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A gift of love...
As a young girl, Connie Houston used a hand-driven children's sewing machine to create rag dolls and doll clothing. She drew inspiration from her grandmother, a master seamstress who showed her how to turn simple scraps of fabric into blouses, shirts, pants, dresses and much more.
Today, Houston's lifelong love of sewing serves another purpose -- a gift of love for less-fortunate children in the Mountain Home community. For the past three years, she's taken enjoyment in creating dozens of outfits for children she'll likely never meet.
During a presentation Monday afternoon at the local Edward Jones office on American Legion Boulevard, she donated 30 handmade outfits to the local Giving Tree program. She made enough outfits for several children, including infants and toddlers.
"They were made with lots of love up in all the stitches," she said.
Ironically, this love of sewing actually started out of necessity at an early age for Houston. The reason was simple: She was considerably taller than others her own age.
"I didn't fit any of the clothes that I could buy," she said. "If I didn't make them, they wouldn't fit."
Over time, her love of sewing never waned, even when Houston and her husband, Bill, moved to Mountain Home in 1970. Choosing to retire here, she spent 27 years teaching home economics at Mountain Home Junior High School.
During these years, her love of sewing left her with a sizeable assortment of fabric scraps, lace and buttons. This collection filled three dressers at the Houston's home in Mountain Home. About three years ago, she decided she needed to start whittling down that collection.
"I like to sew, but all of my kids are grown up, and all my nieces and nephews are all grown up, too," Houston said.
But she still remain compelled to make "little outfits" for others.
With no young children left in her immediate family, Houston made the decision to help others, especially those that couldn't afford to buy new clothing for their own children.
Three years ago, she spent several months turning her leftover fabric into several sets of children's clothes. She then handed them over to representatives with the local Cheer Basket, who provided food, gifts and financial support to needy families during the holiday season. But after the organization dissolved in 2009, Houston faced a bit of a dilemma this year.
"I had everything already made, but now we didn't have the Cheer Basket," she said. Undeterred, she stumbled across a story regarding the Giving Tree program, which provides gifts to needy people in the local area during the Christmas season.
Problem solved.
Last week, Houston arranged to hand over her latest creations to Shannon Bate -- one of several people involved in this year's Giving Tree. Now employed at Edward Jones, Bate was also one of the hundreds of students that Houston taught to sew over the years.
Digging through her collection of fabric and occasionally adding to it, Houston shows no signs of wanting to slow down or take a break from bringing her gift of love to others.
"This is my hobby. I enjoy doing this. It's my way to play," she said.
While she admits that she will occasionally try to spot children wearing her clothes, she hasn't run across anyone with them yet. Even if she did, Houston admits that she'd never walk up to someone and tell them where those clothes came from.
"Santa made these clothes," she said with a wink. They just came from one of his other workshops not located at the North Pole -- the one on the north side of Mountain Home.
Clothing made with love in every stitch.