Sew, a Needle Pulling Thread

When I took Home Economics in junior high, I HATED sewing! I made an elephant pillow, and it was a pain in the wazoo. It turned out not as cute

as I had hoped for. My Mom, on occassions, would try to help me sew, but would get so frustrated with my inaptitude, that she would end up doing the project herself. I consigned

myself to the fact that sewing was a skill that belonged to my Mom, Katrina & Michelle.

I had no desire to learn the frustrating trade.

As a young adult, I tried my hand at it again, making a quillow for myself, and then one for the man I hoped would someday be my husband. And he was. We married. And I don't remember why, but I was bent on buying myself a sewing machine.

When Christine & Rebekah came along, I taught myself how to sew Raggedy Ann & Andy, and "hair babies." My Mom had made me those dolls when I was a little girl, and I loved her for it!

In those early years, with little kids at home, and no car to go anywhere in, I was bored, and longed for adult conversation. I think the ladies in the ward were a little surprised when I started coming to their quilting sessions at my neighbor Jean Squire's house. Half of them were like grandmas to me, and the other half were like mothers. I was the only young one there, toting along my little girls. I didn't get much done, mostly held my girls, and listened to the adult conversation going on around, but it filled me with a desire to be like them.

I started working on a jean square picnic quilt, but didn't get very far because Rebekah insisted on sitting on my lap and helping me sew. It wasn't very helpful, and although I could master the sewing of the squares together, I wasn't sure how to sew it all together. In Relief Society one evening, Diana Westover taught a workshop quilting basics. She gave me the understanding I needed, and I was set on fire. My neighbor Dorothy Bennett gave me some old material that she had hanging around, and I began quilting with it. I LOVED it!

Though I'm not a great quilter like Diana or my mother-in-law, Jannicke, who's beautiful quilt hung in our entry way for a long time, I quilt, and I enjoy it.

I quilted bedspreads for the kids' beds when we moved to this house, and I've made quilts to keep them warm in the winter time. I've made a quillow for each of the kids . . .

Christine, Rebekah, Joseph, James, Jonathon,

and Jalen Andrew's is still to come.

Mostly I've spent my time whittling away at the pluthera of fabric that Dorothy Bennett gave me, making quilts for kids and families around the world, who, because of natural disaster, war, or poverty need them. Those are some of my favorite quilts that I've made. Somehow, the differences of the patterns and colors, come together, and make something beautiful, and warm, and comfortable.

When Ruth Durham passed away, I inherited her collection of fabric, which was good since I had long since used up Dorothy's. I'm now whittling away at those fabrics.

Yesterday I made a couple of blankets for the Humanitarian Center, two of which were crib size. Jalen Andrew was helping me with it, you know, sitting on my lap and pushing buttons on the sewing machine, poking pins where they didn't belong, etc.

He asked me at one point, "What's that for?" I told him that we were making blankies for the babies so they wouldn't be sad, and so that they could be warm. After that, he continued to ask me, "The babies happy? The babies warm?" I would confirm that the babies will be happy and warm, and then he would add, "The babies happy going night-night in their beds. They're going home?" His words almost made me cry. I would take them all in if I could, the children of the world, who are scared, and lonely, and neglected, and cold, and in need of nurture and love, and a roof over their head with a family who loves them.

But I can't.

In fact, we decided lately, with the climate being what it is in our home right now, and the needs of one individual being so large, that we are not seeking to adopt anymore right now. I cried when we decided. I'm still crying now. I know that the Lord will open another window for us, when the time is right, but the time is not right now. So, instead of taking in all the children of the world, I'll hunker down and try to make the world a better place for one little boy, who needs us so badly, despite how hard he tries to separate himself from us.

It's a small offering, but I send these blankets out to the children I love, in hopes that they can feel a mother's love across the miles.

"Mommy, the babies happy?"

I hope so.