how it all started

I apologize for the repeat of this story. It was originally my profile introduction. The space allowed is a mere 1200 characters. I had to really edit and cut my story so it would fit in that spot.  However, looking at the web version of my home page,  the long introduction felt distracting from the blog posts. Looking at other blogger's introductions, I guess all that's really expected is a couple of short sentences describing myself. "I'm a needle crafter. I enjoy creating with needle and thread." And the short story that I had in that spot can be put into my Vignettes section. So here it is again.

How it all started

I am the youngest of 8 children. My only sister is 12 years older than me and we have 6 brothers between us. One of my favorite childhood memories is of my mom sitting at the sewing machine. I was about 5 or 6 years old. In the daytime my mom would set the sewing machine up at the end of the dining room table, the same spot my dad sat during dinners. I specifically remember her working on a prom dress for my sister. It was a sleek, long, dark brown halter top dress (think '70's). My sister was a beauty as well. She was slender with straight long dark hair that fell just past her waist, silky tanned skin, and a beautiful smile.  I adored her then and still adore her today. I remember my sis trying on the dress, my mom pinning for adjustments and hem. I was sure my sis was the absolute luckiest girl ever!

But then I got lucky too. Out of the leftover pieces, my mom made me a reversible bikini. (let's remember, i was only 6!) The dark brown fabric on one side and a bright orange on the other side. I loved it!!

So, I have two favorite parts about watching my mom sew... Sometimes she had to concentrate so hard, I could see the tip of her tongue out the corner of her mouth.. hahah, i bet she's not gonna appreciate me mentioning it, but it was very endearing and it's MY memory :).
The other favorite part was that I was allowed to be the Seamstress's assistant (as long as i was quiet so she could concentrate). My job was to clean up any of the scraps that fell to the floor.  Now that I think about it, she probably dropped them on purpose just to keep me busy and involved! But the best part was when my mom was finished sewing for the day and before the machine was put away, I got to sew those scrap pieces of fabric together! Of course, I wasn't making anything in particular, but I was learning how to guide the fabric through the sewing machine. And by the way, taking two small pieces of fabric and making them into a bigger piece is addicting!

I've been sewing every since. In middle school, I started sewing clothing for myself. Around the 8th grade, I expressed an interest in quilting and my mom purchased a subscription to a quilting magazine for me. My first pieced project was a pillow made out of a Sister's Choice block in christmas fabrics. I'm sure none of my points matched because I had no idea about "accurate cutting", but I was hooked.
And that's how it all started for me, all because I had an incredible mom that nurtured my nature :).