My Grandmothers leave me in awe. Both of them raised families during the Depression. Both were farm wives—women whose days started early and ended late. Both helped work the farm. Both grew expansive gardens, preserving the produce at harvest. Both cooked from scratch to feed hungry families. And yet both found time and energy to make beautiful things!

These women were experts in the art of making do with what was on hand to create lovely accents for their homes and their families. My mother tells a story of her Grandmother seeing a doily in a store window, studying it, then going home and making one just like it for herself. Growing up, I just assumed that everyone’s Grandma did what mine did. Some did; some didn’t. Both Grandmas crocheted and knit. One also beaded, quilted, sewed as well — and she wove rag rugs.

I bring them up because I really appreciate that they exposed my parents, and then me, to the joy of working with my hands and that I can try to make something beautiful too.