My Mother-in-Law’s Hands

By fromskilledhands ( September 29, 2007 at 8:40 pm) · Filed under Art, Craft, creativity

My mother-in-law is an amazing woman. With her hands and her heart, using size 2 needles, she has knitted 194 sets of hats and booties for premature babies. With those hands she knitted over 200 sets of hats and mittens for children who had none. With those hands.

With those hands and her heart, she has made quilts, all hand pieced and hand quilted, for us all. With those hands she has worked with the ladies of her quilt club on countless quilts.

Each year at Christmas, those hands make 100 or so cupcake-sized fruitcakes for her husband and sons. I always thought that the cakes must be an acquired taste, one, after all these years, I have still not acquired. Her hands make strudel, mince pies, apple and pumpkin pies. They make peanut butter pies for the granddaughter who loves them.

She was an English war bride, and came to this country knowing no one but the man she barely knew. They built a life here, and she sewed curtains and costumes and clothing. She knitted scarves and canned jars and jars of sauces and jellies and jams.

From her heart, through her hands, she shares her love. And with this heart, through these hands, I share mine.

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18 comments »

  1. Lisa Kenney said,

    September 30, 2007 @ 1:51 am

    Beautiful. I will gladly take those fruitcakes too! My grandmother’s parents were from England and we always had mince pies, plum puddings with hard sauce and fruitcakes, so I suppose I acquired the taste at birth :) I so admire those who can create things with their hands. People like your mother-in-law and like you!

  2. Cathy said,

    September 30, 2007 @ 5:39 pm

    So inspiring to think of such love and devotion in the context of a woman who left her country and home for love. Here’s to your mother-in-law! How super that she got a daughter-in-law who appreciates her!!

  3. fromskilledhands said,

    September 30, 2007 @ 9:22 pm

    I often think that we choose our partners, not those that come with them. How lucky I am to have a woman like my “other mom,” as she calls herself, in my life.

  4. Larramie said,

    October 1, 2007 @ 1:15 pm

    You certainly have a family of skilled hands and warm hearts, Debra. And, about those cupcake-sized fruitcakes, you need not be English to love them…I do! :)

  5. Sherry said,

    October 1, 2007 @ 2:27 pm

    What a touching post K. Your mother-in-law is an inspiration. And love certainly flows from her heart straight through to her hands.

  6. Sherry said,

    October 1, 2007 @ 2:28 pm

    I’m still exhausted from my walk yesterday and I have no idea why I put that “K” in my sentence. I’ll put it down to chemo brain and exhaustion!!! :D

  7. fromskilledhands said,

    October 1, 2007 @ 9:07 pm

    Thanks, Larramie. I’ll gladly give you MY share of those little cakes!

    Kudos to you, Sherry for doing the walk yesterday. I am so glad to see you here.
    My mother-in-law is an inspiration to me, too. Yesterday was her 85th birthday!

  8. Mary Witzl said,

    October 13, 2007 @ 5:24 pm

    Your mother-in-law’s generation of women is one that can do so much: quilting, cooking, knitting, baking, sewing, making do — you really have to admire that sort of resourcefulness. What will happen when those women are all gone; who in our generation will be able to do all those things, I wonder?

    Happy Birthday to your mother-in-law!

  9. fromskilledhands said,

    October 14, 2007 @ 7:28 pm

    Thanks, Mary. We are resourceful in other ways, I think–finding information, negotiating systems–useful skills in today’s world. I cook and bake, and have certainly made do, but I do not know how to knit and I sweat when I go near a sewing machine :-)
    The question of passing down skills is a good one. How does it happen in today’s world?

  10. Jennifer said,

    October 14, 2007 @ 8:58 pm

    Is there anyway that I could e-mail with your mother in law? I’m writing my senior thesis on War brides from ww2 and I’m having a hard time finding someone to interview. Thank you!!

  11. Mary Witzl said,

    October 15, 2007 @ 5:42 pm

    Jennifer, I’d love to read your thesis when you’re finished with it. I’m fascinated with war brides, having known a few of them myself.

  12. fromskilledhands said,

    October 17, 2007 @ 4:24 pm

    Jennifer, my mother-in-law doesn’t have email. You can email me at the contact address and I can talk to her. There is, by the way, a website dedicated to war brides

  13. Moanna said,

    November 13, 2007 @ 6:49 am

    Thank you for this posting. What a lovely tribute to your mother-in-law. This reminds me of my mom who knitted, crocheted, quilted, sewed, baked, and gardened with her hands. And your closing made me realize that while I do some of that, the main thing I do with my hands is write.

  14. fromskilledhands said,

    November 13, 2007 @ 10:12 am

    Thank you for your kind words, Moanna. Funny you should mention writing— I have been thinking of writing in that context, and of all the incredible folks I have met who use their hands to share their thoughts. I’m glad to have found your blog.

  15. From Skilled Hands » Thoughts of Fall said,

    January 30, 2008 @ 11:21 am

    [...] had been taped to windows requesting that passers-by purchase War Bonds. There are magazines that my mother-in-law, an English war bride, brought from England. A box full of interesting and amazing parts of the [...]

  16. Terrie Farley Moran said,

    July 6, 2008 @ 4:30 pm

    Debra,

    A lovely post, Thanks for directing me here. I had no idea that there was a website on war brides. Should have known.

    Terrie

  17. Kristi Jalics said,

    June 27, 2011 @ 12:08 am

    When I first moved to this area in 1975, Rosemary was the librarian who suggested the perfect books for me to read! I was sorry when she retired. When I found out about the quilting club I always planned to stop by sometime and mostly just to talk with her! I left it too late, alas. But I love my memories of this wonderful woman.

  18. fromskilledhands said,

    June 27, 2011 @ 12:16 am

    Thank you for your kind words, Kristi. I, too, love my memories of my “other mom.”

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