Four year old Robert has outgrown all of his Gator shirts. With a home-based tailgate party scheduled at his house tomorrow for the big Florida/Georgia game, he needed some new team gear.
Just before I pulled out a shirt from my size 4 stash, his mother, Shelly, told me that she had a shirt for him that just needed embroidery. Their five-year old neighbor had outgrown this shirt and it was passed on, as children’s clothing and good will often are in their closely knit neighborhood.
Posted in boys, embroidery blanks, machine embroidery, sporting gear
Tagged embroidered Gator gear, Gator gear, kids Gator clothes
quilt pattern is a variation of Grandmother’s Fan
Have you ever quilted with silk dupioni? It really is a wonderful fabric for a special use quilt.
Occasionally, you will see an heirloom style dupioni quilt in Sew Beautiful magazine and this one was featured in Creative Needle magazine a few years ago. The only person I have ever known to actually make one was Rebecca Kemp Brent, a frequent and fabulous contributor to machine embroidery magazines. It was a great compliment for her to reproduce this one.
The reinterpretation of traditional quilt designs by using heirloom fabrics and techniques gives a refreshing and elegant twist to favorite old patterns. Testimony to the popularity of the Grandmother’s Fan pattern is the ready availability of vintage quilts of this design. Continue reading
“Children are made readers on the laps of their parents”
-Emilie Buchwald
“and their grandparents.” -Janice Ferguson
Don’t you love reading to children before they go to bed? They are clean and sweet smelling and, usually, a little quieter and sweeter than earlier in the day.
My grandchildren love story time. Even when they are not spending the night with us, they often are bathed and jammied up, ready to read books before the trek home.
It didn’t take me long to realize that I could not balance two babies and a big story book on my lap and still turn the pages. So I decided a stool would be a good solution. After finding a sturdy 4-legged stool, I stacked a round piece of foam and a layer of batting on top. To match the other nursery accessories, blue gingham check covered the top. Continue reading
little lambs daygown
The day after we were told that our first grandchild was on its way, I began sewing. Of course, it takes some time for the amazing prenatal ultrasound images to identify the baby’s gender and I had no time to wait on the pink or blue designation.
Of course, I had a sizable grandmother’s hope chest ready to go. But there were very few things for a baby boy and I didn’t want to come up short if we had a grandson. So I was in a rush. Continue reading
Posted in heirloom sewing, infant clothing, smocking
Tagged daygown, gender neutral, smocked, smocking
What have you sewn for Halloween?
Sewing grandmothers–and mothers–are usually busy at their machines in the weeks before this increasingly popular holiday. Until we had grandchildren, I was never one of them.
Both of my children have October  birthdays and every  year they each had a minimum of two parties. There was one for friends, one for family and some years, one for school classmates. By the time I was done with smocked birthday outfits, dozens of cupcakes, buckets of buttercream frosting, home made age appropriate party favors and accompanying hoopla, I had no creative energy left for Halloween. My children had to rummage around in their closets to come up with their own pathetic costumes.
That was then. But now I am a card carrying member of the Sisterhood of  October Costume Creators. Continue reading
Posted in Holiday Projects, machine embroidery, Nana fun, serger, uncategorized
Flamingo Floyd dishtowel
I love these “Flamingo Floyd” designs from Embroidery Library.
The folks there have digitized several designs with this goofy flamingo, all decked out for most seasons.   They are great on dishtowels for my daughter and son-in-law. Actually, they are for Harvey’s kitchen since he does all the cooking, but Rebecca does clean up so they both enjoy the towels.
Flamingo Floyd April showers
Their charming 1950’s home on a quiet tree lined street looks just like the sort of house and neighborhood where Ward and June Cleaver raised their boys, Wally and The Beaver. My husband always says he feels like he has stepped back in time when we visit there.
Anyone who has lived very long in Florida will remember the pink flamingo “yard art” that graced so many lawns for several decades. None are on Rebecca and Harvey’s street, but their absence is noticeable. Continue reading
Posted in home dec, linen blanks, machine embroidery, techniques
kiddie wedding fun
For our daughter’s 2006 wedding at our home, the guest list went round the full “circle of life,†from infants to the elderly.
All were welcome, but, especially for the smallest guests, accommodations had to be made.  In order for little ones and their parents to enjoy themselves, extra planning was required. It took some effort, but in the big picture, it was not a major expenditure of time or money.
Our first consideration was seating for our 8 youngest guests, ages 0-4 years. Reaching out to local friends, we borrowed enough high chairs for the babies and booster seats for the toddlers. The high chairs were wrapped with gold organza bows, just like the adult chairs.  The booster seats were strapped securely onto the regular adult seats.
minister’s baby
Posted in baby accessories, bags, embroidery blanks, machine embroidery, wedding
Until 4 year-old Robert Charles forced the introduction, I had no idea just who or what the Backyardigans were. But as I’ve said before, the Nana learning curve is steep. I had to climb hard and learn fast. Do you know who they are? I’d love to hear about what you readers have had to learn for your grandchildren.
As I found out, Backyardigans are just one more set of peace-loving, gentle natured cartoon characters, beloved by many preschoolers, including my darling grandson.   They include a moose named Tyrone, a hippo named Tasha, Pablo the penguin, Uniqua and Austin, creatures whose species eludes me. I was never good at science.
I absolutely adore this little guy. He is almost a clone of his father, my son, both physically and emotionally (translation: gorgeous and challenging).
After Robert goes home, I follow his long established, clandestine route through my house. I turn out all the back bedroom nightstand lights (on the little brass tap-tap-tap switches), turn on the daylight sensor front porch light switch, reset my dishwasher to “normal wash” from his preferred “pots and pans” and “air dry” cycles, turn off his four favorite outdoor hoses, and once again mute the sound on my computer.  We rarely catch him in the act but when we do he is nonplused, like a meter reader just doing his job.  Continue reading
Posted in boys, embroidery blanks, machine embroidery
Alastair's first Halloween
What a great pattern this is! I’ve had it for more than 25 years and always thought that I would make it up. When I bought it, my own son was already eight years old, so it didn’t happen in his time. But with two little grandsons now, I decided to pull Children’s Corner “Glenn” out of my boys’ pattern box and give it a try.
It makes up just like the Jon-Jon pattern from Martha’s Favorite Applique’s, but has the button-on bib pattern included. It can be worn with or without the bib so you can get a lot of use from one suit. It also has nice tabs on either side to pull in at the waist where the armholes might gap. Bibs can be made up for holidays or simply for variety.
Alastair and his adoring mama, Rebecca
Have any readers made up this pattern? Do you have any others that have been unused in your pattern box that you have finally tried? I’m going to pull out some others and see if I am as pleased.
Posted in baby accessories, boys, infant clothing, machine embroidery
Some projects just seem doomed from the get-go. This book bag for my homeschooled granddaughter is one of those. It was cut out 8 weeks ago and has been pushed to the bottom of my to-do list again and again, because something else was more urgently needed or there was a problem with the bag that stopped me in my tracks. So I am happy just to have it completed finally.
Nana School book bag
Posted in bags, machine embroidery, school accessories, serger
