For all of our friends who have followed Sophie's adoption story from China,
I thought you'd like to know that today was the 10 year anniversary of
her Gotcha Day! In case you are not familiar with the term Gotcha Day –
it is the day the adopted baby is first placed into the arms of the
adopting family.
How is it possible that it's been 10 years?!?
Last week Sophie and I were in Ohio filming 4 segments for Quilting Arts TV.
This will be Sophie's 4th and 5th appearances…airing later this year.
You can see clips of her first three appearances on our video page.
My favorite is her first – she was 7 years old and sewed on her Bernina on camera with Pokey Bolton the host of QA TV.
For our local quilter friends, I wanted to let you know that the
(mostly) tax-deductible tickets to my Longmont fundraiser event May 5,
are available online now.
This is to help raise money for the Longmont Historical Society to maintain the Victorian estate of the Hover Home.
Costumed docents will serve tea and cookies on the patio at the reception afterwards.
A lovely time will be had by all! *smile*
Today my mom and I had lunch with an old friend of the family who is
celebrating her 97th birthday.
In fact we met Eleanor over 40 years ago when we moved to Longmont from
Hermosa Beach, and my mom got involved with the Historical Society.
Eleanor is an amazing woman who has been a mentor to both my mom and I,
since I was a girl.
She was a CU Boulder graduate in the 30's, and was involved with the
education board for decades.
Eleanor is now an avid bridge player, and she is now working on reaching her Silver Life Master level.
(She reached Life Master at 90, and is currently a Bronze Life Master!) That seems quite exceptional for a 97 year old.
Today we talked about sewing and needlework, and she confessed to me
that she was terrible at handwork.
However, she did sew all her own clothes as a young woman, and then
sewed all her kids' clothes! I said it sounded like she was a whiz at
handwork! Who cares about imperfect buttonholes from 60 years ago?
It is great to have a mentor who still has passion and lofty goals when she is tipping towards being a centenarian.
Her competitive spirit and devotion to education and justice, is an inspiration for my own future.
Do you have an amazing mentor who continues to inspire?
Are you "Paying it Forward" as a mentor, because you were once inspired by your own mentor?
Congratulations to Sophie and you, both!
My older son will be 10 in a few days too.
I feel a lot of envy: I have two boys and always wanted a girl, but I am almost 50, so…I feel a little bit older to rise up a little kid again.
I never thought of “Paying it forward”: I love the idea!!
And so will do my mentor, an 87 years old woman who teached me to sew…
Your daughter Sophie is amazing! So poised and intelligent, love hearing all your stories.
I feel it is important to pay it forward. With life getting more and more hectic, people are spending less time with people and more time with things (computers, cell phones, … ), and people moving and being more global… and there is something that is so magical and wonderful when you look back and realize that you spent time with a mentor, and maybe didn’t realize it at the time, but can now see how that person helped you grow and how you were inspired.
I find that you may have many mentors, many for just a short time, and you are really lucky to find a mentor that you can maintain a relationship with for many years. You always have something else to do, someplace else to go, and then you realize your mentors become older, more frail, and they pass on all too quickly. I recall being at the funeral of one of my mentors and sitting next to another mentor – they joked that they wanted their jazz records played at their funeral. Sadly, less than 6 months later I was attending their funeral – and I never realized either one was so near the end of their mentoring life.
When I “returned” to the sewing world after 20+ years, everything had changed, and I was so far behind the curve. The first class I signed up for was with Lorraine Torrance. When I discovered you needed a portable sewing machine, I called to cancel. But Lorraine would have none of that, so she offered to loan me her Bernina 1230, and I took the class. I haven’t looked back (and am on my second Bernina!). This month, for the first time, I am showing a wearable in my guild’s show. I have taken many classes from Lorraine, and she is one of the most creative and sharing teachers I know. I am quite experienced at “needle arts” and have started paying it forward by helping some friends with their needlework. Sometimes, it just takes some companionship to get someone back to stitching. PS Love your newsletter from eQuilter.
How is it possible that ten years have passed since Sophie came into your life? Amazing!
My quilting mentor was Edith York. She was an RN who worked on the night shift in Labor & Delivery, where I was an RN on the evening shift. Edith came in early to sit and work on her quilt(s). She had young children at home at the time and I think this was her opportunity to do some focused quilting. I expressed an interest and she took me under her wing and mentored me. We drove from Topeka, where I lived at the time, to Overbrook KS to the Osage County Quilt Factory, owned by Virginia Robertson. Virginia was my first quilt teacher.
Edith really inspired me, encouraging me to continue quilting even when life became very hectic raising children and working full time in the clinical setting. She passed away two years ago, but I was able to have her husband read a note to her that I sent, via email now that I live so far away, telling her how much she meant to me and how, by taking time to encourage me, she changed my life for the better: I now have quilting and all it gives me!
I have an older quilter friend who has been my mentor (very graciously, too). She’s taught me all kinds of things including paper piecing and fabric handling/cutting tips, for example. There is no comparison between watching an instructional YouTube video and going over to a friend’s house, where you enter her sewing “sanctuary” and she teaches you. No comparison whatsoever. I consider her sewing studio a sacred space and by extension, now mine is as well. Such a precious gift and yes, it’s important to pay it forward.