This is one of the saddest moments for me.
Over the past week, I have been packing up my mother’s sewing room… Taking the things I knew she wanted me to have. Sorting the rest for my dad to sell or donate. Noting the duplicate rulers and threads that she forgot she had. Finding a few UFOs to finish in her honor.
It is also a happy time, remembering the joy she had in that room. Making presents for everyone. Cursing as her bobbin ran out of thread. Singing as she sewed.
Mom loved her sewing room. Up until the end, she was convinced that she would be able to get back in there to finish one more project…
Mom started my needlework journey with me when I was seven. She taught me to do needlepoint, cross stitch, and embroidery. By the time I was nine, she had me sewing clothes and making doll clothes. At ten, I was crocheting whenever I could. She tried desperately to help me get the hang of knitting, but apparently two needles confuse my brain.
When I was in my twenties, I picked up quilting and got mom to do it to. We went to guild together, classes together, shop hops together… It was such a fun time.
Then, I got busy with my career. She had more trouble with her hands and cutting all that fabric. So, she switched to embroidery and quilting in the hoop. It kept her making for another decade.
Then, her eyesight went. The cataract surgery restored it. But then her memory started to go. Patterns were harder to follow.
So, she did the next best thing… she sent me quilt kits as gifts. I knew she really wanted them back finished… She was so happy when she got them. She told everyone about her magical way of making quilts… (haha – a little elf made them).
She was an amazing woman. I will miss her with each stitch I sew…
Cherish those times with your mother, grandmother, sister, or daughter. They pass too quickly.
Thank you, mom for giving me the love of stitching.
Happy Quilting!
