I wasn’t even sure this blog would pull up, much less that I might be able to actually type a post!! I was wondering if I would have to go to substack and somewhat reinvent the wheel - but what a treat - no reinventing or starting over here at least not on the blog. It’s kind of funny starting over or restarting something is actually what led me here today and I promise to get to that in this post. If you have ever read my blog or anything I have ever posted you must know I am full of run on sentences, random thoughts in the middle and messy writing - so welcome (to my mind ha ha) or welcome back and buckle up and I’m sorry - you don’t have to keep reading. LOL I really am doing this just for me - but if you want to read along the invitation is open. I have been wanting to write for some time, maybe get in a habit of writing on a somewhat routine basis. I even considered bringing Friday Faves back to the gram - but for who and really for what purpose- I am only speaking to myself here and the inner struggle I feel over social media. I even had the thought - I think it was last week to just write up my Friday faves in my notes app on my phone and just have it for myself. I like being able to go back and look at what I was loving. Yesterday I remembered I have a blog - albeit one that I have not written on since December of 2019 now that I am on here and see… and I don’t know if people even read these things anymore - but here it is a platform that still exists maybe just waiting for me to show back up to restart….
I haven’t the slightest idea what to title this post but if you are reading this far I will have either come up with something while I am writing or it will remain unnamed. So besides Friday faves being a reason I wanted to pop back in, I also wanted to write about a sewing machine and my grandmothers - but in particular my Mimi. And then when I thought about wanting to journal all those thoughts - I thought hey .. what if you just tried to write for 30 minutes on whatever day that works best on that blog you once had - who knows maybe it will take that long to write up some Friday faves - but I LOVE a good goal and even more than a goal I LOVE to check the box when that goal has been met. So starting today I want to write one day a week at least through the month of September. I am chuckling inside because I have recently been on a kick telling myself - just concentrate on today - the present - what can you do today - stop worrying about doing it for the week, the month, etc. And here’s the thing, I do think that is totally valid - biblical even - but I also think its a both and - I can concentrate on some things just being in the today and I can set other goals for the week or the month etc. I do love a good BOTH AND. I feel like my epitaph should say she loved a good both and except when it came to Jesus - she just loved Jesus. I digress.. see random thoughts.
Okay - back to the sewing machine and grandmothers. At this moment it’s taking some full on restraint not to pause this at least 30 minute writing session and scroll this blog because I am feeling pretty confident that there are pictures on here of my OG sewing machine and probably my little crafty creations! Once I am done writing I will investigate and if I find I will possibly attach photos. My original sewing machine came from my Nana (my maternal grandmother). It was a beast in all the ways good and bad lol. I only say bad because it was insanely heavy and housed in a desk so to speak. So it was not portable at all. The brand was Kenmore and boy did love that thing after my friend Angie taught me how to use it - I was a lean mean sewing machine of a human - I made all kinds of things including my kids Christmas pajamas - which could be another whole post in itself with an ode to my old neighbors. I have so much to say not that that is a surprise to anyone! But back to the story at hand - it was a fabulous machine. I mean in reality they just don’t even make them like that anymore - she was pure metal none of that plastic business going on that we have today. That machine along with my grandmothers probably gave me the love I have for crafting which is still going strong today as I LOVE a good craft. So fast forward a bit to where I decide I not only do I want to sew but I want to learn embroidery - enter my Mimi (my paternal grandmother) she helped me buy my first very own brand new embroidery/sewing machine - a Singer Futura. I mainly used it to machine embroider until my sturdy Kenmore bit the dust and then it became my two for one. And boy did I embroider and sew - I mean after all I am a southern girl - you know everything had to have a monogram LOL. I did birthday shirts for the kids, gifts for friends, beach towels - I embroidered and sewed my little heart out until one day I didn’t. For whatever reason I hit a very long season where I didn’t embroider much less sew a thing unless it was a button and even then I was doing it by hand. Looking back I can’t say there was one thing that just threw me off the sewing wagon - because it was probably just life in general.
But here we are today and I am back in my crafting era (and not just with sewing)! As for the sewing part I got here in part thanks to my friend Calla’s daughter Virginia - she was offering a class on hand stitching and well my interest was piqued. So of course I took it and of course I loved it and well I am climbing back up on the sewing wagon. I have hand stitched a plethora of things and just recently my sweet friend Pam sent me a needlepoint kit so I can try my hand at that type of stitching. I think I should note that I have tried the cross stitching route - this was actually one of my mom’s favorite past times but I just could not get into it - sorry mom. Well all this hand stitching got me itching to pull out my singer sewing/embroidery machine. My embroidery days are over for now but I was wanting to sew a few projects so up to the attic I went. I dusted off the Singer Futura to see if maybe I could get her going again (she had previously had to have some repair work many moons ago - but I was hopeful). Unfortunately hopeful wasn’t cutting it this time. I found myself wanting to pick up the phone to call my Mimi and ask if I could borrow her machine and what kind was it because I don’t want an embroidery machine anymore - just something to do some basic sewing projects. What brand should I get? I just wanted her to tell me all the things. I think deep down I probably just really wanted to talk to her. I will say for any inquiring minds the kind store associate at Micheals told me I should get a Brother sewing machine. Apparently Singer just isn’t what it used to be - too much plastic. It just so happens that on a recent trip to Walmart I had been looking at sewing machines and they happened to have a very affordable basic Brother sewing machine. So yesterday I marched myself right to that Walmart and bought a new basic brother sewing machine complete with a cute little heart on it. I added a pack of Yoo-Hoo to my cart remembered my Mimi fondly and called it a day. Yoo-Hoo is one of those things that makes me think of my Mimi along with the sewing and a good game of Yahtzee or Uno ☺️. Who knows maybe now I will go back to that attic and get all those Holly Hobby quilting squares she had given me from my Gramma (my Mimi’s mother) and finish that quilt. My kids will really think I have hit the olden age phase - they can’t get over that I hand stitch and they are horrified I bought a sewing machine LOL never mind that I actually used to sew them clothes!! Anyway that quilt project honestly sounds like a next year project goal - but hey at least all of this reminiscing reminded me that I have them!
I don’t really know how to neatly tie this post up - or that I even need to - or do I have to?? I just wanted to write all this down just because it was all in my head. I love thinking that each of my grandmothers and my great grandmother passed something down to me that has stood the test of time. Hand curated gifts can’t be beat in my opinion that is. I hope my friends will look at a tea towel I stitched for them and think of how much I love them or prayed over them as I worked on it. In a lot of ways I think stitching (by hand or machine) is a gift - first it’s a gift from the Lord - because all things just are! Second it’s a gift my grandmothers passed down to me whether they knew it or not. It requires time, thought, focus, and slowing down and in the world we live in today those are definitely gifts! And lets face it I LOVE a good gift 😉
Speaking of loving things I feel like its entirely appropriate with it being Friday and all that I share a few things I am loving right now!
- Diet Coke - i know this bad sugar is not good for me but it tastes so good right now
- Proverbs: Wisdom That Works by Raymond Ortlund - put this book on your TBR! The chapters are short and you could read one a day and be finished in no time.
- KIND Frozen Bars: Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate - y’all just take my word for it these are delicious.
