We're halfway there!
M is for MOM.
My mom is my #1 customer and my #1 fan, even if she likes to refer to things as “wonky.” I have lost track of the number of aprons (or “clothing protectors," as she calls them), I have made for her, ranging in designs from flamingos to sports, embroidered and appliqued, personalized and more generic. Pom-poms are a must at the bottom of her aprons! It is also really neat to see the progression of my sewing skills from the first apron I ever made, which is one-sided, framed in bias tape, and now fading from use and washing, to the most recent which is two sided, embroidered, with fun trim. We’ve got the system to a science - mom asks if I could “just whip up” another apron, and then I send her to the store to pick out two different ¾ cuts of fabric, 1 package of double fold bias tape in a coordinating color for the straps, and any fun trim she wants. She usually gets me at least a yard of each fabric, so thanks, mom, for growing my stash!! It takes me about 40 minutes to make one apron, but it depends on the amount of additions she requests!
She's also recently been requesting a lot of "grandma" shirts. Being a mom is her proudest achievement; being a grandma is her favorite! She has 5 grandkids and she likes the world to know! I've made her a grandma shirt themed with flamingos, bowling, snowflakes, gnomes, bunnies, butterflies, and a flower garden!
N is for NORA.
My beautiful, creative, fun, sweet child, Nora. I love spending time with her and I love that she is a creative soul, just like her mama. She’s always been drawn to colors and loves putting things in rainbow order, or sorting them by color. When she was just a few weeks old, I made an entire t-shirt quilt with her laying in her bassinet next to me. New baby? No problem! As a baby, she also spent a bit of time in the wrap carrier while I worked, but she had to be on my back because it was too challenging to use my arms when she was on my front. When she was a little older but still not mobile, I’d bring the play mat into my room while I worked. Then, when she could move and I was afraid she would eat pins or get into other things, I brought the pack n play in! Then, we had a lull where she wasn’t happy in the pack n play but not quite big enough to be independent, so on went the baby proof handle to the door and mama only worked in evenings or while she was napping!
Recently though, I’ve been inviting her in there with me while her baby brother naps. She has an art cart that she works from while I do my own thing. Her favorite activities this summer are cutting and gluing!! She also likes to unroll my spools of thread (ACK!) and stick pins into fabric (really kind of cute how proud she is to be a “helper”). She is learning to not touch my embroidery machine while it’s running, she knows to not touch the ironing board because the iron is hot (even if it’s not, let’s just have extra precautions!), and she also likes to help me prepare things for projects. I am hoping that by including her in the process, she will learn skills and grow her passion for creating.
O is for OHIO STATE.
In our family, it is a bit of running joke about who will “win Christmas,” meaning, who will give that one, amazing present that everyone is in awe of? A few years into dating, I “won Christmas” by making and gifting my then-boyfriend a quilt based off the Ohio State football helmets. It’s a simple design and one that I eyeballed and guess-and-checked the scaling of the stripes. The piece de resistance was that I had it quilted with a script Ohio motif that I had found online. Though it is simple, it is one of my favorite quilts I have ever made! It currently lives in our son’s room, which is peppered with sports memorabilia!
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