My brother was born a few months before I turned five, and I spent a several days with my grandmother. I remember that one way she entertained me was to hand me a can of copper polish and some pennies to shine. I knew that it was in my best interest to go along with adults when they claimed that they were giving me a treat. I polished away at my pile of pennies even though I did not see a point to it. As an adult I have wondered if she was just keeping me quiet, or if she hoping to teach me to keep the bottoms of my Revere Ware pots shinny when I grew up. If penny polishing was intended as a lesson in housekeeping, it failed.

What my grandmother did give me that I will always appreciate is a love of sewing. When I finished with my pennies, she wrote my initials on a square of fabric, handed me a needle and thread, and showed me how to sew over the letters with a running stitch. I have never stopped sewing.

sherralyn learning to sew memories