For me, the summer of 1976 is memorable for many reasons. In addition to being the bicentennial of my nation’s birth, it was the summer I got my braces off, passed my driving test for my driver’s license, and in the crucible of the summer heat that descends upon the Central Valley of California, formed some friendships that endure to this day.

Earlier this week one of those friends offered to run errands for me so that I could work on my 2010 North Carolina State Fair project with as few interruptions as possible, and he did not let the 2500 miles that now separate us interfere. By 2:00 EDT, he had posted the following message on my Facebook wall:

Whew. Virtual laundry done. Virtual grocery shopping done. Virtual lawn mowed. Virtual breakfast dishes virtually washed. And virtually lunch is served! Your Friday morning boost from afar!

And as silly as it might seem, it helped enormously.

The first thing I got done was row 16, seen here:

Next, I finished row 17 and joined it to row 16:

Here are rows 16 and 17 laid out with rows 1 through 15:

No matter how much we might at times think otherwise, John Donne correctly noted (in my opinion) that no man is an island unto himself, and with a project that size and scope of the one I have undertaken here, no woman is an island unto herself, either.

Every stitch of this project is a reflection not only of who I am, but of the people whom I have known over the years who have contributed to who I am and encouraged me with each stitch.