cross stitch

I like to cross stitch, and it's fun way to make gifts.  I decided to take on a cross stitching project when we looked in the Young Womens' closet and found a stash of medallions from the previous program, lovely little charms that have been discontinued and no longer have meaning.  So I created a pattern for a cross stitch sampler, and then lots of borders to go around them so every one was different.  Each girl in our Young Womens program got one.  It took me a couple of months to do all the cross stitching and framing, but they turned out lovely, and I hope it will be a gift that the girls will cherish, and that they will know they are loved.

 

I made 27 of them. Am I crazy, or what?

painting

I like to paint, and have even dabbled a little with watercolors.

 

 

But probably the biggest painting project was painting my house!

Terra Cotta walls, darker on the bottom than the top, lots of color after living with white walls forever. My husband wasn't so sure, but I love how it turned out.

 

painted trains

I like to do a little painting.  I wish I had more time for it, but it is fun to dabble with.  Some time ago I did a little painting for Sheri's kids.  I picked up a little alphabet train with magnetic connectors in the letters for Saedi's name, and then painted them with pictures of things that started with those letters. It was fun to create, and turned out pretty cute.

Strawberries

angel, eggs,

 

dogs, ice cream (with Saedi!)

 

and more on the other side - sun and stars,

earring, anchor,

 

Dressup and dancing, iris.

It turned out so well that after Gavin was born Sheri went searching for more of the train letters, and I painted another one for him.

Grapes and apples,

Violin, Igloo, Nest,

Geese, Alligator, Vulture,

Indian and Necklace.

 

fun stuff, huh?

 

 

 

 

apron

I saw a post on Pinterest about making an apron from a man's shirt.  We have lots of extra clothes at our house that we have grown out of, because we both have put on so much weight since we got married.  And besides, I don't know what ever possessed my dear hubby to buy a pink plaid shirt in the first place.  I am positive he would never wear it again, even if it did fit.  So I cut it up and made an apron out of it.  Simple to do, and pretty cute, and much more useful than hanging in a closet collecting dust.

Chicken scratch

Among the piles of fabric we pulled out of my mother's closet shelves were some aprons in various stages of finishing. One was completely done, one had the embroidery done but wasn't sewn together, one had the embroidery about half done, and one had no embroidery at all, it was just the pieces cut out. Hmm, four aprons.  So I brought them home and finished them all up, and then sent one to each of my daughters so they could have an apron that grandma made.  The one that I did all the embroidery on, I kept for myself.  That way I don't feel guilty wearing it in the kitchen, since I just made it myself. I wonder if my daughters will ever wear theirs.

I have a red cross-stiched apron in my cedar chest that my mother made.  Many years ago she made it for a neighbor up the street.  That neighbor, June Sumsion, kept it in her cedar chest until after my mother died, and then she gave it to me. See, I can't wear that one in the kitchen, because it might get dirty, and it's an heirloom now.

Roots

I need to say a little about where - or who - I came from, since much of what I am is because of my parents.  My mom was Cleone Hale, a very talented young woman, with lots and lots of friends, who sewed, sang, played the piano, excelled in school, fulfilled leadership positions in school clubs and sororities, helped with the war effort, was everyone's favorite babysitter and housecleaner, and when she was a junior in high school she fell in love with a boy named Stewart Parker.  Unfortunately for her, he wasn't one to settle down to just one girl, but he was happy to introduce her to his older brother, who was too shy to call for himself.  And so she went to a dance with Max Parker, and eventually decided that he was the one for her. They were engaged in December of 1945, and then he went away for 18 months in the Navy while she graduated from high school and prepared for marriage. They were married in the Logan Temple in 1947, and started a family, and shortly after he finished his education, a career with IBM.

Dad was a great provider, and worked hard to make sure we were taken care of.  There wasn't a lot to spare, and we lived frugally.  If Mom wanted us to have music lessons, she would often trade services in order to pay for them.  She spent many hours ironing other people's clothes to pay for our piano lessons.  She was also an excellent seamstress and even taught people how to sew.  I got a job at a fabric store when I was in college, and after I left to go away to school at BYU she took my position at the fabric store.  Then she moved on to Stretch-And-Sew Fabrics, where she taught classes in sewing with knits.  She had so many other homemaking skills as well, and in her years in Relief Society led many classes and workshops in cooking, sewing, canning, quilting, crafting and many other things that could help other women learn the homemake skills that she possessed. She was an amazing organizer, and whatever she worked at, she did beautifully.  


  If I have any talents and abilities, they are inherited from my dear mother.

So here are some photos of things my mom made, just to show you some of her talents...

1. 

more quilts

Once I got a taste of piecing together quilts, I was intrigued by the beauty you can create, so I made a few more. First I pieced together a disappearing nine patch for a neighbor that was having a baby girl. It went together really fast, and because I quilted it on my machine, it was finished in a weekend.

Then I pieced together the scraps from that one and made this one.

Then I got brave enough to start on the quilt that my mother had made with her quilting club and never finished, which involved creating some blocks, and piecing others together that they had made into something that was a pleasing pattern, using fabrics that I brought home from mom's stash.

It was a lot of work, and lots of applique, but I was happy with how it turned out.  Then I sent it to Craig, because he has lived in San Jose most of his life, and raised his kids there.

Then I took a couple of quilt workshops and made some more,

this one was a small practice piece,

and then I made this full sized one with turquoise borders,

 and these silly ones,
which are "fairy quilt godmothers"

I think I'll hang them in my sewing room to watch over my creative efforts.



  

Dishtowel Quilt

Last August when my Father passed away, we spent the next week cleaning out his house.  There was still a lot of stuff that my Mother had left, even though she passed away in 1994. We went up into the attic and opened her cedar chest, and inside we found some things that have probably been in there since before she was married in 1947.  Dad was in the navy, and I imagine while he was away she was doing handwork and making things that she would use in her married life, and carefully storing them in  her cedar chest.  Every young girl in that day and age embroidered dish towels and pillow cases and aprons and things like that.  I found a set of dishtowels that I'm sure my mother embroidered, and then never used.  They stayed in her cedar chest until we found them 65 years later. So I brought them home, separated the embroidered part from the rest of the towel, and pieced them into a quilt, with variations of nine-patch blocks in between.  I love how it came out, a tribute to my mom.

This was also my very first attempt at piecing together a quilt,

and I learned about nine-patch quilt variations as I went along.

Can an old dog learn new tricks? Or an old foote learn a new path?  Sure.  I created a website for my family history, so I can do this.  I'll figure it out.
One day my dear hubby said he was amazed at how talented I am; I sing, paint, write, draw, sew, craft, create, make jewelry, arrange music, lead the choir, teach great lessons, and write really good speeches. Maybe this is a way I can record some of the things I do, all in one place, so when it comes time for my kids to write an obituary they can look here and say, "I didn't know she could do all that!"