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Stitches

5/22/2015

1 Comment

 
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I bet you can sew.  I bet you. 

Because guess what, all sewing is is putting two pieces of cloth together with a bit of string. 

I’ve been sewing since I was a tiny girl.  My mom helped me cut out squares and I would slowly stitch together a Barbie sleeping bag. 

And I was so proud of my Barbie sleeping bag. 

Then I put some more squares together, and I made a teddy bear blanket. 

Then I put some more squares together and I made a blanket for myself!

I learned how to make something beautiful that would nurture people by slowly stitching together small pieces of material, with a little bit of string. 

When I think about sewing now, it becomes more involved, I get stressed if I didn’t measure correctly, I worry about how much time I’m able to devote to the process, and, oh God, what if my toddler finds all the pins and scissors?!

So I don’t sew very often. 

What I enjoy about sewing now, is something a bit silly. 

I love the fabric. 

Have you ever found yourself chatting with a shop owner in your favorite part of town on a sunny day and fall in love with something? 

Did you ever get happy just walking into a place because the woman behind the counter lights up when she sees you come through the door?

I have.  I hope everyone gets the chance to feel that.

Right now, I’m just a mom, trying to remember who I was when I had time to sew.  

Even through I don’t have the time to devote to all of the sewing projects that used to fill my (now non-existent) Etsy shop, I do have time to visit my local fabric store, see the patterns, new designs, and colors of the beautiful fabrics, and bring a bit of that happiness home with me. 

I love my scraps of fabric.  I love knowing I have the ability and the power to make incredibly beautiful pieces of art with my hands and imagination. 

And I love knowing that even if I am away from my local shop owner for a while, she will still light up when I walk in the door, because she understands this kind of beauty. 

She understands that the fabric of life is everyday moments and the thread is warm smiles, a touch of comfort, and an exchange of feeling. 

Real feeling. 

So I feel my fabric between my fingers, and I feel the fabric of my life, and I make stitches.

One after another after another. 

Authored by A Swift Doula
1 Comment
Celeste Kraft link
5/22/2015 07:20:36 am

I love, love, love this! My thoughts are running with this word picture...the fabric of our lives (and I'm not just talking about cotton--"Go branding!") Some fabric isn't soft or comfortable or even pretty. (In fact, I've seen some squares on quilts that-on their own-would be downright ugly.) And a patchwork quilt is anything but "orderly"! But stitched together and seen as a whole, it becomes a thing of beauty! Thanks, Ariel. I'm going to be thinking about this on my drive home (which will begin as soon as I check out a couple "bargain shacks out back")! ;-)

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