"I mow, I sew, and I go," Elsie Sherry says of her life.
This 90-year-old spends her days mowing her own yard in Springdale, making pies and cakes for neighbors and sewing and sewing and sewing.
Sherry makes tote bags of canvas, adorned with bright, decorative fabric. Then she gives them away.
She has made 735 bags. Only five remain with her. She started making them for family members, then set a goal to sew 100 bags. "Lord, it didn't take me long to give those away," she noted.
Then she set a new goal of 200 bags. These days, her goal is 1,000 bags.
Doctors and their nurses, employees at her insurance company, postal workers, even a shift of Walmart cashiers have been honored with totes.
"Who receives a bag is random. Whoever I come across," she said. "I hope I haven't missed anyone."
But, the tote bags are more than just decorations or handy helpers. To each, Sherry attaches a Bible verse, calling on several of her favorites.
"Whosoever shall call upon the Lord shall be saved."
-- Romans 10:13
"By Grace you are saved through Faith."
-- Ephesians 2:8
"I wanted to use it as a mission," said this member of Lowell Baptist Church, which Sherry joined the first time in 1938. She joined the church again about 20 years ago, but has been a lifelong reader of the Bible. "It's a silent ministry," she continued. "I don't want to be pushy."
To make the bags, Sherry buys whole bolts of canvas at Walmart, she said. "Sometimes, I have to wait a while because Walmart runs out."
Each yard of canvas will make three bags -- with some leftover fabric. With that fabric, she makes smaller bags just the size to carry a Bible into church. Many of those go to members of her or her daughter-in-law's Sunday school classes.
Each bag takes about 15 to 20 minutes to complete on a sewing machine and serger, Sherry said. She made four on a recent morning. She said she sews everyday -- if she has the material.
She started the bags in September 2009. "I got a bag from my bank -- United Bank -- and I thought I could make some for myself using this as a pattern," she said.
In addition to sewing, Sherry undertakes projects of machine embroidery, crochet and knitting -- especially stocking caps. Mae Dove, her daughter-in-law, pointed out that Sherry can make a man's suit or a coat, with knowledge from a Cooperative Extension class on tailoring. Sherry also makes embroidered handkerchiefs -- small or large -- for new members to her Sunday school class, although she said she is disappointed when members put them in Bibles rather than using them.
Sherry sewed her first project when she was just 8 years old. "My granddaughter has the quilt now, but it's awful," she said, describing a nine-patch that didn't match. "I was going to take it to the dump because it looked so bad, but she rescued it."
Sherry also worked in garment factories for 15 years in Springdale, Fayetteville and Arkadelphia, where she also learned basic maintenance. "I did nearly every job -- from running the serger or the button holer or the elastic machine," she said. "I was a trouble-shooter. When they got behind, they'd put me in there to catch them up."
Sherry first learned to sew standing behind her mother at the treadle sewing machine in Sweetwater, Texas.
"We had to quilt to keep us warm," Sherry explained. "We had no electricity or gas, and at night the fire would go out and we'd be cold."
Today, Sherry is a thoroughly modern seamstress, with a sewing room of any hobbyist's dreams. She has two sergers -- both of which she resurrected from disrepair -- an embroidery machine and a couple of sewing machines. Walls covered with bright colors of thread, stacks of fabric, a quilting frame, tables and an ironing board complete the space.
Dove said the bags are handy for grandchildren's clothes for swimming or overnight stays. And they're sturdy -- she regularly carries four or five books in one as she walks across campus at the University of Arkansas, where she teaches introduction to education courses.
"And they're all a fan at the senior center," where Sherry donates them for Bingo door prizes, Dove said.
"I am 90 years old," Sherry concluded, "and I hope to make them the rest of my life."
Commentary on 09/18/2014