FINISHED!!

I am SO incredibly proud of myself! As I've grown older I have a fondness for homemade goods. My first attempt at doing something crafty was having my mother teach me to do counted cross-stitch. Minutes, hours, weeks, months, and years, my mom poured her heart out into beautifully hand made Christmas stockings. Something that I'll have for always and something that I wanted to do for my children (I have 3 started, none finished :-/ that is a goal to be finished for this year) Then, for Christmas one year she gave me a quilt that she had in the works for quite some time. At one of the most difficult points in her life, that is the craft she chose to keep herself calm and her mind at rest. With this quilt came the best note with it- I swear it makes me bawl every single time I reread it. In giving me a wonderful quilt made with her own two hands, she realized that not only would it keep me warm and keep her with me in my most trying times, but would also eventually be wrapped around her grandchildren and hopefully their children and so on for many years to come. Because of that quilt, my mother's memory will live on long after her. In my note, she told me to wrap this quilt around my children and my grandchildren and to tell them that their grandma is hugging them, holding them close to her. 

Well, I can't quilt- not yet at least. ;-) However, I wanted to teach myself to knit. So a year and a half ago my mother-in-law got me the starter materials needed to get me going. I started off with simple dish rags, that are now my most favorite to use in my kitchen, then evolved to making hats, and now on to toys. Toys for my children. Toys that I'm hoping are well loved and well played with. Toys that look like they've been through thick and thin in the adventures and imaginative land that my children play in. Part of why I'm so proud, is that this is my very first toy I've made for one of my kiddies. The embroidery details aren't perfect by any imagination, but the charmingly imperfect details give it that homemade made-with-all-my-motherly-love that I put in that funny bunny. To watch my sweet Caroline's chunky toddler hands holding it tightly and lovingly totting it around couldn't bring my heart more warmth. I hope that in the coming weeks, months, years that I can create something for each of my children that they too will hold near and dear to their hearts. Something that they can show, play, use, with their children and grandchildren, that my memory will love on much longer than I'll wander on this earth. That, my friends, is a life well lived. To all my mama's out there.... here is to our memory living on through homemade goodies!

If you'd like to create this incredible toy run on out to your local bookstore or jump on Amazon and purchase itty-bitty toys by Susan B. Anderson! You can also friend her on Facebook! She creates incredible things and I plan to make just about all of them. :-) 

Cheers~

Amber