Throwback Thursday Family Photo 1974
Tag: sewing
The Comfort of a Quilt
Every tiny stitch by my grandmother’s hand.
Mary Alta Hendricks born February 7, 1892. The grandmother who taught me to knit.
A 20 second video of the quilt
https://youtube.com/shorts/kTtso8Oz2Gg?si=1oCQQggA-jPpqd92
A Cat Tea Cozy
Joanne made an adorable hand stitched Tea Cozy in the shape of a cat. We zoomed on our computers while I opened the present she shipped from Florida. There were boxes of tea as well but I don’t have a pic. Her thinking is I can do porch knitting with
friends while we sip tea. I love the cat cozy. Thank you Joanne for the creative handmade cat to keep the teapot warm.
Kawandi Nearing Completion in Nova Scotia- guest blog
Colleen’s Kawandi (definition below) she is working on now, lots of hand stitching, nearing completion.
Also Photos below of two quilts Colleen completed in Fall 2021
Colleen writes from Nova Scotia –
The bright colours help when things can get a bit grey and dreary – a nice escape.
The Kawandi are all hand sewn from bits and pieces so it’s relaxing. I took a Zoom class Sujata Shah to learn how they’re made. Margaret Fabrizio is the kawandi maker who inspired me most. She is in her early 90s now and does amazing work. She used to be a world class harpsichord player (played Carnegie Hall) and I believe a professor in California among other things. She is on YouTube and has very colourful stories to tell including one about her friendship with MFK Fisher.” Colleen
Kawandi is a style of quilt created by the Siddi people of India, traditionally sewn by hand with scraps and are improvisational and frequently made of saris snd used clothing.”
If you’ve been following the blog, Colleen made me a quilted mug rug in 2011 and here’s the blog post
Birthday T-Shirt Quilt a Hit!
Thanks to FedEx, the Pittsburgh themed T-shirt quilt arrived this afternoon. Right in time to celebrate my son Mark’s birthday on the 26th. Happy Birthday Mark.
I knew you’d love it! I was excited when you FaceTimed me as you opened it up. And of course your second call, showing me how Henry the Airedale was sniffing the quilt, looking for grandma.
My granddaughter Maura took the photo of her Dad with his birthday gift. Thanks for sending it Maura.
I took the shirts Mark gave to me and added a few so it was a row longer, scouting a thrift-shop, the closet here in my home, and ebay for the vintage Gateway Clipper T-shirt, where Mark worked when he was in high school.
Airedale approved.
I learned how to back the shirts with interfacing so they were flat and stable when they were sewed together. Thanks to Lisa S of Storm Sew for her tutorial and for her professional long-arm quilting services. Lisa can create a t-shirt quilt from start to finish, or complete your own sewing efforts like she did for mine. The quilting pattern was called Broken Glass. As soon as I finished handstitching the binding, I boxed it and drove to the main FedEx shipping center. He received it less than 24 hours later.
Outgrown Sleeper Transformed
Here’s a January 2019 photo. Grandson Charlie visiting at my house. He’s wearing a fleece footed sleeper that was a cozy favorite. Doesn’t take long for kids to outgrow their clothes, though.
In December 2020 my daughter sent the kitty footed sleeper to me with a request- could I make something special from it?
So I made doll pajamas, with the sleeve cuffs being the pants ankle cuffs now.
After I sewed the pjs, there was a lot of the sleeper leftover but I couldn’t see anything in my mind to make from it. The scraps hung around for 3 weeks. Then I got an idea.
Yesterday I created Zippy the snake with the remainder. Stuffed a couple of knee socks with fiberfill and put them into the column I created to look like a snake. Now the snake can lose his skin with zero mess.
On to the post office tomorrow to get these mailed to Charlie. I’m hoping he likes the transformation.
I’m in Pittsburgh but Photographed by Friend in Australia, Guest Blog
Friday night McWalker Yarns hosts a Sip and Stitch Zoom meeting. A great way to connect during the Pandemic. While we were knitting and chatting, we started talking Halloween. One of our participants lives in Australia, so our evening meeting is her morning coffee time. Gayle was saying it will already be Halloween for her at next Friday Night’s Sip and Stitch Zoom meeting. I thought, wait I will don the mask that is on my dining room table. I sewed this costume for my son Mark in the early 80s.
So here I am sporting the ET mask and Gayle in Australia photographed me and sent it. With her gracious permission I am sharing her photo of me.
I “met” Gayle through the Woolswap program she runs, as well as many other knitters around the world, sharing fiber, creativity and inspiration with one another.
It’s me. You can see my knitted shawl peeking.
Happy Blogaversary -the start of the Twelfth Year
From the smocking period of my life.
Granddaughter Anna in 2007.
Of course, I still have the dress.
Month of May Stitched in Memory- Guest Blog
These photos are from May 1987, taken in Kentucky. Sent by my good friend Joanne. We were so much younger then, we’re older than that now……
And a tribute to Phyllis George who passed May 14th.
Ruth – you and I reconnected as Army wives in Fort Knox, KY in 1986 after we both moved there from Germany, where we first met. You taught me the art of smocking and we spent a lot of time together stitching beautiful outfits for our little girls. Then we decided to make it a “cottage industry” and created our business Handsmocked in Kentucky. We took special orders and sold our work in the Kentucky Arts Council In Louisville … where we attracted the attention of Phyllis George (then wife of the Governor of Kentucky!) .
We had such fun and dreams with our little business, and then all of a sudden we were invited to Phyllis George’s home as a vendor for her Kentucky Derby celebration which featured Kentucky based artists! What an adventure ….33 years later I still have a lot of memories and a wardrobe of smocked dresses to hand down to some special little girl.My memory of Phyllis George was a gracious, giving woman who cared deeply about Kentucky artisans. (And she wrote us a check for a handsmocked dress for her daughter.)
Joanne was able to go into her boxes of photos which are all labeled and put her hands on these photos.
Joanne in front of mansion
Ruth in front of mansion
Our shared booth- Joanne
In the booth- Ruth
Joanne even put her hands on our little brochure. Her sister did the artwork.
Colleen’s Day in Nova Scotia -Guest Blog
Colleen sent a few photos of what she is doing at her home in Nova Scotia. Our friend Joanne in Florida thought it would be interesting to see what people are doing as they “shelter in place.” if you’ve followed this blog for six years you might remember Colleen’s cookbook collection post. Thanks Colleen what a colorful and beautiful quilt.
What are you doing today? Send photos.
