Quilt Legacy

I’m really excited to tell you that today Deborah from the Whipstitch blog is sharing my quilt story with her readers! Deborah is a Super Sewist extraordinaire. Not only does she run a very popular blog, but she’s the owner of a successful fabric store and sewing lounge in Atlanta, offers in-store and online sewing classes, creates and publishes her own line of patterns, and has published her own book, Stitch by Stitch. Wow, I’m tired just writing that last sentence. So if you haven’t been, hop on over to her blog. soon.

Here’s a copy of the story I wrote:

My mother, almost 90 and suffering from Alzheimer’s for many years, passed away in January, so this spring my siblings and I took on the duty of cleaning out the family home. Cleaning out actually means vacillating between being productive, and becoming lost in warm memories. Mostly the latter was happening. As we opened one of the big boxes of bed linens, we all smiled. Here were the family quilts. Most were in pretty good condition, but the one we all loved the most was also the one that was the most tattered.

We call it The Sick Quilt, but I know that’s not a very good name. Let me explain. As children, it’s the quilt we all remember being wrapped up in and cuddled in when we were sick. When that quilt came out of the closet, we knew it meant Mom was going to take care of us till we felt better. It meant we were going to be allowed to lay on the couch and be close by Mom as she floated around the house doing all the mysterious things moms do. It meant that when Dad came home and saw us lying there, we’d get extra hugs and attention. It’s interesting how objects can bring back such vivid memories.

Well, apparently we loved that quilt almost to pieces, and now it was time to decide what to do with it. There’s hardly a square foot on it that isn’t ripped, worn through, or missing. We’re not sure if it was made by our mother or our grandmother, but it’s probably from the 1930′s or 40′s. It’s hard to tell since the fabrics are simple blue and white solids. It’s machine pieced and hand quilted. But we do know it was used to cuddle us kids starting around 1950. We don’t remember if it was worn looking even then, we only remember how good it made us feel.

As horrifying as this may be to some of you, we’ve decided that since it’s beyond repair as a quilt, we’re going to take a scissors to it to salvage what we can for pillows. Pillows each of us can treasure, pillows that can help us feel better when we’re down, pillows that remind us of our dear parents and all they did for us. What better legacy can a quilt hope for?

An Exercise in Stash Building

Last weekend was the Rocky Mountain Sew Expo in Denver. I went there to gawk over the booths of fancy sewing machines and hunt down another sashiko embroidery kit.

But the booth that really caught my attention (and my money) was a little unassuming booth called Craft Scraps. The name’s pretty descriptive; they fill their table and shelves with all manner of secondhand crafting temptations that need new homes. There’s scrapbooking, rubber stamping, knitting and crocheting supplies, and of course, fabrics and sewing notions.

I was just going to, you know, window shop… peruse… browse… scan. Shucks, it was a no-go from the get-go. Little bundles of vintage fabrics reached out from the shelves and yanked at my heart. Then it was yarn, then it was buttons. The shop owner finally handed me a basket because stuff kept falling out of my arms. Sigh.

Anyway, one thing I noticed as my pile was growing is that it was a wonderfully color coordinated pile. I must of been feeling orange that day. And turquoise. Now I feel like whatever final form these treasures take on, they’ll have to do it together. I can’t break up a matched set! I’m justifying it all because the prices were so irresistible. $1.10 for wool yarn, $1.35 for buttons, $1- $4 for fabric, who can resist?

Have you ever seen such adorable, sculpted vintage buttons?

Now I don’t know yet what I’ll do with it all- placemats, bags, book covers, pouches, water bottle cozies? But in the meantime I’m digging the vintage color combinations. So to honor the colors, I’ve created a little color storyboard, AKA the blog Color Collective. Enjoy the color goodness with me!

If you live in Colorado and you’d like to find out where you can catch up with the gals of Craft Scraps, they don’t have a website, but you can email them to find out what shows they’ll next be appearing at: craftscraps@comcast.net.

Warm and Cozy, Snuggly and Toasty!

Throughout the month of December, I was seeing encouraging posts full of “last minute” gift ideas. Hah! I don’t consider gift ideas last minute till I hear reindeer hooves stamping on the roof! And in my usual holiday tradition, I came up with this idea on Christmas Eve. I had been glancing through one of my knitting books, Linda Guy’s And So To Bed..., and came across her beautiful hand knitted hot water bottle cozy. It reminded me that I wanted to make some of these for the kids years ago but never got around to it.

Inspiration struck. Obviously I had no time to pick up my knitting needles, but I did have some old wool sweaters in my sewing stash… I grabbed my keys and ran off to Walgreens around the corner to buy a couple of classic pink rubber water bottles, then back to my sewing nook to rummage through my stuff. Less than two hours later and, whalaa! Two more presents under the tree.

The sweaters belonged to my husband, so there’s a little additional connection there for my kids. I was able to use just the sleeves on both sweaters, using the ribbed cuffs for the top edge. The ribbing allowed plenty of stretch to get the empty water bottle nestled inside. The appliques came from scraps of felt I had. The moon design for my daughter came from the book. My son, now 21, has never outgrown Superman, so a quick Google search for the Superman logo yielded something I could copy for his present. I love it when a (last minute) plan comes together!

Sorry I don’t have better photos of the finished cozies, but I was too tired to take photos right after I made them, and the next day, right after we unwrapped our gifts, I only had a quick minute to snap a few shots before my kids both grabbed their cozies, filled them with hot water, and sauntered off to their rooms for a ceremonial nap. Teenagers: never too awake to sleep.

If you’d like to pull together one (or a few) of these quick cozies for yourself, feel free to download a very rudimentary pattern here or below. Hopefully, you can use a ribbing cuff or hem for the top edge, then that edge is finished for you. Use a 3/8″  seam on the other edges – a serged edge would be great, but a zig zag edge will do to cover the edges. If you have the time, first put the sweater through a hot water wash and a hot dryer to full (felt) it. Then the edges won’t ravel and it’s wonderfully cozy to cuddle with. I’ve made a habit of doing this before I add the sweater to my up-cycle stash. That way I’m ready for any last minute inspiration!

Get it HERE

Men’s Dress Shirt Re-Do

She Likes Me

I had a smile on my face today because I had my first-ever comment on my blog! To celebrate, I stitched up these potholders as a thank you gift to the wonderful gal. Enjoy, Deb!