The other day I was going through some of my mother's old crafting supplies. I came across half-finished projects that were older than me, templates for favorite Christmas decorations that she'd made, and even the poodle she made for the poodle skirt I wore to a sock hop dance in junior high (the skirt was long gone, but she'd cut out the circle of felt around the poodle).
My mother passed away almost a year and a half ago. She was my best friend, and I take after her in many ways. My love of crafts is one of them. I used to talk with her about ideas I'd have for selling handmade things, and she smiled, nodded, encouraged me - but didn't give me a hard time for not following through. One year she gave me a book for Christmas: How to Sell What You Make. I still have it.
I think making things brings me closer to her. For Christmas I made some stuffed toys, one of them for a nephew. I felt I was channeling my mom. I knew she'd always longed to be able to knit things for her three grandsons.
Unfortunately she lost the ability to knit after her stroke years ago. First it was her difficulty with numbers and counting. In later years as her dementia progressed, it broke my heart to see that she couldn't knit a basic stitch anymore. I'd tried to have a regular knitting night with my mom, where I helped her to start on a simple hat for one of her grandsons and I would do the counting for her, but it ended up being the end of knitting for her. Although I think it just made her happy to hold the needles and yarn in her hands and watch me knit while we talked.
It's nice to see the variety of things she made, like knitting, sewing, painting, ornament making... I am my mother's daughter.
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