Finding time to stitch

Ghana has great fabric. Knowing Lynn was sewing, I remember asking Lynn if I should send her some so that she could keep stitching. She laughed at me. Apparently, fabric was not a constraint, but making time to sew was. About a month later I received this postcard from her. Proof that she had fabric and plans. Lynn, were you able to make these plans happen?

Sewn balloon

Last year, Lynn was catching up on a month of card making as school wound down. Her inspiration was coming from all kinds of places, including a sewing site she uses for free patterns. Which makes me think now, have you been sewing lately, pal?

At the time, Lynn was also contemplating a new school and the possibility of purchasing a house. These are big topics for the back of a postcard, and I remember wishing I was closer to her so that we could have chatted about these decisions face-to-face. What fun it would have been to scope out potential houses and to contemplate neighborhoods, landscaping and layouts. Being a postal pal is nice but during formative periods, like last spring, the paper chain seems sadly inadequate.

Stitch by stitch

Lynn was stitching up a storm last fall. She spent labor day weekend transforming her living room with pillowcases. As this drawing shows, sewing was on the brain. Most of the writing on the other side though is focused on asking me probing questions about boys, Afghanistan and crazy work hours. I cannot blame her since I vaguely remember calling her at random moments (when I was not writing proposals, which usually meant that I was walking somewhere) with a new plan and a new date. I would want to have serious discussions about whether moving to Afghanistan was worth risking my life and morals if it meant I could pay off my student loans. While at the same time I would go out on eharmony dates with quirky guys who wanted to settle down and had no idea I was planning to flee to a war zone. I was weighing extremes. Ditch it all and become housewife? Sell myself in order to find financial footing? Or, continue the exhausting search, which seemed endless, to find a job that I was passionate about? Thank goodness for Lynn, who wisely reminded me to have patience and stay the course - it paid dividends.