When our Dad passed in January, we asked someone to make bears out of some of his favorite clothing. Pieces that we all remembered and recognized – especially for the younger ones who could also remember him wearing them. The bears came out beautiful and all of the family has them.

We had a lot of fabric left and decided to make ornaments – hearts – out of some of the other fabrics as well as pieces left over from the bears. We wanted to make them ourselves. Last Wednesday I went with my sisters Traci and Kim and in a few minutes, our friend Michelle showed us how to use the sewing machines and we worked on a few and planned to come back the following Wednesday.

In the meantime, I opened a sewing machine that my Mom (who also passed in January) gave me a couple of years ago. I had intended to learn to sew this year, but was sidetracked by all the things that happened. So, it turned out that the machine was just an earlier model of the one we had learned on. So I can use it, and in just the few minutes it took to learn how to thread the machine – I got started on one of the flannel shirts. They aren’t finished yet, because I have some special embellishments that I will be doing, but so far, they are really nice.

It just took getting started and someone to show me and then some practice. I’m sure there’s a lesson or two in that for most of us.

Last night we got together again, set up our workspace, ordered out some food and made a plan and we got to work. There was a storm raging outside that sounded like an airplane was parked in Michelle’s yard, and I was hoping the power wouldn’t go out!  As we sat there, I wondered how long it had been since we sat around a table together. We spent most of our childhood together, weekends playing games and listening to albums and roller skating. Michelle isn’t just a friend of the family, she is a sister to us. She was telling stories and reminiscing with us about our Dad because she was there for so many of our family escapades.

I thought to myself that if we lived in a different time, we would be called a sewing circle or a quilting group, this idea that women come together to tell and pass on stories, to share in joys and grieve together, to form a community who works and plays together.

We are that for our time. We have a lifetime of history together, and while she was teaching us to sew, it was as a teacher, friend, sister, and also a family member who is grieving with us.

Our crafting together preserved memories and created new ones. We learned to sew, yes. But, more importantly, we returned to something of our childhood and restored a bond. Our little sewing circle will be getting together in the new year and learning how to do more advanced sewing – reading patterns, etc.

If you are local, Michelle has sewing lessons. You can find her here on Facebook. Her website is  https://www.sewwithmichelle.com There are some great classes coming up in December and in the new year!

I will be practicing this new skill and holding on to the memories of my Mom – who sewed all the time and when we were young, made most of our clothing; and of our Dad, who would have been sitting at the table with us and telling the best stories of all.

Until next time, a friendly nudge to not wait another month until January 1st to start a new thing. Today isn’t over yet and there’s still a little more time today to start…

=)