Postby Harriet » Fri Dec 19, 2008 8:49 am
That is about as Christmas-y a view as could be - thanks for the glimpse, Kathryn. Lovely. I'm sure the whole family will appreciate your efforts, plus it is good for one's own heart to keep up a tradition! I know what you mean about having to practice with hand embroidery quite a while before feeling confident to move on to the actual piece. Every time I do it I feel I am starting from scratch learning because I do it so seldom, probably years in between.
SuzLew, that is what dd says! Indiana,, I tried to keep an eye toward the primitive and bring in a few true reproduction fabrics that had odd looks, turn them different ways sometimes! If I didn't like a reproduction fabric, that made me give it more consideration, because I would remind myself that I didn't want perfect, but real and interesting. Some of them are ... ... strange! But a lot of the other squares have been in my scrap basket a while. Three square scraps have the words to "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" (written 1855, so cutting it close to be authentic). It was common for fabrics to have words imprinted during the 1800's, but that one was circa 1980s. Sunny, I chose the name for Briscoe Darling, who had a cabin that Sheriff Andy and Deputy Barney visited not far from Mayberry! A quilt featured in many of those scenes looked like this one.
I noticed a tip in that photo with my sewing machine - bring a telephone with you to your workplace if possible so you don't have to get up when it rings!