Legacy: Grandma's blanket
I came across this at my mom's house: one of (maternal) grandma's handmade blankets. This must have been made in 2004ish or so. It's going on 22 years. Grandma was an avid seamstress and some of my happiest childhood memories are of her at the sewing machine. She made her own dresses and made most of her grandkids' jumpers (matching and coordinating) until we were like 5.
As much as she loved to sew and did it well, she wasn't known for her attention to detail or highly polished finished products, like the hand stitching around this part of the blanket.
But it was those imperfections that made her work unique, very personal and very "her". I will treasure and appreciate this great find now in a way I never could have before. And I'm inspired more than ever to learn how to sew.
I also remember her shopping at the old TG&Y for patterns and notions and carrying her sewing around with her everywhere she went. I just found these old TG&Y photos online and I was instantly 10 again. I remember these items floating around the house like it was last week.
Grandma was also infamous for losing needles all over the house. Most of the time they ended up in the carpet which made for fun surprises when walking around barefoot. And she was always asking her grandkids to thread the sewing machine needle because her eyesight was getting dimmer.
When I think about the things that matter in life, I really wish I would have spent my teens and 20s learning how to sew and knit instead of trying to learn algebra. I think from my generation forward, practical, hands on life skills started going to the wayside by society as a whole, and so much emphasis was placed on intellectual and academic skills over practical, hands-on skills. Knowing what I know now, I would have taken it upon myself to learn how to sew and knit when I was younger.
I miss her.
She passed away in 2007 at the age of 97.
Of the many wonderful things I could say about her, and probably will in a later post, a love of sewing is one of the legacies she leaves behind and one that just now I am fully able to love, appreciate and hope to carry on in my own life.
More about grandma’s legacy here.
