Monday, June 20, 2011

Sewing Play Food with Mom


I just returned from 5 days of caring for my parents.
This was the project I took along to do with my mom.


My mom is 87 years old and she suffers from dementia.
She can't remember what she did ten minutes ago but
she still remembers how to sew.


Mom has made hundreds of tied quilts over many, many years.
Baby quilts, toddler quilts, lap quilts, twin to kings!
Each one hand tied and hand stitched to finish the edges.


She was also an amazing seamstress making our 
back to school clothing, holiday dresses, and later curtains, 
dust ruffles, and pillows for our homes.


I have provided her sewing machine projects and hand sewing 
projects to do together during her illness. It had been a while since we
 had sewn together and I was thrilled to see how familiar working with 
thread, needles, stitches, and knots was to her.

These simple projects gave us hours of quality time together.
I loved watching her frail hands doing something that 
she once loved to do so much.

While mom probably doesn't remember our time together
or the cute play food that we created there is nothing
that can ever take away the moments we shared
threading, stitching, knotting, cutting, and fussing over
just how cute our projects were!

I love you mom !!!!!!

10 comments:

  1. What wonderful play food you created and such a great memory, too!

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  2. I love the play food you and your mother made together, but knowing that her sewing skills were left intact is so amazing. And its wonderful that you realized they were still there waiting to give her hands something wonderful to produce. If only everyone could tap into the part of people that is lingering inside them. What a special time for you both.

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  3. My mom suffered from dementia. It's a very difficult situation for a caregiver. Filling the hours can be a challenge, because you can't really have a conversation or even watch TV together. It sounds as if you hit upon the perfect solution.

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  4. This play food is AMAZING!!! I am excited to try and make some of my own for my almost 2 yr old. I am building her a play kitchen for her birthday in Sept. and sewing her an apron and oven mitts. I have been trying to think what items I could sew for her but have been coming up blank. Thank you for the inspiration. It is wonderful to know that when someone can be so lost you can comfort them with old memories, and create new memories for yourself.

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  5. This is seriously great! You and your Mom did a fabulous job.

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  6. i love these !!! i want to make some for my daughters asap.. what kind of material / filling did you use ??thanks

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  7. They are made from felt. The variety of felt colors in amazing and it is cheap! They are stuffed with a layer of batting like you would use to make a quilt. This project was made from 100% batting scraps. Have fun.

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  8. I came to see the cute play food, but was so touched and teared up reading the story. Beautiful~

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  9. Do you have patterns for any of these ?

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  10. Enjoyed reading your story - so touching!

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