Paying It Forward

Sewing is a way of life in my family. My mom's mom sewed. A lot! She had a guest bedroom that she turned into a sewing room and it reached the point that you could no longer tell there was a bed in there under all that fabric.  She was a woman after my own heart.  

My mom sewed too.  She made drapes for the house and clothes for me.  I remember going to sleep at night to the hum of her sewing machine and waking up in the morning to find a new dress hanging on my closet door to wear to school that day. Those were the wonderful days of innocent childhood where I had no idea how many hours my mom had put into that dress!

When I was 14 I took home ec in junior high school.  We cooked, learned how to be better baby sitters, and we sewed.  I was in heaven.  My mom had already started teaching me to sew at home, so I was thrilled to have even more time to create at school.  By the time I was in high school I was proficient enough to make most of my own clothes.  I was even teaching some of my friends to sew. I was hooked!

When my children were small I continued to sew.  I made dresses for my daughters, curtains for our homes, and lots of craft items.  Once my children were grown my sewing interests changed and quilting became my focus.  

Both of my daughters sew.  I taught them some basics when they were living at home, but they have taken that and run with it.  Both of them dream up new ideas, create their own patterns and dive right in to make whatever strikes their fancy.  And then they blog about it!  You can see my daughters' projects here and here. Such talented ladies!

Fast forward many years and now I have granddaughters.  I decided that since I live nearby it would be fun to pass my love of quilting on to them.  Katelyn is the oldest and so she was the first to sew.  I even bought a "Hello Kitty" sewing machine for the girls to learn on.  

Here is Katelyn, age 4, in 2007

Recently Sofia (granddaughter #4) has taken an interest in sewing. So, after sitting her in my lap for a bit of sewing on my machine, we decided it was time for Hello Kitty to make an appearance again.  

My daughter even blogged about Sofia making this little quilt. Here is the link to Sofia, age 3 1/2 making a quilt for her Curious George.

I know that my granddaughters will continue to sew as they grow. They are surround by their mothers' creativity at home and they love to be in my quilt room when they visit our home, too.  Someday I bet they have sewing machines of their own and will be teaching their own daughters to sew.