MY MOTHER’S BLOUSES AND AND HER MEMORY

WRITTEN BY GAIL THOMPSON

My mother who lives in Hawaii passed away on August 2022 at the age of 95. I visited her three weeks before she died and I am grateful for every minute we had together. Of course, if was difficult for all of us when we lost our mother. We began cleaning my parent’s home soon after the funeral because we planned to sell it. I was cleaning her closet when I noticed many lovely Hawaiian fabric blouses. These blouses were the same style and the size was small. Unfortunately, nobody in my family fit that size. My sister, Norene had a wonderful idea. She asked if I would use the fabric to sew my relatives a pillow. Of course, I said yes and brought them home with me to New Jersey.

In the beginning it was difficult for me to sew the pillows because I was touching fabric that my mother wore, but later it got easier. The pillows I sewed were 14-inch size and were beautiful because Hawaiian fabric has vibrant colors and designs. I sewed a button from the blouses at each of the four corners. Everyone was joyful that they owned a pillow that was from my mother.

MY MOTHER’S & GRANDMOTER’S CROCHETS

AND THEIR MEMORY

I was cleaning another closet and saw a bin filled with crochets that I knew my mother could not have sewn by herself because there were too many. I decided that some of them were sewn by her and others by my grandmother. I owned several crochets which I placed on tables in my home. Various relatives took a few but there were still many crochets left in the bin. We did not know what to do with them so I decided to have them mailed to me. I gave one to every person that I cared about and explained who made them. They appreciated this very much and some told me that they remembered seeing a relative sewing them but they did not own any.

I made pillows for my siblings. They turned out beautiful. If you know how to sew pillows this is an easy project. Cut the pillow front the appropriate size for your crochet. Pin the crochet and hand sew it using small stitches and be sure to sew completely around it. Do stitches in the middle area and around the end. If you think it is not securely sewn to the fabric add more stitches. Now you can sew the back side to the front and you’re done. Be aware that this pillow can never be washed.

I hope that my information will help someone who has lost a loved one. If you have clothing that can be used as fabric I suggest that you or someone else to do this. I see my mother’s pillows every day and it makes me happy not sad. I wish you and yours the best that life has to offer.