It is holiday time down here and I have been having the most pleasurable of weeks. With the bright pink door at the Kim Sharman School of Excellence closed to students for two weeks I have been catching up on some orders. A lady, Fiona, asked me if I would stitch a wall hanging which would become a family heirloom. Fiona's dad recently passed away and she hankered after a wall hanging, incorporating some photos of her grandparents, her mum and dad, and her siblings. She also said I could do whatever I wanted!!!
Fiona intimated she would like pretty embellishments that evoked a sense of nostalgia. Heirloom....pretty embellishments....nostalgia....complete carte blanche in what I fashioned....all these words are music to my ears!! AND.....to be given complete freedom in whatever I wanted to create.....well....it doesn't get much sweeter than that!!
Fiona asked perchance, if I had some pretty laces and bits and bobs to incorporate into the wall hanging. Now let me see........do I have enough pretties with which to embellish?? Yes indeedy, I think I might have a few!!!! Actually, I have an Aladdin's cave overflowing with a bounteous supply of all manner of lacy and embroidered treasures! Who needs a haberdashery store anyway??
Of course when Fiona said she wanted pretty.......I did double check that she really meant pretty. When given half a chance to 'do pretty', here in my humble abode the embellishment bomb detonates with lace, ribbon, vintage pretties, buttons, beads etc etc......AND.....I do tend to get carried away. As Fiona has five sons I wasn't quite sure if what was in my brainpan would sit well in a home where there are 6 humans of the male kind. She assured me that my creation would be displayed on a wall in her bedroom, the one room in her home where femininity rules! I might add Fiona lives in a 100 year old school house!! Lucky Fiona!!
I photocopied the photos on some photo transfer fabric, heat set the photos with an iron and then rinsed them in cold water for about a minute.
I photocopied the photos on some photo transfer fabric, heat set the photos with an iron and then rinsed them in cold water for about a minute.
After stitching the photos onto the backing fabric, I then began playing with all my pretties I had gathered up and began to stitch them in an arrangement that was pleasing to my li'l eye!
As is always the case with a project such as this, I am afraid I made the most unholy mess in my sewing room, because I always find when stitching a project like this, I need to find the exact snippet of lace or a tiny embroidery that I know is somewhere, but cannot quite remember in which suitcase or hat box it is waiting ever so patiently, so that it might cast a little beauty to the project on hand. Hence the upturning of many a suitcase is required and the burrowing deep, deep down into the disarray of pretties......into the mayhem........is mandatory! A lot of time is spent in arranging the perfect pretty in the exact position.
Fiona wanted me to include some gorgeous hand embroidered doilies her grandmother had lovingly stitched many, many years ago, so I machine stitched the names on these to make them a little more personal.
I adore hand stitching. I find hand stitching to be therapeutic; it gives me much pleasure and satisfaction. I adore adding little snippets of lace, remnants of embroideries, a little satin ribbon here and there, a fragment or two of antique motifs, some beads, buttons, a vintage piece of ornamentation........a smidgen of a doily. It really is the best fun.
With every heirloom piece I stitch I always love to incorporate a vintage glove holding a few stems of pretty blooms. After all, every bride in a bygone era always wore a beautiful pair of gloves on her wedding day. In this instance I fashioned some pretty roses using French wire ribbon.
It has given me much pleasure to sit in my sunny sewing room this week and stitch this heirloom quilt. With each stitch I have thought of Fiona and the many treasured memories that encompass her family. I hope when Fiona gazes upon this quilt many reminiscences will come to mind of the happy and cherished moments spent with her loved ones.
This last week of the holidays I have a few more orders to stitch but I don't suppose they will give me as much joy, as the stitching of this nostalgic-filled quilt. Oh well.......such is life.
May you all have a sunny week filled with a li'l stitching. 'Tis toodles from me!
