Earlier in the season I “finished” a Christmas wall hanging that I had started last year. (Yes, I’m afraid it might never be completely finished.)
Today I decided it was time to replace it with something else. I have carried for many years (as did my mother before giving it to me) a baby quilt that was made by the women of Steinmann Amish Mennonite Church to honour my birth. I did not use it for either of my children as they too received baby quilts from church/a church member. I decided to sew a placket on the back and hang this kitten quilt for the next couple months.
Back in September 1980 I took a pattern from Woman’s Day magazine to make dolls for my kids. I made Jeremy for Simon and David for Trina.
An original doll (Trina’s David) looking a little worse for its 30 years.
Initially I thought, with that pattern, I could use a photo transfer of Volker’s face to make a grampa doll. That did not work well. Then, inspired by Alicia’s dolls (The Blind Stitch) it occurred to me how I might make a doll that would, with some imagination, look like Volker. Here are some pictures of my work in progress.
Next week I will post pictures of giving little Volker this doll for his first birthday.
I remember the year that my mother made clothes for my dolls as a Christmas present. We didn’t get a lot for Christmas; as small children we each got something, but even that stopped by the time we reached our teens.
But one Christmas, when I was four or five I knew my Mom, after we kids were in bed, was still up sewing. I don’t know if I knew it then, though I did later, my Mom did not like to sew, she sewed because she had to! So Christmas morning I awoke to a wardrobe for my doll — I don’t remember how many pieces, but I know along with the usual dresses there was a little coat — that impressed me!
As I have four older brothers and two younger I felt obliged to keep up with the boys and didn’t spend a lot of time playing with dolls, though Mom tried hard to encourage me. My brothers also had a doll each, but they were more inclined to other kinds of play; though they would sometimes play “house” with me.
Barb and friends
I enjoyed sewing much more than my Mom ever did. When my kids were little “Cabbage Patch Kids” were all the rage. I started making soft sculpture dolls for sale. For her 5th birthday I made Trina a large doll she named “Randy.” Not only does she still have that doll, but Mina loves to play with it.
Trina’s 5th birthday — with Randy, her new doll.Mina with Randy, March 2014
I am so very grateful to the women of Bloomingdale Mennonite Church for their willingness to do the actually quilting on my mother’s quilt. Work was started on it today at Kathleen’s home:
Helping today: Kathleen, Marie, Lorrie, Ailene, Sharon, Lois, Linda, Trish and me. By four o’clock this afternoon the quilt was a little better than half done! So grateful!
This morning, after a short visit with my mother in St Jacobs, I drove out to Len’s Mill Store in Hawkesville. This store was recommended for quilting supplies and I needed to get fabric to border and back my quilt squares.
The saleswoman in the store was so very helpful! I am a newbie at this and know very little about any of it. We pick a pale yellow for the borders and a matching yellow flannelette for the back. She figured out the quantities I’d be needing, something I had no clue how to do. I paid for my purchases and home I went to start constructing a quilt.
By 5:30 this afternoon I had my four columns made. Laying them out on the spare room floor it was apparent that one column was too short. My grandma made these quilt blocks, likely when she was quite old and her eyesight was not good; they are not very even. The blue square seemed to be the culprit, so I first tried taking it apart and re-sewing it — that wasn’t sufficient. I went looking for fabric to make a new square.
I wanted another blue but didn’t really have much. I did have a bit of fabric that we’d used for Trina’s flowergirls’ dresses — dark blue with silver spider webs. This really appealed to me — I want this quilt to be flower garden like because Mom’s greatest joy in life was her flowers. And it’s my opinion that gardens need spiders.After supper I cut and pieced my spider web block. Laying it down with the other I realized I’d pieced it wrong. Can you see my error?Taking it apart and re-assembling it will be a task for another day.
