offered three grand above on the proviso that the house was removed from the market immediately and we aimed for completion at the start of the Easter holidays.
‘They’ve got a deal,’ I said.
‘Everything okay?’ Milly asked when I returned to the room.
I sat down at my table, feeling dazed that it had all happened so fast. ‘My house has just sold.’
She offered me her congratulations and Paulette, Veronica and Laughlin all chipped in with theirs.
‘You look like you’re in shock,’ Laughlin said.
‘I am. And I’m panicking a bit. I need to be out by Easter and I haven’t got anywhere to go. There’s nothing on the market I like at the moment. Should I have waited until I found somewhere before I accepted?’
‘No!’ they chorused.
Next moment, I was flooded with offers of spare rooms if I either hadn’t found anywhere by the time my sale completed or I’d found somewhere that would complete after my sale. Looking round my new friends, I felt overwhelmed by their kindness and counted my blessings once again that I’d stepped out of my comfort zone to join Cake & Craft Club.
* * *
I arrived home to a ‘sold’ banner across my ‘for sale’ board. Lorna and her team were impressively efficient. Christian must have been watching out for me because, as soon as I exited the car, he jogged across the road.
‘Sold already? That was quick.’
‘Way quicker than expected. Guess who’ll be spending this evening searching for houses online?’
‘I don’t suppose I could interest you in joining me for tea between house-hunting? Emma was meant to be coming over but one of the alpacas has a mouth infection so she’s waiting for the vet. I’ve made beef and ale pie and it’s way too big for one.’
