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I’ve spent the last couple of days doing something I never, in my wildest dreams, imagined I’d be doing…sewing face masks. \u00a0But, as I pulled out my 1937 Singer, rolling it’s squeaky wheels across my bathroom floor in order to sew where the lighting is best, the same sentimental feelings washed over me. \u00a0The reason? \u00a0There’s a fantastic story behind my sewing machine. \u00a0It’s one of sacrifice, love, & God. <\/p>\n

A couple of months ago, before the Covid-19 Shelter In Place orders, I was invited to teach a painting class for the young ladies at my church. \u00a0As part of that, I was also asked to share something I treasured with them. \u00a0After giving it some thought, I chose my vintage sewing machine. \u00a0I love it for so many reasons. \u00a0But when I began to put into words what it means to me, I was somewhat overcome by a giant lump in my throat. \u00a0My goodness, I’m not only sentimental, I just see how good God has been to me my whole life. \u00a0So I thought I’d share that story with all of you who follow my blog, since you’ve seen pictures and video of my sewing machine pop up from time to time.<\/p>\n

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When I was growing up, my mom – who is an excellent seamstress – had three sewing machines. \u00a0She had one that she used practically every day, one that was a little more modern that did a variety of fancy stitches, and one that was covered up all the time to protect it. \u00a0She had always said if each of her three daughters learned how to sew, she would let us have one of her sewing machines when we got older. \u00a0I must have been around six or seven years old when I immediately put dibs on the one that was kept covered up. \u00a0I didn’t know much about it, but I knew it was old because it wasn’t even electric. \u00a0It was operated by manual foot pedal. \u00a0So, in my child mentality, I told my mom I wanted that<\/em> one because, “if I was ever sewing and the electricity suddenly got cut off, I could keep right on sewing!”<\/p>\n

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When I got older, I did get that sewing machine, and to my surprise, it came with a folded up piece of paper that turned out to be the Bill of Sale. \u00a0My maternal grandfather, Natividad Valenzuela, had bought the sewing machine on September 27, 1937. \u00a0He paid $50 dollars for it, in a time when a gallon of gas was 10 cents! \u00a0It was such a huge purchase, it had to be stamped with a seal and notarized.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Interesting side note: While my mother’s maiden name is Valenzuela from her father Natividad, she later married my Dad, Herman, whose last name was also Valenzuela. (Of course, they were not related.)<\/p><\/div>\n

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It so happens my mother was born just a few months earlier, in that same town of Santa Rita, New Mexico. \u00a0It’s a town that no longer exists, as it was eaten up by one of the largest open-pit copper mines in the world. \u00a0Today, it’s a giant hole. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Santa Rita, NM Photo Credit: Russ MacRae, FWS<\/p><\/div>\n

But that’s not the sentimental part of this story. \u00a0My grandfather had bought this sewing machine for his wife, Jesusita. \u00a0They hadn’t been married very long and had just given birth to their first child, my mother. \u00a0I don’t know for sure if it was done using this sewing machine, but it’s said that my grandmother cut up pieces of her own wedding dress in order to sew a sweet little dress for her baby girl at a time when fabric was hard to come by.<\/p>\n

My maternal grandparents, Natividad & Jesusita Valenzuela<\/p><\/div>\n

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My beautiful mother, Lydia, as a baby<\/p><\/div>\n

Shortly after that, my grandmother, Jesusita, died at the age of 22, leaving her baby girl to navigate life without a mother. \u00a0It’s crazy to think she could die from something as ordinary as pneumonia, but she didn’t grow up in a time when penicillin, antibiotics, & vaccines were readily available. \u00a0It really makes me think about what’s going on right now with Covid-19 and the whole reason I’m sewing these masks in the first place. \u00a0Time is an interesting thing.<\/p>\n

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Now, for my favorite part of the story….<\/p>\n

In 1999, I was a brand new mom, and therefore, Sew Inspired<\/strong>. \u00a0In fact, I was sewing a reversible dress, no less – one side yellow with little flowers, the other side blue with little flowers. \u00a0Nothing was good enough for my baby girl. \u00a0Of course, I was using my antique sewing machine to make it. \u00a0I was living in Sacramento, California at the time, and I was sewing in my garage with the garage door open to let in the sunlight and I had the radio playing in the background. \u00a0All of sudden, the music cut off. \u00a0It wasn’t long before I figured out, there was a power outage! \u00a0What!?! \u00a0In the middle of my sewing there was no electricity. \u00a0I mean, what are the odds!? \u00a0But I kept right on sewing, just as I said I would when I was a kid.\u00a0<\/p>\n

You could call it a self-fulfilled prophecy, but I call it a little gift from God. \u00a0He knows the desires of my heart. \u00a0And He knew me even before I knew Him. \u00a0He saw my childhood wish and He made it a reality. \u00a0It’s just one of a million examples of the love He’s shown me my whole life, and I get to ponder it in my heart every time I pull out my sewing machine.<\/p>\n

My baby girl, Marisa, in the dress I was sewing when the power went out.<\/p><\/div>\n

Thanks for taking the time to read my sentimental story, as I take a break from sewing face masks. \u00a0I pray you stay safe and are\u00a0Sew Inspired<\/strong> during this quarantine. \u00a0<\/p>\n

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To see my vintage sewing machine in action, check out one of my video tutorials at\u00a0http:\/\/www.muralsbymarcy.com\/music-room-makeover\/<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve spent the last couple of days doing something I never, in my wildest dreams, imagined I’d be doing…sewing face masks. \u00a0But, as I pulled out my 1937 Singer, rolling it’s squeaky wheels across my bathroom floor in order to sew where the lighting is best, the same sentimental feelings washed over me. \u00a0The reason? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[19,18],"tags":[479,480,476,478,477],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.muralsbymarcy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3057"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.muralsbymarcy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.muralsbymarcy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.muralsbymarcy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.muralsbymarcy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3057"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.muralsbymarcy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3076,"href":"http:\/\/www.muralsbymarcy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3057\/revisions\/3076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.muralsbymarcy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.muralsbymarcy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.muralsbymarcy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}