My mom's hands were never idle. She was always doing some kind of needlework or craft. She would go from painting Christmas ornaments to crocheting an afghan to knitting baby booties to embroidering a pillowcase. She did it all. Whenever we sat down to watch television together, I was always amazed that she could pay attention to the program and count stitches at the same time.

When I was a young girl, my mom taught me how to do all the basics: knitting, crocheting, and cross-stitching. I never really got into it and I quickly forgot whatever she had taught me.

Then, when I was 28 years old, my mom died very suddenly. My sisters and I went to her house after her death and we were poking around and found a huge trunk beside her bed that was full of craft kits. They were mostly needlework …