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!!