After a very long self-doubt filled hiatus, I gingerly took my mom's Elna out of storage. It sat on my kitchen table for a few days. Just sat there. I would sit in front of it, smile, and then walk away. I had sewn for years with my mom, and she was always, well, there. She would fix my mistakes, rip my seems, gently guide my ideas and before I knew it, I had a quilt. Or a bag. Or hemmed pants. After we all lost her to an unbelievable short battle with a horrible cancer, the quilt room became off limits. It seemed I couldn't sew without her.
I couldn't remember a thing she had taught me. So we boxed up all the fabrics, donated her unfinished quilt tops, and left the Elna sitting in a closet. Not a day went by that I wasn't tempted to dig it out. And then, a few kids later and several other life altering events, I walked into our local quilt shop. I was nervous, but the amazing fabrics that were spilling out of metal paint cans were calling to me.
On display was a really cute tote. I am a bag girl by birth, so I was enthralled. It was Anna Marie Horner's Multi-Tasker tote. The owner was teaching a class on how to sew it, so I purchased the pattern, some fabric and this is how my mother's Elna came to sit on my kitchen table.
I was amazed at how much I was able to remember. I loved the class, and the hum of my mother's machine was calming and comforting. I went home and eventually made two more totes. I have been sewing ever since, and every time I sit at what I finally consider to be MY machine (or at least both of ours) I feel close to my mother. And I love it.
Now that I am trying more and more patterns, I realized I should be documenting what I'm making, so I can at least keep track. This blog, barely touched since it began a LONG time ago, will hopefully serve that purpose. So my first sewing post contains a picture of the bags that started it all.
On display was a really cute tote. I am a bag girl by birth, so I was enthralled. It was Anna Marie Horner's Multi-Tasker tote. The owner was teaching a class on how to sew it, so I purchased the pattern, some fabric and this is how my mother's Elna came to sit on my kitchen table.
I was amazed at how much I was able to remember. I loved the class, and the hum of my mother's machine was calming and comforting. I went home and eventually made two more totes. I have been sewing ever since, and every time I sit at what I finally consider to be MY machine (or at least both of ours) I feel close to my mother. And I love it.
Now that I am trying more and more patterns, I realized I should be documenting what I'm making, so I can at least keep track. This blog, barely touched since it began a LONG time ago, will hopefully serve that purpose. So my first sewing post contains a picture of the bags that started it all.
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