Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Little Red Tomato

I don't sew. I don't quilt. I don't do anything with material. Heck, I don't even hem! But when I saw the little red tomato pictured above I just HAD to have it!! You see, I had a GREAT childhood. My parents loved me and my daddy spoiled me. All I had to do was bat my eyes at daddy and he'd buy me the world. And though I loved that and soaked it all in, daddy could only buy me the world. But mom...well, she could MAKE me the world! She was and still is an excellent seamstress. I remember, so well, many nights, seeing mom at the table, cutting her pattern, then pinning it on the fabric and cutting the fabric. And then to watch that paper and material work together to make some beautiful creation that made me feel like a princess was just awesome!! Dress after dress, I'd watch her sew. And right there next to her, like a faithful companion, always sat her red tomato FULL of pins. As she'd pull the pins off of whatever fabric she was sewing, I would poke them back into the tomato for her. I can't remember watching her sew without it. Then one day it was gone...and she moved on to some magnetic dish and like an old doll, or a treasured photo, the tomato was just a memory. And then one day, walking thru Wal-Mart, hanging on a wall in the craft department, my childhood came back to me. And for a $1.97 I could take it home...so I did.
That's a heck of deal for a lifetime worth of memories wouldn't you say?

4 comments:

Janalee said...

when I sew, my younger children would and do sit by me like faithful companions and play with my pin cushion. I wonder if they'll show up at Walmart in 25 years and purchase their own blue pin cushion..

SBrooks said...

Love the story! My Mom has many too! She has a sewing school in Gilbert and actually teaches sewing lessons. Cute story~!

Anonymous said...

I have and use a tomato,too. However, my kids kind of leave it alone. You see, I also have a reindeer head that the kids love to use the pins to make teeth, chicken pox, etc..... I wonder what will triggers memories for them.... hhhmmmmm
Chandra

mother of seven said...

I have one too... cuz my mom did. You know why? cuz it does not spill. The magnet ones can be bumped and pins will go everywhere. Tomatoes are the best!!!