Day 102

I made a tallit for my 10 year conversion anniversary celebration at the end of March. In classic me fashion, I waited until three days before the event to get the bulk of it done. It’s not perfect, not even close, especially if you look at the underside, but I’m really proud of how it came out.

The two bottom rows of butterflies are made from some of my mom’s clothing, things that she wore frequently before she went into the hospital and also some of the dressing gowns I got for her when she was in the residential care home. The top row of butterflies is made from fabric I found at Joann’s and represents this new chapter of my life without Mom. I also wrapped and knotted the tzitzit myself.

After finishing this project, I immediately wanted to make another tallit, but I wanted the motif to be just as meaningful, so my sewing machine has been gathering dust in a corner of my room. It finally came to me yesterday, after a really lovely weekend. When I was much younger, my mom and I would visit one of my aunts in the evening several times a week and I’d usually play outside with my older cousins, especially during the spring and summer. This was before Grandma died, so these times were happy and I remember seeing a lot of lightning bugs during these visits. I haven’t seen any in years, but I happened to be on a trail this weekend, walking with my boyfriend, and there were so many. It was kind of magical and it feels right, so I’m going to go with it.