Archive for the ‘sew it’ Category

I hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend.  We had a quiet, relaxing day yesterday.  It was so warm, we went on a long walk in the afternoon.  Even though our neighborhood is still brown from Winter, we are starting to see spots of a happy yellow, with daffodils coming up and the forsythia is just starting to bloom.  It warmed me right down to my soul.

My Mom’s birthday was also over this past weekend and several weeks ago, I decided to make her a gift.

A few years ago, my Mom gave me her old thread catcher, when a friend made her a new one.  Her hand-me-down catcher was pretty worn and the fabrics were totally outdated, but it was the best design.  It sits very stable on the table and doesn’t slip around.  The basket for treads and scraps is the perfect size, nice and open, and removable with Velcro, to easily throw things in the garbage.  The pin cushion was heavy and had nice feel when putting in pins.

So for her birthday, I decided to take apart and remake her old catcher.

It stressed me out just a little choosing fabrics for her.  If you know my mom, you know she has such a talent for fabric combinations.

She loves Civil War and she loves brown.  But in the end, I chose a brown 30’s for my main fabric.  It was so cheerful.

Unlike her original, I made a patchwork basket, and added a little twill trim.

I was so happy with how it turned out, I’ve already started making another… or maybe two or three.

When I gave it to her, she said that her old thread catcher originally had a magnet glued on the outside of the pad for holding scissors.  I think we should add one on the inside of her catcher, since it’s just one seam to unpick to put it in.  I’ll definitely add a magnet to the new catchers I make.

Happy Birthday Mom!  I love you.

I’ve never shown the finished quilt that my 10-year-old daughter Emma made for her doll Ruthie.

She machine pieced the Dresden Plate and borders and appliqued the plate by hand.

The other thing she did by hand was the quilting.  Yes, I did think about having her restitch this section.  I have concerns about its longevity ; ).  But I didn’t have the heart to make her redo that much stitching.  By the time I spotted it, she’d gone on for inches.

Plus, it is so dear.  I love those big stitches.

Practice really does make perfect.  Just look at how much her work improved!  Her hands are so small, it was hard to rock that needle back and forth.  I was proud of her that she kept at it.

She has been thinking about quilting it more… but decided to take a break before she decides for sure.

I told her it was up to her.  She is the quilter.  She gets to make her quilt exactly how she likes.

She even sewed a little hexagon throw pillow and pillowcase to match.

Lily also finished the quilt top for her doll, Kit.  She did such a beautiful job with the hexagons and her color choices.  It turned out so lovely.  Now for her hard decision- to hand quilt or machine.  Since her quilt was all hand pieced, except for the teal border, she is a little wary of hand quilting.

She is ready for some time on the sewing machine baby.

Again she is the quilter… and it’s up to her.

They are both already planning 1940’s style quilts for their other dolls Molly and Emily…  both machine pieced.