I remember her being my partner in crime in buying yet more fabric. We would see a piece of fabric we loved, but had no immediate project to use it in, so she'd say, "Why don't we get three yards?" We lived near Mary Jo's (the cloth mecca in the Carolinas), and she'd make my father take us out to eat fish on Friday nights, then take us by Mary Jo's to shop. My sister and he would stay in the car, rolling their eyes while my mother and I shopped for fabric for a new dress, draperies or the like. She taught me to sew on an old Kenmore with a knee pedal, and gave me a small child's Singer for Christmas to sew doll clothes. Then, she gave me my grandmother's vintage portable Singer in a wood base and cover that I still have today. Oh, and her special saying was, "Measure twice, cut once." My grandfather, a carpenter, used to say that, and she picked it up to apply to sewing.