Where to begin?...Growing up for me was honestly like something out of a storybook or better yet, like all the good parts of “Pleasantville”. We lived in an adorable little Cape-cod in the very same neighborhood that my parents grew up in. It was one of those places with the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker and even a corner grocery store and an ice cream parlor. Everyone knew each other and it was incredibly safe...nothing bad ever happened there. My friends were the children of my parents childhood friends and we all grew up together. Playing hopscotch, having lemonade stands and playing with our dolls. or in my case, my stuffed animals.
My Grandparents lived only a few houses away from us and I was always at their house and up in their attic looking for treasures. The attic was a wonderland of fabrics, laces, trims and so much more. My grandmother had saved everything and even had bits and pieces of some of my mom’s prom dresses that she had made, scraps of fabrics from her own girlhood sewing projects and when we were up there together she would tell me all kinds of sewing stories...and I loved it!
My mom and grandma were always sewing up beautiful new clothes for me and getting me all dressed up to go into town on the city bus for tea or luncheons. I vividly remember those wonderful days of the three of us spending time together. A lot of that time was spent in fabric shops picking out fabrics, and trims, laces and buttons. Oh, to have those kind of shops again would be just wonderful. I even remember the smell of those old shops and it conjures the best memories.
Once I was in school, my favorite subject was...Home Ec. no big surprise there! Of course because I had learned to sew at such a young age I was a bit of an over-achiever during the times when our teacher was teaching sewing. Most of the kids would make a pillow or maybe an apron...me on the other hand would return to class the following week with an entire quilt. My love for sewing and creating continued to develop I was always creating something. Sewing costumes for school plays or creating elaborate designs for Halloween. I even started designing my own clothes and perfecting my own personal style. The years passed but my sewing was always there.
