I started a Grandmother's Flower Garden about a month ago. The plan is to make a Full Size quilt with 1930s / 40s repros for my mom for her 80th birthday (Sept. 2011)... all by hand.. piecing and quilting. I have no doubt she will love it.. she has hinted and hinted for a repro quilt for a while now. :-) I am really loving making it... I just think I am wired for handwork. My Mama Rush (Paternal grandmother) never owned a sewing machine. She made a number of quilts.. did a lot of crochetting.. and sewed some of the lovliest dresses for me when I was a wee one all by hand.
No doubt machine work is quicker, but I love the control and creativity I feel when doing handwork.. and the connection I feel with my Mama Rush.
This will not be my last by hand project!
Anyway... I've been whipping up hexagons... and zipping them together into flowers... I really wanted to see what they would look like put together... so I pieced a small section, just to see. I think it turned out very nice. Ready to get more done!
I also did some non-quilt sewing this weekend. My son (college freshman) was looking online at Urban Outfitters for some shirts and shorts. Found some things on sale. The shirts were a good deal, so he got a couple, but even on sale the shorts were $40... and they were essentially non-denim cut offs. I mentioned that he might have some pants here that he no longer wears that could be cut off. He remember some gray cords he bought a year ago that are way too short these days. He used another pair of shorts as a guide.. added a 1/2"... marked a cut line and used my rotary cutter to whack them off.. and then I hemmed them. He doesn't like the ragged edge you get with cut offs. Took about 10 minutes total and cost nothing! Now that is a deal. I have a feeling I will be hemming some more in the days to come.
"Belle"
