Blankets, Bibs, and Burp Cloths

We are expecting another baby in our family. Peaches and The Producer are due in June, and Babe has already named the babe Junebug so we don’t have to refer to it as … IT.

But Peaches’ doctor has recently informed us that Junebug will make his or her appearance 3 weeks early … in May.

Now what name? Mayflower? Maybelle? Maybelline? Mayberry? Nope. Junebug will remain.

In light of this impending birth I have been busy sewing for Junebug. I’m praying for him or her with every stitch. Thank heavens I finished the quilt before the doctor made her pronouncement or I’d be in a panic right now.

Some people look at me weird when I mention that I am sewing for baby. Why sew bibs when you can buy them? And there are such cute ones out there nowadays. I have to say, it has nothing to do with saving money. Have you seen the price of fabric these days??

For one thing, the bibs I make – though maybe not as cute as the bought ones – are the BEST at absorption. Babies are drooly, don’t you know. But that’s not the main reason I’m sewing for baby.

For me, it has to do with love.

Love for my daughter. Love for my grandchild. Love for my Mom, who taught me to sew.

I also love to sew. I am not an accomplished seamstress, but I must love it because nobody in their right mind would continue to sew in the shadow of my mother – a brilliant seamstress, quilter, knitter, crocheter – unless they loved it.

I got my love for sewing from my Mom, who got it from her Mom. I guess you could say it’s a family tradition. It’s also a family tradition to use that love of sewing to clothe and bless your children and grandchildren.

Mom sewed for me as I grew up. Then she sewed blankets and burp cloths while I was expecting. Later, she sewed outfits for my kids, and now she is sewing for my grandchildren – her great grandchildren. She taught me to sew. She taught my daughters to sew.

Little does she know, unless she is reading this, that I still live for her well done.

The fact is, my sewing is not always well done. This most recent baby quilt, for example, has some mistakes that I wouldn’t have made had I been more accomplished. But to be accomplished one has to spend hours and hours and hours of learning and practice, which I haven’t done and Mom has. Maybe someday I’ll be as good as she is, but I doubt it, because by the time she was my age she was much further along in her sewing accomplishment than I am now.

Still, I sew with the little expertise I have and hope that the love will show through. Meanwhile I’ll learn and grow with each project I work on.

And the family tradition of blessing new babies with bibs, blankets, and burp cloths will live on as I work on them, every stitch swathed in love and prayer.

Thanks Mom.