and you call me a master....sheeesh...I can only hope to write with such verve and depth...this is exceptional my friend.

Wonderful, well-deserved and truly fitting (sorry!!) tribute to a life-long friend, companion, source of inspiration and talent in her own write. You have been greatly blessed, Bill and it sounds as though you were a matching pair! :)) You bask in her glory as doubtless she did also in yours. Can feel the justifiable pride here and I am delighted to be able to share it with you. And you bowl me over with your thoughts on my work, too. I am humbled and uplifted at the same time. You have a gift of encouragement. Bless you and thank you. Kate xx

I enjoyed the dedication poem and the beauty of this one.

Your warm memories of Trulie sparked some fond ones of my childhood as well. My maternal grandma was an amazing seamstress trained at the Sorbonne University in France. My mom also sewed, so all of my clothes and doll clothes were homemade (I never even played with dolls, but I had a huge toy chest filled with doll clothes for all the dolls that I had sitting around my room as decorations). The clothes they made for me lasted forever and my two sisters below me and some of my cousins wore those clothes also. As a kid I just couldn't understand about quality, I wanted the junk that the other kids wore. In my later teen years, though, I developed an appreciation for garments made to fit my body exactly...I looked stunning at all the dances and parties. My grandmother always made her own patterns; she said it was just too much trouble to alter the ones we could buy. We would go to the Singer Sewing Machine Store, on the bus, and spend hours looking through pattern catalogues until I found something I liked. Then my grandma would make a quick sketch, I would pick out my fabric and home we would go for measuring and pattern making. My grandma had a big sewing room and when we would visit her, she would amuse my sister and I by giving us big tins of fancy buttons to look through while she would work on her sewing. My sister and I would sit for hours on the floor, picking out buttons and pretending what kind of a garment we would be wearing with that fancy button on it, always fantasizing about how elegant we would look in those fabulous imaginary clothes. What wonderful memories those days are!...today, kids just play computer games...what a shame...life was so much better back then. Thank you for calling up that memory for me, it brought a big smile to my face and a feeling of family and comfort. Happy New Year to you, Bill.
Take care,
Sherry

Sweet memory.

Bill,

Yet another amazing moment in an amazing life. Thanks for sharing the memory.

Cynthia

Bill,
I was in highschool before I ever wore a dress that was 'store-bought'. Before then my Mother made every dress I wore. They were of her own design. Butterick never made a penny off her that I know of, or any other designer.
Thanks for the memories Bill...Sure wish I could wear one of her special dresses now though!

Lisa

Hard to get that accent right what with yours as well, huh...? My fiance' is a sewing machine crazy too, she makes comforters and such for Christmas as she just got some sort of new computerized sewing machine from the place she sells them at as well...and I can't even sew on a button...LOL! Happy New Year to you and yours...Ed, Rene' 7 Rufuz (w00f)