I don't sew. My mother was a seamstress. I knew I didn't have to sew...because my mother was a seamstress. She tried to teach me, but I did not have the patience or the perfection gene that it takes to do a sewing project. I am in awe of people who can make beautiful clothes and quilts. It just has not been my thing.
Because of the persistence of my mother-in-law, however, I have been able to taste the accomplishment that comes from finishing a creative task. I can definitely understand why people get the craft bug under their skin. We were called to go back to our hometown one summer for several weeks. We stayed at my in-laws and almost immediately my mother-in-law took me to the craft closet stuffed with fleece and jeans and yarn. She was bound and determine to help me make as many Christmas gifts as I could while I was there. She did tell me at one point, "Okay, I got you started on the project, you know what to do so you take that home and finish it." I had to inform her that it had to be completed while I was at her house because I know myself well enough to admit that as soon as I would walk into my own house, the project would be stuffed into the closet and there it would stay.
So I learned how to crochet a stocking and I made blankets for all the grandbabies and my sons. Then she set me on task to do something for me, a ragged jean
I spent hours cutting out squares and then hours laying the blocks out on the floor to get just the right pattern and then weeks putting it all together. My mother-in-law loves going out on the patio first thing in the morning to sit in the sun so we would take our projects out there every morning and pin them together. I would come back in the house and sew for an endless amount of time. My father-in-law would approach me and ask how many needles I had broken that particular day.
I was determined to finish that quilt. Surprisingly, there were not as many tears shed through the frustrating effort as I thought there would be...until the end. All the rows were sewed together, the backing was attached and all the ragged seams were clipped. I was told it was time to put it into the washing machine. I carried the heavy covering into the laundry room and placed it in the machine and chose the proper settings. I turned around and my mother-in-law was standing in front of me. She said, "You did it...how do you feel?" I wanted to burst into tears. I did it! I started something AND I followed through with it. I have several projects started, but I had actually finished the whole project and it was beautiful, it was warm, it was mine...and it was worth it.
I love having people in my life that push me out of my comfort zone and that encourage and teach me along the way. As much as I wanted her to at times, my mother-in-law never took the project over. She would talk me through the steps of changing the needles or piecing things together but would not do it for me. I appreciated her heart to want me to experience that feeling of a finished project! How rewarding!
