Last spring a woman approached me about making three quilts from her beloved father's clothes. I cut and pieced for a few months, checking and rechecking her preferences about size and details. I am always nervous doing a commission, and even more so when the materials are irreplaceable. She asked for the labels from his favorite shirts to be included, and combined stretchy t-shirts with woven cotton. For fun I included a few pockets and buttons. 

When she came to pick them up I held my breath. Would she cry? Would she smile? It turned out she was very pleased. 

In fact she brought clothes back a month later and asked for another. Surely this must confirm that they were to her liking. I went back to chopping and sewing, with the added twist of having his ties as spokes of a wheel on the back. I had never incorporated accessories before, but it worked. 

This week she wrote again, and described what she is hoping for to give as Christmas gifts. We will chat in person about it soon.

It seems that she knows what I am capable of, and wants me to keep doing it. While I am not the most expert seamstress in town, I am willing. 

Being a wife and mother has its struggles. There is a list as long as my arm of ways I have crossed boundaries with my husband and adult kids, and underestimated their choices. When they were little I lost my temper, and got feisty with their squabbles. 

And yet.

I kept waking up with the same foibles, and tried again with God's most irreplaceable children. Sometimes I held my breath, wondering if I had said the right thing, or more often, resisted saying the wrong one. 

He knows I am not the most magnanimous woman in town. But I am willing.