Finished with Love

I haven't been sharing much of what I've made in this space lately, but I do have some finishes this past month that I am pretty pleased with.

My cousin had her twin baby boys 3 weeks ago at 34 weeks, which meant that they have been spending some time in the NICU before they can go home. I stitched up some baby stuff for her shower (you can check those out in this post), but nothing that would be overly helpful in the NICU. So I searched online and found this awesome free pattern for babies that are spending time in the hospital.

They are soft, and fun. The pattern is scaled to also fit bigger babies, and I can definitely imagine making these for full term babies in the future as well. 

I also really wanted to make my cousin a bag, something just for her and not just about her babies. I wanted her to be able to carry around the love and prayers that I have for her. I used a pattern from the book Sewing Stylish Handbags and Totes By Choly Knight. I'm very happy with the result, and I was delighted that my Cousin loves it, and has been using it for most of her time in the NICU. 

I grabbed a photo at the hospital yesterday when I visited. 

I picked the "styled shoulder bag" pattern from the book,since I was unsure if she would prefer a shoulder bag or a crossbody bag, and this purse can go back and forth easily. I kept it simple, and didn't customize in any of the ways she displays in the book.

As I talked about in my previous post am I thinking more and more about what my hope is with each project I make. For the smocks and the bag my hope is having tangible objects made with love, that she can carry and wrap up her babes, will help her feel love and prayers I have for her and her family in this challenging time. 

Next up for me is sewing a wedding dress!!! (WHat?!?!??!!!) Yeah. #idontknowwhatimdoing

What am I hoping for?

So, in my previous post, I talked about how the idea of hope has been on my mind.

It has been lingering still.

I sought out Emily Dickinson's well known poem, starting with the line "Hope is the thing with feathers." I decided that I profoundly disagreed with what she was saying about hope. She describes hope as this easy thing that sings and asks nothing of anyone. I feel that hope asks a great deal of me. I do not find hope to be a simple, easy thing. The poem made me feel like there was something wrong with me, since my personal experiences with hope are so different than what she presents. So still the questions remained for me.

What does hope ask of me? What is difficult about hope for me?

This song stopped me in my tracks this morning. I've heard it many time, but today it really struck me as I was cleaning up the messes of family life. I got goosebumps.


In the Night | Andrew Peterson, Buddy Greene, Jeff Taylor, Andy Gullahorn from Laity Lodge on Vimeo.

The violence that fights against hope, that he really gets across in this song, deeply resonate with me. I feel like there is a battle being fought over my ability to hope. That sometimes, hope is lost, but that it can surface in the deepest night.

Lately, as I've been making things, I've been asking myself "what is my hope for this object?" I'm hoping that more and more the answer to that question will draw me closer to the Maker that made me into the maker that I am.