{"id":9716,"date":"2010-11-12T00:40:41","date_gmt":"2010-11-12T05:40:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/?p=9716"},"modified":"2012-04-13T18:25:30","modified_gmt":"2012-04-13T22:25:30","slug":"heartstrings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/2010\/11\/12\/heartstrings\/","title":{"rendered":"Heartstrings"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Several years ago, this sweet little project was given to me by my dear friend\u00c2\u00a0Suzanne Sawko.\u00c2\u00a0 The stuffed 8″ heart carries the message:<\/p>\n

“Mothers and daughters are tied together with heart strings.” <\/em><\/p>\n

The appliqued hearts of \u00c2\u00a0blue pima gingham and floral lawn are simply ironed on with Wonder Under. The\u00c2\u00a0embellished\u00c2\u00a0front and gingham back are seamed by machine, while\u00c2\u00a0the text is machine embroidered. But\u00c2\u00a0the blanket stitch around the perimeter\u00c2\u00a0was done by hand, as was the\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0running stitch “heart strings”\u00c2\u00a0 which illustrate the sentiment.<\/p>\n

The\u00c2\u00a0tender\u00c2\u00a0thought and its textile presentation certainly warmed my heart, which Suzanne knew had a\u00c2\u00a0hole in it\u00c2\u00a0that August\u00c2\u00a0when\u00c2\u00a0my\u00c2\u00a0daughter went off\u00c2\u00a0to the University of Florida.<\/p>\n

Rebecca and I have always been very close, so the 90 miles that separated us seemed like a continent. \u00c2\u00a0I missed hearing every detail of her day and her plans for tomorrow.\u00c2\u00a0 And I worried. Our 18 year-old was smart and wisely cautious, but her father and I knew we were no longer able to shield her from harm.\u00c2\u00a0 Only her own good sense, our\u00c2\u00a0prayers and\u00c2\u00a0God’s grace\u00c2\u00a0could protect her.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

As many of you already know, children never really “come home” after they go off to college.\u00c2\u00a0 They flit in and out of the house for holidays and occasional weekends, but their real life is\u00c2\u00a0far away.\u00c2\u00a0 And that’s as it should be.<\/p>\n

After her freshman year, Rebecca\u00c2\u00a0spent one summer in Paris studying at The Sourbonne—and\u00c2\u00a0 I thought Gainesville was far away!\u00c2\u00a0 Then she really was a continent away! Other summers she was back at Florida taking\u00c2\u00a0extra\u00c2\u00a0courses.\u00c2\u00a0and after graduation,\u00c2\u00a0she went straight to graduate school. Next came her move across the state where\u00c2\u00a0she became\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0a career girl and then a bride.<\/p>\n

Of course, we are delighted that she is happy and enjoying married life, motherhood and\u00c2\u00a0the continuation of her career on a part-time basis.\u00c2\u00a0 We couldn’t hope for more. I miss her, certainly, but it is no longer painful.<\/p>\n

The day Suzanne gave this little heart to me,\u00c2\u00a0I hung it on\u00c2\u00a0 the door knob to Rebecca’s empty bedroom.\u00c2\u00a0 It hangs there still,\u00c2\u00a0making\u00c2\u00a0me smile daily and\u00c2\u00a0generating memories for\u00c2\u00a0Rebecca when she is “home.”\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Along with the soft, 3 dimensional\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0sentiment, Suzanne included\u00c2\u00a0the music CD, Love Travels<\/em>,\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0by Kathy Mattea.\u00c2\u00a0 The lyrics include these words:<\/p>\n

“Love travels the miles upon the wings of angels.\u00c2\u00a0 Love finds you, I swear its true, I can love you from here.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0On moonbeams, on heartstrings, love makes its way through anything……”<\/em><\/p>\n

Now, it sounds a bit maudlin.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0But at that time, these musical words, along with the\u00c2\u00a0door hanger\u00c2\u00a0heart, were very soothing.\u00c2\u00a0 Any mother who has sent a child out into the world might have experienced these same feelings.<\/p>\n

This sweet expression of understanding\u00c2\u00a0would be\u00c2\u00a0equally\u00c2\u00a0comforting for sisters, grandmothers or any others who are geographically separated\u00c2\u00a0while still joined by heart strings.\u00c2\u00a0 Making up a\u00c2\u00a0similar gift of love might help fill a hole in\u00c2\u00a0more hearts than one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Several years ago, this sweet little project was given to me by my dear friend\u00c2\u00a0Suzanne Sawko.\u00c2\u00a0 The stuffed 8″ heart carries the message: “Mothers and daughters are tied together with heart strings.” The appliqued hearts of \u00c2\u00a0blue pima gingham and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":14480,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[25,18,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9716"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9716"}],"version-history":[{"count":41,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9716\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22155,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9716\/revisions\/22155"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}