Sharing the Love

I know it is no secret that I love to sew.  Taking pieces of pretty fabric and turning them into something beautiful and useful brings me great joy. I first caught the sewing fever when I decided I wanted to make quilts.  I saved up and bought a sewing machine and Mom bought me a how to book for my birthday.  Using that book, I made my very first quilt for my son, Zachary.  I was definitely hooked on sewing after that!  The next couple of years I made quilts for all three of my kids, my husband and the rest of my family.  Venturing out to sew anything other than quilts didn't occur to me until I started looking for knee length skirts to wear on my first mission trip to the DR.  Comfortable, knee length skirts are difficult to find these days, especially when you are tall and have long legs!  Therefore, I decided to be brave and make my own skirts.  I purchased a pattern and asked mom, who had made clothes for my sisters and I as children, to come over and show me how it's done.  We spent a very pleasant afternoon together cutting, sewing and laughing and completed a skirt!  We were so proud!  I went to slip the skirt on and was shocked when it would only fit over one leg!  I was a size 8 at the time and had followed the size 8 pattern.  Heartbroken, I broke the news to Mom, who then sheepishly admitted that she forgot to mention that pattern sizes are rarely the same as store bought clothing sizes!!!!  After taking my measurements and comparing to the pattern, we discovered that according to the pattern I should have made the size 14!?! skirt!  Lesson learned!  Once I realized that I could make more than just blankets I started searching for even more ways to use this wonderful new skill.   Around the same time that I was branching out in sewing skills, I also started looking for a project to do with our Women on Mission group at church.  I came across a chemo hat pattern online and was thrilled by the idea of merging my two loves, missions and sewing.  My beautiful aunt, Laura, died from breast cancer when I was 17 years old, and I thought this would be a wonderful tribute to her, sharing the love of Christ and God's word to cancer patients through the caps.  I presented the idea to the Women on Mission group in May and they thought it would be a great project for the fall since we would not be meeting over the summer.  That July I was diagnosed with breast cancer myself, and what was suppose to be a one time sewing project blossomed into the Caps of Hope Ministry.    These days pretty much all of my sewing time is taken up in caps and that's just fine with me.  I get the occasional urge or opportunity to make something else for family and friends.  I got to make my daughter's friend's play costume and my friend's daughter's flower girl dresses.  My passion is with the caps though and I find much peace, joy and relaxation in putting together the fabrics, cutting, sewing and mailing or delivering the caps.  This morning I got to share my love of sewing with a sweet friend, teaching her what I know about making a pillowcase dress for her twin daughters.  The first thing I taught her though, was how to make a chemo cap!  The more helpers I can get the more caps we can get out there! Whether it's knowledge, quilts or caps, it feels good to share the love, all in the name of Christ!