Sewing Inheritance and Quilt Action

*Advance apology for an image-heavy post :)

Wow! Three blog posts in two weeks, which means I'm actually getting things done! Summer is AWESOME! I have three things to report on today:

First of all, some of you may remember my post last fall of some memories of my Grannie, who passed away. Well, she did teach me to crochet, but she was also an excellent seamstress. She worked in a sewing factory for nearly 30 years, so you know when she came home and sewed even more, she wasn't doing it for fun, but for practicality - pretty much all clothes for her children. By the time I came along, she was retired, but she was still sewing, more for fun, but still mostly clothes for us. Well, when my dad and sister were going through her things this winter, they packed me a bag of some of her sewing stuff (my sister got some too). Here is my sewing inheritance:


Check out the crazy tiny spools of thread!! Does thread have a shelf-life? I would guess the polyester is okay to use, but what about cotton blends? Either way the old wooden spools are really awesome! I also got some clothing patterns. The green shorts pattern is dated 1972. The cute girls red & gray dresses in the center of the last picture are dated 1959. I will have to look for dates on the other ones. Many of them have my dad and his siblings' names written on them - how cool!

Second report: The stacked coin quilt top for cousin Jack is done! Now I have to sandwich, quilt and bind! Yay! I showed it to my husband and asked him what he thought and he said "Its funky." Judging from my facial expression (I assume) he quickly added, "I mean, but not in a bad way. It's, you know, colorful and has lots of different patterns." Oh. So you mean, it looks like a quilt? This is why I don't usually bother to ask him... Sheesh. Here is the finished and pressed top!



Last order of business: Ruffin love, of course! We recently got a set of those puzzle-piece foam mats to create a play area for him in our basement where I sew and my husband plays video games works on his computer. He loves it. Here is the mat: (before anyone complains, we have already covered up the cords behind him...)

Here is how much he loves it! :)

Yum!