Month: July 2023

Categories
quilting scraps sewing

Childhood Memory Quilt: Tracy

I started this sew along to get to know my new daughter-in-law better. We are glad to have her in our lives. She makes our son happy. She also seems to like my sense of humor. I enjoyed hearing stories about her childhood and where she grew up. This quilt gave us topics to talk about and share. She also got to hear stories about our family, too. She didn’t run away screaming, so that’s a good thing.

In this quilt, Sweet Childhood Memories, designed by Pat Sloan, each block has a theme. I chose fabrics from my stash to represent the given theme of each block. Here is a detailed look at my fabric choices:

My daughter-in-law’s favorite color is green. I used as much green as possible with yellow and pink as accent colors.

Block 1: Fairy Tales

Rumplestiltskin was a favorite childhood story. I used straw fabric for the center and golden threads fabric, too. Straw spun into gold. The pink flames just happens to be the sashing between the blocks.

Block: Best Friend

Tracy had a great story about the best friend theme. When she was little…6 or younger…she spent the night at a friend’s house. In the middle of the night, they prepared breakfast for her friend’s parents. They made toast and raw eggs! She said that she didn’t ever remember staying the night with that friend again. Hmmm!

I used egg yolk and toast colors in this block. I had some scraps of fabric that had lace fused on top. I am certain that these scraps came right out of the 1970’s!

Block: Bedtime Routine

All four of these quilts have newspaper print for the background in this block. Everyone reads or has been read to at bedtime in our family.

The water fabric represents bathtime before bed every night. Bathtime was an important part of bedtime routine at Tracy’s house. She remembers playing a game called, “You are a washcloth” with her mom to help her identify items around the room. The center of this block is made with textured fabric to represent the washcloth.

I modified this block with a green sashing because I cut the squares incorrectly for the half square triangles…oops!

Blocks (from left to right): Easter Sunday, Sing a Song, and Summer Break

Tracy said that one of her favorite Easter things was getting a basket. We talked about egg hunts and coloring eggs, too.

The middle block is for Sing a Song. Tracy loved the Alphabet Song. The small black blocks have the alphabet in print on them. The pig fabric was extra from a previous block…storytime. Tracy introduced me to the story, Perfect the Pig. It is a great story. It is out of print, but you can listen to it here.

Ahhh! Summer! I used colors that reminded me of climbing trees. Tracy had a yard and neighborhood full of great trees to climb.

Block: Ride a Bike

Tracy had a bike that was glittery pink and white. I added the pink flames just for fun!

Blocks (from left to right): Books, Favorite Outdoor Game, and Movie Time

Tracy’s favorite book was Perfect the Pig. I didn’t find that great flying pig fabric until after I made this block. I used sky fabric and butterfly wings to represent the story. Eventhough this story is out of print, she did find a copy for baby.

Freeze Tag was a favorite outdoor game that Tracy played with the other kids in her neighborhood. I used sky fabric to represent the outdoors and snowflakes for freezing.

Tracy loved Cinderella, Snow White…any Disney movie as a little girl. I had some very small scraps of Minnie Mouse…perfect. I used green spider web fabric to represent all the cobwebs that Cinderella cleaned up.

Blocks: Nursery Rhymes on the left, Fun School Memory on the right

Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet and had to put up with a lot of spider webs. I have an amazing amount of spider web fabric. I HATE spiders. I know that in crazy quilts they were added for good luck.

The tulip is for a trip to the planetarium. I love this fabric, but never found a use for it…until now!

Block: Childhood Home

After I made this block, based on Tracy’s description of the house she lived in, she found a picture. Her house was red brick. The yard was full of big trees to climb. There was ivy growing everywhere. I found fabric for all of those elements.

Blocks: Toy Box on the left, and Favorite Teacher on the right

Tracy loved playing with Barbie dolls. I had a great collection of these, too. The dancers in this block remind me of Barbies in elegant gowns and cute shoes.

Tracy’s favorite teacher was Mrs. Baney, an English teacher. I used more alphabet fabric…and the great Perfect Pigs.

Blocks: Favorite Bedtime Toy on the left, Holiday Memory on the right

Since bathtime was an important part of her bedtime routine, Tracy said that her favorite toy was stacking cups that she played with in the tub. I used colors that represented stacking cups. I also found a set of these at a yardsale that I gifted to her.

The fabrics in the Holiday Memory block represent Easter…lots of bunnies and baskets.

Block: Something You Learned

Tracy’s lesson learned was, “Never burn bridges.” One of the star points has a bridge on it. You will notice it is not on fire.

I am happy to assemble another one of these quilts after months of work. Hopefully, the third one will be ready for viewing soon. I hope you enjoyed this quilt narrative.

What have you been working on recently?

Later,

Lorrie

Categories
Jewelry scraps thrifting/ yard sale

Old Becomes New!

Here are a few pieces from the fix-it pile:

So much potential in just a few pieces!
I like the necklace, but rarely wear them. With a little snip of a link, it will become a bracelet. With some extra hardware, it will make three more!

By combining the large jewel beads and the crystal rosary pieces, I made this fantastic blinged out bracelet. Now I just need a party to go to…

The citrine pieces from the broken necklace were pulled off the pins on the chain segments. There was enough to make a bracelet on .7 mm elastic cord.

Glue time! These lovely pieces need a pin back glued on to them.

This bracelet is mostly intact. One gem needs reattached with some cement or glue. It also needs an o-ring to reattach the sections.

This bracelet has elastic in fantastic condition. Most of the missing cabochons were in the huge parts bags. Glue time!

What progress are you making on your latest project? I love hearing from you!

Later,

Lorrie

Categories
Jewelry scraps thrifting/ yard sale

Bling!

I am adding a new category to my blog…jewelry! I have been making jewelry for more than two decades. I don’t make jewelry often, but I do enjoy this as a hobby, too.

I like to fix pieces of jewelry so that I can continue to wear some of my favorite pieces, usually bracelets or earrings. Harbor Freight sells a set of 6 jeweler’s pliers to make this easy. Lots of big box stores carry findings for making earrings, bracelets, etc.

Last year, when our friends came to visit, I discovered that my friend enjoys making jewelry, too. I started stocking the cabin with jewelry making supplies, too.

I found a yard sale that had HUGE bags of scrap jewelry…parts, pieces, some unusual, but functional pieces. Again this year I bought another HUGE bag…I sorted for two days! I wish I had taken a picture of the huge bags…I probably only paid about 50 cents per pound! Here are a few pictures:

The table in the cabin seats six! It was covered with parts containers and all sorts of bits and pieces. I love using repurposed tackle boxes for parts containers. The lids close tight enough to keep the contents in the divided parts…no resorting required. I have four large containers: glass beads/shell beads, wooden beads, and assorted beads, and one for findings. Seed beads are bagged and kept in a separate box.

This bin contains jewelry that is usable as is…no fixing required. In a future post, I will lay out the pieces in categories, like bracelets, necklaces, etc. to share with you. Some of these I will gift to friends/ family…or wear myself…or donate to charity.

This is the small bits container before I sorted it. It contains all sorts of beads, findings and cabochons (things that need to be glued onto something else). The baggie to the right contains pairs of parts suitable for earrings.

The container in the picture shows larger beads that were once upon a time rather large and chunky bracelets. One bead at a time, with smaller beads to make up most of a bracelet, these will be beautiful.

Behind this container, to the left, is a silk flower pin. It has a glued on center made from seed beads. That flower now decorates a basket in my sewing area. It was too gaudy for me to wear, but looks great on a basket.

This pile has an interesting bunch of bits…some of them are clip on earrings. Look at those amber ball creations…and those silver “horseshoes”! Woo-wee! There are also blingy thingys that I will be turning into pins.

This basket is full of things that need a little bit of TLC (tender loving care)…a little glue here…an o-ring there…as good as new. I will post pictures of these reformed pieces later, too.

This is full of pendants…anything that can be put on a chain or choker. Look at that fabulose gold pendant. It is as big as the palm of my hand! There are some others buried under there, too.

These bags contain several other sorted items: Rings, button covers, tie clips, purse hangers, cuff links and a watch! I will picture these in a future post, too. Some of the rings are right out of the 1970’s. Oh, baby!

I also have a bin that I did not picture above. It is full of things to take apart and repurpose. I plan on decortating my world with all of this “junk”. I will share my repurposing adventure with you later, too!

What “new” craft or hobby have you tried recently?

Later,

Lorrie

Categories
quilting scraps

Childhood Memory Quilt: Jeremiah


After months of working on four of these quilts at once, the first one is finally assembled into a top! This is our son’s version.

In this quilt, Sweet Childhood Memories, designed by Pat Sloan, each block has a theme. I chose fabrics from my stash to represent the given theme of each block. Here is a detailed look at my fabric choices:

My son’s favorite color is red. I used as much red as possible.

Block 1: Fairy Tales

I also included legends and other stories in this fairy tale theme. This block reflects a love for the story of Robinhood. The fabric has a forest theme: browns that look like bark, green leaves, and snowy cold nights.

Block: Best Friend

This block is for Henry. Henry makes the best chili con carne in the world. He and Jeremiah also brewed homemade beer at one time. Chili and beer colors are represented in this block.

Block: Bedtime Routine

All four of these quilts have newspaper print for the background in this block. Everyone reads or has been read to at bedtime in our family.

The water fabric represents bath time before bed every night in this block. I modified this block with a maroon sashing because I cut the squares incorrectly for the half square triangles…oops!

Blocks (from top to bottom): Easter Sunday, Favorite Outdoor Game, and Summer Break

The Easter Bunny was a crazy creature. He one time brought a swing set. Another time he brought a turtle sandbox…represented by the cross fabric. It looked like a turtle shell to me. He loved dyeing eggs. After Easter we always made a big batch of pickled beets and eggs to enjoy…and to use up those hardboiled eggs.

One of our son’s favorite outside activities was riding his bike. He also mentioned playing a game that was similar to Lord of the Flies. I don’t even want to know.

Ahhh! Summer break was always a great time for our family. As teachers we had time to spend traveling, etc. The red and blue fabric represents favorite popsicle flavors. I used the bullfrog fabric because we used to sing “Jeremiah was a Bullfrog”.

Block: Ride a Bike

Jeremiah had two bikes that I remember. The first was a push bike…the kind you push with you feet. He rode that up and down the sidewalk of our little fenced in yard for hours. It was orange and white with some black highlights.

When he graduated to a full size bike, it was red with white pin stripes.

Blocks (from left to right): Books, Sing a Song, and Movie Time

Stinky Cheese Man by Jon Scieszka is a great book. Here is a link where you can listen to this story. The colors in this block represent the fox and cheese.

“Jeremiah was a Bullfrog” was a song that we sang to get our boy ready for school. We didn’t want bullies to have an advantage. He also liked “Cats in the Cradle” by Harry Chafin and the “Winnie the Pooh” theme song.

I was not surprised when he chose The Land Before Time and/or Jurassic Park as his favorite movies. He has always loved dinosaurs. The background fabric has dinosaur footprints and skulls.

Blocks: Nursery Rhymes on the left, Fun School Memory on the right

Jeremiah couldn’t think of a nursery rhyme that he absolutely loved. He did think about a song: “Cats in the Cradle”. Songs are poetry set to music. I love the cat fabric in this block!

The tulip colors represent parachute day in gym class as a favorite school memory.

Block: Childhood Home

The house that we lived in had red T111 siding. It looks a lot like a barn. (red fabric) It is a wooded setting. (green leaves) We also used a firepit and fireplace frequently. (red-orange leaves look like flames).

Blocks: Toy Box on the left, and Favorite Teacher on the right

The red blocks were the closest thing in the fabric stash to lego blocks.

Jeremiah’s favorite teacher was Lisa Wright as Musselman High School. The fabric was chosen to represent her cultural heritage.

Blocks: Favorite Bedtime Toy on the left, Holiday Memory on the right

Can you see the Gloworm colors in the block on the left?

The fabrics in the Holiday Memory block represent the legos that my son got as Christmas gifts for many consecutive years. Life was easy then!

Block: Something You Learned

Jeremiah shocked me when he said: “You were right” can prevent a lot of problems. He is sooooo right, but that is a difficult thing to admit sometimes.

I love the fabrics even though they do not really reflect his answer. The blue fabric has some cool tatoos: eagles, skulls, etc.

We have an ongoing family discussion about toilet paper. Some like it soft like a fuzzy bunny, others of us like it like sandpaper. I had just enough of this fabric to work it in as a background. I found it as I was getting ready to cut this last block.

I am happy to finally assemble one of these quilts after months of work. Hopefully, I will have another one to show you soon! I hope you enjoyed this quilt narrative.

What have you been working on recently?

Later,

Lorrie