Tag: Sew

Monnie’s Treasures

Monnie was my grandmother. She was one of my favorite people. She taught me how to sew. They lived in Dearborn Michigan and we went to visit them a lot. I loved going there. They had a wonderful house (that I still dream about to this day) and always had everything a kid could want (mostly candy and a fridge full of Pop).

Monnie used to get fabric samples from Blair’s Clothing. They were little swatches maybe 1” x 2” to try and get you to buy their clothes. She saved them for me. I would sit at her sewing machine and sew all these little pieces of fabric together in one big long strip. I think this might have been the beginning of my quilting habit, even though I didn’t realize it.

Monnie was an excellent seamstress. When I went to Kindergarten, she made all my clothes. I remember when her and Grandad brought them down to our house and I had to try them all on. Funny, I remember not wanting to. I wish I had some of those clothes today. They would mean so much. But, I will have to settle for one of her quilts.

When I look at this quilt, I am not often sure what I am looking at. Sometimes I see Cubes, sometimes I see stars in the design. This was a quilt that was used every day. It was used at her house and then somehow wound up at our house and my mother used it. I have several of Monnie’s quilts. Monnie was Uncle Donald’s sister(See my post about Uncle Donald’s quilt) , so quilting is a family thing.

Funny thing,  about many of Monnie’s quilts was that a piece of a sheet was sewn across the bottom, so you could tuck it in at the base of the bed. I am pretty sure that this was the cause of my sheet tucking obsession. I must have the sheets tucked in at the bottom. I can’t stand if a foot comes out. Maybe this is a family thing too.

I love the quilt. I find it beautiful, but mostly because she made it. I hold her responsible for my quilting/sewing obsession. Thank you Monnie. I miss you dearly.
Happy Quilting

Happy Sewing

Treasure your Family

Weird Table Topper

So, this was an experiment because I have never made anything round. I used a sample fabric pack of odd fabrics. There is a store in Amish country that sells the samples they get. I love these to make small pieces. Anyway, this is one of those sample fabrics. I just wanted to see how hard it was to piece something round and bind it. I don’t think I really like the fabrics all together, but maybe I can save it for Easter.
Well, it wasn’t that hard. I like to make small pieces to give away at holidays/birthdays. I have three sisters. Funny thing about that, I didn’t realize that they even liked my quilted stuff. Then, when my mother died, all of the quilts and table toppers I had made for her disappeared. So, I am guessing that someone must have liked them.

I also plan on practicing my quilting with these. Maybe I can manage to do something other than meandering. This pattern was in an issue of Block by the Missouri Star Quilt Company. There example was red and white for holidays, which was quite lovely.
I have already cut out fabric for a few more of these, so expect to see them.

Happy Quilting

Happy Sewing

A Dog Quilt for my Great Nephew

So, on Saturday my great nephew was born about 5 weeks early.  He is perfect.  However I had to hurry and finish his dog quilt.  This was fun to make.  The most time consuming part was the cutting out of all the pieces.  I don’t really see it being used as a quilt to cover up with.  More of lay the baby on the quilt kind of thing.  I made it all from flannels so it is very soft.  This was made from Simplicity 4993.  It has a dog, bear and cat patterns.  Since I am the crazy dog lady, this is quilt that would definitely come from me.

My daughter had not ever remembered me making a “rag quilt” before and insisted that the back was the front and I put the face of the dog on the wrong side.

Now to get a couple more items for Ethan and his big sister before mailing the package off.

It always feels good to complete something.

Happy Sewing.

Happy Quilting.

Uncle Donald’s Quilt – Yes, he made it.

My Great Uncle Donald and Aunt Helen lived on a farm in Ohio. My sister Karen and I loved to go there. The county pound was on their property and we would go play with the dogs and beg my Dad to take one home every time. I remember my Dad letting my sister drive. She was about 12. IT was a place you could do things that you normally didn’t get to do at home. We would spend hours walking on their white fence to see how far we could get without falling off. Some of my fondest memories as a child.

Well, Uncle Donald was one of nine children. He was the only boy. As Aunt Helen told me when she gave me this quilt. He didn’t have a choice. All the sisters were quilting, so if he wanted something to do, he had to join in. It is funny I have quilts form my grandmother and it wasn’t until I got Uncle Donald’s quilt that I realized how much they all meant. I now had visions of my grandmother, her sisters and Uncle Donald all sitting around quilting. I am not sure that is how it happened, but I like to think about it that way.

Uncle Donald made a beautiful quilt. I will always treasure it. I miss him, Aunt Helen and Monnie (my grandmother).
Happy Sewing
Happy Quilting
Treasure your family

My Very First Quilt Ever

So, when I was looking for my red/white/blue quilts in the cedar chest, I came across my very first quilt (which I had sort of forgotten about).  It brought back some fond memories.

I think I started making this quilt when I was about 14.  I had no idea how to do it and the Internet didn’t really exist.  So, I just winged it.

Here’s the story:  When I was a kid, my next door neighbors had these jackets.  On the jackets they had patches of all the places that they had visited.  I thought this was awesome and started to collect them myself.  I had a windbreaker full of patches.  Once day I realized that my windbreaker didn’t fit very well anymore and would likely wind up at good will.  So, I carefully took off all the patched.  For some reason I decided to make a quilt because I figured it was something that I would keep for a while.   I guess I was right.

On this quilt are all the places I visited as a kid and some as I got a bit older.  It brought back some very fond memories of family vacations and things I just did as a kid.  I remember when my daughter was born that I sort of wanted to do the same thing for her, but people don’t make many patches these days.  They are a bit hard to come by.

The actual techniques are pretty awful.  I am not sure what I did when it came to binding.  But, it holds so many memories that I will never part with it.

 

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

Happy July 4th – Celebrate with a quilt

This was the second quilt I ever made.  I actually hand quilted it.  It took forever, but it was great therapy at a difficult time of my life.

I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend.

Happy 4th

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting.

I love this Quilting Magazine/Book

If you are anything like me, you have purchased tons of quilting magazines and books.  For me, I will pick up a magazine just to look at how others coordinate colors and just to get ideas.  As a norm they cost form $5.99 to $9.99, which can get quite expensive.  I have a graveyard of quilt magazines.  Recently, I found Block Magazine.  It is quarterly and costs $5.99 each issue.  The thing is, it is as beautiful, or more so, that many quilt books I have purchased for 20-40$.  Block Magazine is published by The Missouri Start Quilt Company.  It has no ads.  Imagine that.  There are at least 10 projects with very complete instructions.  Many use Fabric packs, but we all know that is just a suggestion you can really do anything you want.  Honestly, I have not seen a more beautiful magazine for such a small price.  No, they did not ask me to write this.  I wanted to, just in case fellow quilters/sewers did not know about this magazine.  This one is money well spent.  I am working on collecting past issues also.  As my daughter say “Just sayin”.

Happy Quilting

Happy Sewing

 

Embroidered Baby Bibs for my future GrandKid?

So, While I was going through boxes of sewing supplies, fabric etc… I came across these baby bibs. I believe I made them over 20 years ago. I had no children and I was not even thinking about getting married.

Ever since my older sisters had kids and I became an Aunt, I loved making things for babies and kids. My sister Karen’s kids had the greatest Halloween costumes. I made my nephew a dinosaur once. The tail was so long and big he had to tie a roller-skate to it so he did not drag a hole in it. I made my niece Minnie mouse and a belly dancer costume. My daughter has also had a butterfly and a witch costume (with a fancy witch gown). I don’t do much costume making these days, but spend lots of time on quilts and other crafty things.

I remember making these bibs. I used Kona cotton and traced the design with a pencil while I had them taped to the sliding glass door of my single girl condo. Oh the memories. I will put these away for that Grandchild I hope to meet one day.

Happy Sewing.

Red and White with multiple Bindings…

Or at least I think that is what you would call it. I used the same binding on the inside that is on the outside edge. I saw a quilt like this in a magazine many many years ago. I originally made it to hang in my bedroom, but it is currently hanging in our Family Room. I love quilts that are red and white.

Yes, it has a signature mistake as every one of my quilts does. There is always something that I don’t notice until it is complete. This one has one of the inner bindings totally off. It towards the bottom right, but may be hard to see in the photo. It wouldn’t be my quilt unless it had something out of place or not quite right.

Happy Quilting!

Hoarding Fabric…What to do?

What does everyone do with all their Fabric? I have so much. I don’t ever envision that I will have enough. I guess you could call it an obsession. There is something about Fabric that just makes me happy. Maybe it’s the colors, or the feel, or the smell. I am not sure. Nothing stops me from wanting more. I have boxes and boxes stored in my storage area(s), because you know it will not all fit in my sewing room. When I open a box it is like Christmas all over again. It sounds so exciting, which it is, but, that does not solve the fact that I am running out of room for Fabric. Mine is currently occupying two storage rooms at my house, my sewing room, the top of my dresser, the kitchen counter…..I think I need my own warehouse. I am sure I am not the only fabric hoarder out there. What do you all do with yours?