Do you have the Perfect Mother's Day Gift?

Striving for the perfect Gift

If you are like me, you strive to find the perfect gift for family and friends.  Plotting and planning a gift is so rewarding for you as the giver and for the gift receiver.  A gift for my mom on Mother's Day is no different, but to think of a gift idea for her can be difficult.  She always tells me that she doesn't need anything.  But you know how it is, she's your mother and you want to let her know how much you love and appreciate her. So you need to plan and find the perfect gift.

Last Year’s Gift

Last year I finally came up with the perfect gift for my mom. It was right under my nose and I didn't see it. I'm in the business of helping people save their clothing memories in t shirt quilts and memory pillows. It's funny I never thought about doing the very thing I do for a living for my own Mom; make her a memory pillow.

Making a Move

Moving forces you to deal with boxes of stuff you have been storing for years. Almost 3 years ago I came across a box of old linens that my mom had given to me.  I decided to put it in the donate pile.  After all, I had the box for years and had never done anything with it. What would change that now? It needed to go. I was determined to purge my house of things that I didn't need or use.  But on the day we were bringing items away for donation, I grabbed the box and put it in my sewing room.  At the time, I didn't know why, but I could not give the box away.

The moving process has also been the trigger for many of my customers to finally take boxes of saved items and find someone to make a memory quilt for them.   They become tired of moving old boxes and finally take action to do something before they get frustrated and just throw old memories away.

Hidden Treasures in my box

In my box were the perfect things for making a memory pillow for my mom. Things that I knew she would appreciate. There were old aprons of my Grandma Van Wyk, and Grandma Greving and old pillow cases with hand crotched edges from both of my grandmothers. The aprons made me remember some of my favorite foods that my Grandma Van Wyk would make, like German chocolate cake, root beer floats and a fruit salad she would always bring to family gatherings.

There was a handkerchief I had given to my mom on Mother's Day when I was a little girl that said "Mother" on it. In fact, I remembered feeling very grown up as I walked to the “mom and pop” grocery store in the small Iowa town I grew up in to buy the handkerchief for my mom as a Mother's Day gift. Who knew I would be re gifting this handkerchief so many years later.  Once I started to really look at the old linens I knew why I could not part with them.  These linens were a part of my family history and held many fun memories in them.

The pillow comes together

At first I had a hard time cutting into the items, but then I remembered they had been in a box for years and no one saw them.  If I cut them up and pieced them back together into a pillow, they would be on display and looked at every day.  The memories would be seen not hidden. Funny, this is what I tell my customers: "Re tell your story" in a memory quilt or pillow.  No one can see or enjoy your memories when they are stored in a box.

The process of piecing the memories of my grandmas’ aprons and pillowcases together for my mom was very nostalgic for me.  The memory pillow was a big hit with my Mom. She remembered the items used in the pillow and I received great joy in creating it for her.  I reached my goal in striving for the perfect Mother’s Day gift for my mom and in the process had fun remembering things about my grandmothers and my childhood.

Enjoy remembering and celebrating your Mother this year on Mother’s Day!

Julie

Re tell your family story in a memory pillow

Do you have boxes of clothing that you are tired of moving?  The memories in our clothing never fades away. Maybe it’s time to have a memory pillow or quilt created for someone in your family?

Tell me about the "perfect gift" you gave to someone in your family and the joy you received in giving it in the comments below.