Kids Quilts - a heartfelt story

Recently I came across this snippet about kids quilts, and Fiona (the author) agreed that I could share it with you.

"My Great Grandmother, whom I called Nan Sax, made each of her 31 great grandchildren their own kids quilt.

Nan Sax has been gone for over twenty years now, but the quilt she made for me is my treasured childhood possession, it is something tangible, that reminds me of the time I spent with her and it symbolises the love she showed, not only to me but to all of her family.

Growing up, Nan Sax was a perpetual traveller, she spent her time visiting relatives and I always looked forward to her visits.  Sometimes she would stay for a week, other times a month.  Her way of helping our mother was to peel the vegies every night for dinner, make pumpkin scones for afternoon tea and to have her latest kids quilt project out on the kitchen table ensuring none of her posterity missed out.

Dinner time would be spent with meals on laps in front of Television while Nan Sax cut, stitched or pieced together her prize.

Looking at my quilt now, I feel that I can see her personality in it, the colour choice, the block style, the way she stitched the binding.  All these things characterize my Great Grandmother, her individual worth I feel is now preserved, ready to share with my family.

My children, never had the opportunity to meet Nan Sax but I hope they see her personality and feel her love in the kids quilt that she made for me."

Reading this makes me realize how valuable quilt making is. As I see my own kids snuggle up under their quilts of an evening I am glad that I found the time to make them each a quilt. I know they will always have fond memories of it as part of their childhood.

It is my hope that there are many more "Grandmother Sax's" spreading their quilting love to others, because I know their efforts will be long remembered and treasured for years to come.

Click here for a peek at a special kids quilt to make.

Warmly Lenna
www.stitchingcow.com

Redwork Embroidery

Be inspired by this special presentation on Redwork embroidery.
Want more embroidery inspiration visit http://www.stitchingcow.com

English Paper Piecing - my quilt in the pantry

English paper piecing is one of my favourite quilt making techniques. I guess it's because I enjoy hand work so much. I've been playing around with some new fabrics I bought recently and decided to incorporate a hexagonal flower design into a new needle case pattern that I am working on.

The process reminded me of the half finished quilt that I have tucked away in my pantry, which I am sure you think is a strange place to hide my quilt. Luckily for me my pantry is very big and therefore also doubles for some of my sewing storage. I think it is a happy arrangement and works quite well, two of my favourites side by side...food and fabric!

Although I know hubby finds the arrangement a lot less amusing.

The hexagonal flowers were pieced together using a traditional English paper piecing technique. They were the perfect thing to keep my hands busy at Miss 9's dancing lessons one winter. I used a 5" charm pack which was ideal.

The flowers came together very quickly and I decided to hand applique them onto cream background squares. Eager for more hand sewing I even hand pieced the squares together.Then all of a sudden all systems stopped.

I hesitated fearing I had made  a poor decision. Maybe it would have been better to keep on adding cream background hexagons for the background as shown in the quilt below.

It's put together like this;

And so it remains in the dark corners of my pantry wondering when it will ever see the light of day again.

But that's not the worst of it, the other night whilst itching to start a new project my hands picked up a jelly roll and some small hexagons. My scissors were poised to start cutting in when my Miss 9 questioned what I was doing. As I heard myself tell her, scissors in mid air, I stopped and felt sorry for the half finished quilt in the pantry. Guilt set in and I slowly put the scissors down. The jelly roll remained in tact.

Here is my half finished quilt.

I really must find the enthusiasm to keep going. I have rows of hexagons joined together which I think I will applique in place around the border. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

In the mean time if you would like to try your hand at English paper piecing you can find more information by clicking on the link.

Warmly Lenna

Looking for Valentines Day Ideas?

If you enjoy making gifts, then you'll love these Valentines ideas.

As January comes to a close I'm reminded that Valentines Day is just around the corner and this year I am determined not to forget. Hubby and I have never make Valentines Day an expensive celebration but we do normally exchange cards or leave love hearts scattered around the house, or perhaps pop a rose on the pillow.

But I have a confession to make ... last year I forgot.

I know that sounds dreadful. But it's true and I had no excuse, other than the usual groan of "life is so busy being a Mum". To make matters even worst, hubby decided that year to break tradition and buy me some pretty and very expensive lingerie which, as you can imagine, took me by surprise and made my dreadful deed seem twice as bad.

So you can understand why this year I must not forget and I am already thinking about some Valentines ideas.

I think it is lovely that Valentines has spilled over into celebrating friendships and that children are being encouraged to give their parents a small Valentines gift or card. Whilst some may argue that Valentines Day is nothing more than a commercial ploy, I prefer to think of it as a day of appreciation. A day to take some time out and give thanks to those around us whom we love.

Coming up with a new Valentines idea each year can be a bit of a challenge, which is why I decided to list some sewing projects here to help you out.
 

Valentines Idea 1 - Click here for more information

Valentines Idea 2 - Click here for more information

 

Hope your Valentines Day is  a special one for you and that these Valentines ideas have inspired you to say "I love you" to someone special.

Warmly Lenna

www.stitchingcow.com

Stitching Cow and Quilting Gallery

The New Year is always a time of change and the beginning of exciting new ventures, and 2010 has been no exception with a new partnership between Stitching Cow and Quilting Gallery.

If you are a quilt makers or would like to be, you may already be familiar with Michele and her wonderful work at Quilting Gallery. Michele's site is a treasure trove of quilting related information, and she manages to have heaps of fun along the way. With swaps, tutorials, free patterns, guest bloggers, competitions and helpful articles, there's always something happening at Quilting Gallery and now I have joined the team as an expert columnist.

Each week I will be writing about a quilt making or quilting tip and I also plan to provide some helpful advice on hand embroidery and applique techniques.

To kick things off this week Michele and I have opened up the column and invited everyone to submit a question that they would like answered, so if you have something that you need help with, or perhaps have a technique that you would like to know more about, jump over to Quilting Gallery and leave  a question for me. I'd love to hear from you.
Here's the link for you:
http://quiltinggallery.com/2010/01/17/lennagreen/

Warmly Lenna

New Craft Blogging for Bliss Book

Taking some time off over the Christmas and New Year break meant that I had a chance to check out some new books. And I was relieved to find this treasure Blogging for Bliss written by Tara Frey.

 Blogging for Bliss: Crafting Your Own Online Journal - A Guide for Crafters, Artists and Creatives of All Kinds

Finally some one has come to the rescue to give a helping hand to those wanting to join in on the fun of craft blogging. I remember when I first launched in on my blogging adventure and I have to admit it took me a while to learn the ropes. I didn't have much computer know how at the time and the whole process was exciting although a bit scary. At the start I made a lot of mistakes but slowly I learned the ropes and now a whole new world has opened up for me.

If you have been wanting to start your own blog then this book is a must have.
Thanks for writing this book Tara, I wish it had been available when I first started craft blogging.

Warmly Lenna
www.stitchingcow.com