Patchwork....Well it Just Makes Me Smile!

I have always LOVED patchwork!

 

I've probably posted this before, but my love of patchwork started as a little girl and there are 4 specific reasons I know of that made me fall in love with patchwork.

 

My granny always gave us kids a $5.00 bill for Christmas. 

 

1.  One year when I was pretty little I asked her why that's what she gave us.

  So...... the next year I didn't get $5.00.

 

I got a beautiful white and pink patchwork quilt instead!

 

2.  The next reason I love patchwork is that in elementary school we had to wear skirts or dresses and on of the girls had this skirt that was made out of tiny patches of fabric that her grandmother had made for her.  I loved the fact that the fabrics in the skirt were all scraps from fabrics that her grandma had used to make her things over the years.

 

3.  The third reason I love patchwork is from a story we read in probably 2nd grade and I think the title was "Patches".  It was about a little girl who's family didn't have a lot of money and the although the girls clothes were always clean she usually had little patches holding them together.  She was embarrassed in front of the other kids and so one day her mom put little appliques of animals on her dress instead of just plain patches.  Everyone loved her dress and the little girl felt so special.

 

4.  The fourth reason that I love patchwork is that when I was in high school our family t.v. broke and my parents decided not to replace it.  My mom had taught me to embroidery and sew before the t.v. broke, but once we didn't have t.v. we started quilting.  I can remember spending hours looking through quilting books at all the different patterns. 

 

 Patchwork was always my favorite though and it still is!

 

 

 

So here are some prim bookmarks I made last night.

 

and some patchwork drawstring bags

 



and these aren't patchwork, but I wanted to show them off.

I quilted these cute bookmarks for back to school things for kids.

So that is my story on my love for patchwork. 

 

I also learned a few other things from my love of patchwork.

Never question a person about the gift they are giving you.  As a Nana of 14 I totally understand why Granny only gave us $5.00 each and now I really appreciate her thoughtfulness!

 

I learned that something as simple of scraps of fabric can hold some wonderful memories and that it's a wonderful thing that something as small as a patch and some understanding can make us feel more loved and beautiful than any knew dress.

 

I learned that t.v.'s can really take away from family time and the joy of doing things together.  I learned that I enjoyed those years without a t.v. and the time that my mom took with me and my sewing.  We had fun with quilts, Stretch-n-Sew and picking out fabrics for clothes.  Thanks Mom!! 

Layers of Hope-Quilting 911

My blogging friend Jean from Quiltingranny organizes people to make quilts for the families of people who have died in tragedies.  She asked me to help with the Arizona Firefighters families.  The name of Jean's group is Layers of Hope-Quilting 911 if anyone is interested in helping with sewing, purchasing fabric or donating money for postage.

 

I had fun making these quilts for the family of Travis Turbyfill's family.  I haven't actually machine quilted very much and so I challenged myself to do it and it wasn't as hard as I thought it might be.

 

The Turbyfill's have 2 little girls so I made one out of bright colors and a Tink fabric.

I machine stitched it with different colors of thread and in an "organic" straight stitch.  It was nice because the quilting lines aren't suppose to be straight.

Works for me!

 

 the front

 

 the back

 

 a close up of the back

 

 

 a purplish patchwork quilt

 

 the back is some Princess Dora fabric I had in my stash.

 

 

 and the front of mom's quilt

 

 and the back.  I also did mom's in the organic straight stitch, but in white.

 

 

Then I made a couple of doll quilts for the girls.

 

 the front

 

the backs

 

Earl and I stuck in a couple of magic wands and Jace put in some of the mustaches and lips I made for his class.  I hope the family knows that people do appreciate their sacrifice and think of them often.

 

I have quilts I need to do for us now.  I can't wait to see how they turn out!!



I've Been Crocheting More Hats!

I made this cute zebra hat the other day.

 

It didn't turn out quite like I wanted,

 

but I think he's pretty cute anyway.

 

I based my hat off of  this pattern by Repeat Crafter Me's pattern 

 

and then another version of a Minion hat

a Mickey hat based off of  Repeat Crafter Me

a cute little penguin

 

and another Minion

    It's fun  making these hats and hopefully someone will enjoy them this winter!