Art, Craft and Needlework, February, 2010

[Nancy]

I finished up the last granny square last night yea!

[Harmony]

Wow Nancy, that's great progress.

Still basting away here. I am thinking a lot about why I'm doing this. And why I do all the handmade blankets / quilts I've made for babies over the years.

I'm interested in your opinions of why you are doing this stuff and what the reactions of the recipients have been. Do you think any of them have any idea of the work involved, the time, do you think the appreciation of the gift matches the effort? And does that really matter one way or another?

I know in my family it is sort of "expected" that I do this because I can and I do. I don't know if that equates into appreciation or not. Serious thoughts in my head. Rethinking a lot of family stuff these days.

[Nancy]

I know my family appreciates the time I have invested in what I make.
And the grands appreciate what I make them.
They do seem to enjoy getting it.
My family knows how much time goes in to things that I make.

I know it b/c I've heard dson go off on how his ex did not appreciate the work
in a hand made quilt that she wanted to take to the beach!

I do it b/c it relaxes me!
I wanted to add that it is a creative outlet for me also.

[Harriet]

About tabletop basting - that is what I would do. I even draped dsonil's larger quilt over the table to baste it. I have basted large quilts in the floor before, but I think I worked harder without getting better results. Once, I mistakenly did one on carpet, and caught the carpet fibers up in the basting! LOL! Not a good idea. When I mark, I use those purple fading markers, so I have to mark a section right before I quilt it, and do just one section at a time - can't do it very far in advance.

Why do I sew? Well, no kidding, it's for the creativity of it. This is my fun, the thing I look forward to. I prove that to myself every time a fabric catalog or quilt magazine comes into this house and I count the minutes until I can be alone with it! I sometimes fall asleep thinking of sewing. When I get a sewing/quilting gift, my eyes light up, I know. Ds24 has just about quit getting me anything else because it's too easy to drop by a fabric shop and know he can find something I'll probably like. It's also fun to try to get better at it, or try harder things.

I used to feel this way about gardening, and maybe I will again, but the "bug" hasn't bitten me lately.

Being able to give to family is very nice, I'm grateful to have them to give to, and I think they appreciate it, but I'm not foolish enough to believe they know how much goes into a piece. They know I will ONLY work on projects that interest me, and that they can't choose what I make.

[Harmony]

My basting is all done. I used up some old spools of thread. Wooden spools that said boilsafe on the end. LOL, I can't remember that last time I boiled my laundry!

So what I read here is that you each do this stuff because YOU get joy out of it. And your family appreciates it but doesn't have a clue how much goes into it.

So if some family member doesn't think you care very much, a gift like this doesn't always say, yes she does? I guess it does if they have some idea of the effort involved. People that don't sew/knit/etc. don't have a clue do they!

Well, I'm happy to be doing this quilt and happy to be giving it, I'm just not sure how it will be received, and I guess I just shouldn't worry about that.

I do know one baby quilt I gave got snatched up and loved very much by older brother. He put it down on the floor all the time and played on it. That felt rewarding.

[Harriet]

I think you've got a good point, Nancy, about it being relaxing to us when we hand-craft things. It 's good for our brains to do something creative - it keeps us thinking and working out problems (like Nancy did with having to take out some and rethink what she would make - and me with the pattern piece that was wrong), and also it keeps the stress down.

I saw LisaB checking in on us! I hope she is able to get in a lot of creative time.

Harmony, I'm trying to think what makes a handmade gift stand out as a loving one. With a quilt you have the benefit of being able to attach a label. For a handmade gift that doesn't really have a place for a label, a thoughtful card does the same. On dstepgd's quilt label, I wrote "To Our Sweet Grandchild" with her name and "by" my name. I put it in the box with corner turned back so label was up! That was really well-received by dstepson32, (but he is a very appreciative person all the time). When giving to our children, the person's temperament will be a factor. For someone who is usually hard to impress, the handmade gift probably won't be very impressive either! Also, how you present it will make a difference. If you and dh think this is a meaningful gift and act that way as it is given, it will likely be received that way.

I have had moments of caring more about handmade gifts given to my children MUCH later in life. I have remembered the gifts and thought, years afterward, how the person went to trouble.

[Nancy]

I did a black strip around a granny square hat and
added tassel; got some white around sleeves on a granny square vest that used to be a sweater and dgd was playing with the granny squares and
found one more that needs the black around it so I'm not done with them yet.

[Lynlee]

Previously I just made a pram rug made going round the one square.
How do you join crotched afgan squares to make a patchwork rug?

[Lynlee]

I found some square joining info on line - more methods than I could poke a stick at. Some sewn, some crochet

I'm using varigated cotton, so am reversing direction each round to keep the flow of the colour. Described the colours to dd#2 today and I assumed her approval. lol . she is not a pastel girl so I have red/orange/chocolate-redbrown and musty blue/greens hues, with a few solid colours tan, grey, emerald green. Not sure what the boarder colour will be. Or maybe just sew as invisible as possible. Might not use the solid colours. Jist a nuteral one fot joining.

Pulled 1st square out as I hadn't sussed out how to make a more seamless join to 1st shell first up. With cotton and loud colours it was noticable. I admit. Perfectionist.

[Harriet]

That's smart to research what's online, Lynlee. Isn't it amazing the info that can be out there. The coloring you picked sounds very good-looking. My dd30 is not a pastel girl, either. Not much point in pushing pink on them when they don't want it! For her wedding quilt I did mostly golds. She has a favorite table I knew she wanted to decorate around, with gold/tan inlays, so I just tried to go with its colors. Enjoy your stitching! Hope you get lots of time for it.