If I Could Sew With…
If I could sew with my mom. I miss her terribly. It will be six years ago in January and in many ways, it still feels like yesterday. Last year I couldn't bring myself to put up the tree. It was December five years ago that I lost my dad. Whew, um, let me restart.
Mom's Choice
My mom and I had started working on a quilt together. It is a blue work quilt. She picked the project when we were on vacation in New Hampshire several years earlier. We stopped at Keepsake Quilting in Center Harbor. Mom found this kit of embroidery blocks. I think there were two sets of blocks. I thought she would want to do them in red work. Red was her favorite color, so it surprised me when she picked colonial blue.
I think it was this gorgeous blue floral print that she fell in love with that inspired her to go with blue. "Can we use this for the back?," she asked as she clutched the bolt to her chest as if it might vanish into thin air if she let go.
The bolt may have been a few years old. It was in the sale stack and I had a hard time finding other fabrics to go with it. That was my part. Figuring out a layout and finding fabrics for it.
Mom's Embroidery
My mom hand embroidered the flower blocks. I decided on a block called Five Patch for alternate blocks. There are two embroidery blocks missing, I think. I don’t really know. Mom never told me how many she was making. It was apparent when I started laying out the blocks that the numbers didn't quite work. So, I added two blank blocks. Maybe I'll stitch shadow flowers in those blocks when I quilt it. We'll see.
Finishing
I have the top finished and it's all ready for quilting. I'm just not ready; not yet anyway. It's the quilt I've set aside to mount on the long arm and quilt in January. At least, I think I'll be ready then. Just as she loved that first quilt, I made all those years ago, I have a feeling this will be the quilt I will lay under and feel surrounded by her love.
How would you answer the question, If I could sew with…?