Stitches in Time

When you think of memories, what comes to mind?  For me, I think about my childhood.  I have so many wonderful memories of growing up in the country, on a dirt road, and fun neighbors. 

In the summer, we rode our bikes, swam, made forts in the woods, waved to the trains that ran behind our house, picked flowers, fruit and vegetables, played in the creek.  One family of five, had three boys, all older than us, that taught us how to play sports - baseball, basketball, football. They also helped fix our bikes and kept our tires pumped up.

In the winter, we played in the snow making forts in the deep ditches, ice skated all day and went sledding on the small hill by our neighbors’ barn.

I have fond memories of those kids I grew up with.  Some were older than me, some were younger but we had a nice neighborhood family. 

I also think of the vacations my mom took us on. Touring New York State, Hershey Park and lots of camping.  Special times playing cards when it rained, staying up late to look at the stars and catch fireflies, getting up early to see wildlife and eat breakfast cooked over the campfire.

And more memories of times spent at my grandparents’ farm with my cousins, aunts and uncles and well as my grandparents.

I can only hope my children will think of their childhood when they are asked about memories.  I know the world they are being raised in is so very different from the time I grew up in.  Good or bad, I hope they look back on their life and smile as the memories warm their hearts. 

We spend a lot of time with our children.  They are our investment.  They need to know they are loved all the time, that they have a safe place to be themselves and express their beliefs, and a home that will always be there for them. 

Parenting is hard.  I know I doubt myself about handling situations, discussing difficult topics, listening without voicing my opinion, questioning if we shelter them too much, and so many other things. 

We spend time with them and we teach them.  That is where I see a difference with some other families.  We don’t shower our kids with gifts and tech toys.  We have expectations and they understand that.  Both our children are thoughtful, intelligent, witty, helpful and leaders in their own way.  Yet they are so different from each other in so many way.  We are proud parents.

So back to memories….the boys do special things together and we girls have started venturing outside the kitchen. Last year we took course one of the Wilton cake decorating class.  We enjoyed it and our decorating skills have improved. Olivia has decorated several cakes since the class.  We need to take the second course and planned to last year but the timing of the class coincided with the end of the school year and finals. 

Recently, we took a basic sewing class.  Ah, it was fun!   We attended three 2-hour classes and sewed three projects: a tote bag, an apron and a small zippered bag.  It was a small class of 4 and Olivia enjoyed it. She missed one class due to a school trip to Atlanta, GA but she managed to sew all three items in the two classes she attended. We were not thrilled with the fabric choices we had for each project but we did the best we could matching up what we had to work with.

Here are our three projects:

And are we sewing at home?  We have each picked out a pattern and Olivia has fabric for our first home sewing project. Olivia plans to sew some clothing and I will try to make an item or two with her.  The projects will be a way for us to spend more time together (yes) and continue learning about sewing and developing our skills.

We might not sew a lot in the next few years or we might go crazy sewing, hopefully the sewing we do, will create more than articles of clothing. I’m hoping a memory or two get tucked away that will bring a smile or laugh to her later in life. I'm just looking forward to spending time with Olivia and anxious to see what she creates!