I’ve become a “crafting” fool.  I swear.  I shop on Ebay and do I buy clothes or books or household furnishings?  No.  I live on the quilting, crocheting, beading, and scrapbooking auctions.  I’ve spent a few hundred dollars on scrapbooking in the last month.  That’s a lot of money.

Granted, my beadwork actually brings money back into my hands.  I have sold some jewelry and my beadwork is on AmberWitch’s walking staffs and those sell quite well.  However, my scrapbooks, quilts (and limited crocheting) do not bring me any monetary rewards.  They do bring me a lot of enjoyment.  Quilting is a labor of love.  I give the quilts away to family members, whom I know will enjoy them.  I’m making scrapbooks for my niece and nephew and for my mom.  I know each of them, too, will enjoy them.

I’ve always enjoyed doing “crafty” things.  It’s funny, though.  The older I get, the more I enjoy it.  I’m learning crochet partly because the women in my family have crocheted beautiful keepsakes.  I have an afghan that my great-grandmother crocheted for me when I was born.  I’m the only one who was fortunate enough to receive such a gift before she passed on.  I look at crochet as a legacy.  My great-grandmother, grandmother, aunts and mother have all crocheted and it’s my turn to learn this gift.

Maybe that’s why it’s all important to me.  Beadwork is fun.  I enjoy matching colors, finding the aesthetic beauty of a perfect match.  Quilting, scrapbooking, and crochet bring me closer to my family.  They are those things that help me learn more about them and give back to them.  I get to share a piece of me with them.  In return, I receive a piece of them in the joy of giving.

Maybe, too, I’m hoping that my creations will become keepsakes.  I’m giving a part of me to those I love and I hope they will treasure them and hold on to them to pass down to those they love, thereby continuiing the chain that my fore-mothers began.