Dancing Buttons Bangles and Beads

Click on photos to enlarge them. My friends from near and far came up with many possible names for this piece, all wonderful suggestions, so I took a few words from some and combined them with my own ideas for the title "Dancing Buttons, Bangles, and Beads".

It's free motion top sewn felt pieces over burlap, both from thrift store...cotton fat quarters,

thrift store ribbon...cotton threads...

Metal pieces thanks to Judy at Red Velvet...a gift...

Angelina fibers and wool roving from Susan Stein's Minnesota quilt shop.

Hand embroidered over stitching, wooden beads garage sale gleaned,

big buttons from a quilt show visit last year, knew I'd use them sometime on something!

;-)

A designed Grandmother's Bag for a new Grandie

My friend, Soulbrush
became a Grandmother this past month. Many of you now know her as Grandie now. Being a happy Grandma myself I got caught up in the waiting for her "Baby Bean" to be born...she had a count down on her blog marking off the days.

I appointed myself as grand-mothering tutor/mentor to SB. I told her she definitely would need a 'grandma's bag' or in her case a 'grandie's bag'. So to surprise her while I was waiting for baby to be born I designed a combination grandma's bag and baby mat for HER to use. I take a bag filled with little toys each and every time I visit my four-year- old grand children (twins) and they delight in opening the bag and finding old things that have been there from when they were little babies and new things I toss in (usually finds from the thrift store or craft store or my own crafting stash) little toys, puppets, books, and now always at least one craft project to do with them. And so the idea was born.

I remembered back to when they were babies and while I was constructing the initial bag out of a half yard of beautiful brightly colored Laural Burch fabric I decided to make this outer quilt a mat for baby to play on (pre-crawling stage). The backing became the calmer blue side for quieting baby. I added little satin ribbons for baby to grab on to, again remembering our little guys liking tags left on toys to hold.

I then added a bag with a shoulder strap and used large utility snaps to hold it inside the bag...this to hold the toys and books...It can be unsnapped to allow use of the quilted mat, which I top sewed around the pictures of cat families and some added personal photos of SB herself now and as a baby, and her dog Snuffles. I imagined baby learning to identify "grandie, baby, and doggie!" before long.

This first photo is the mat spread out for sitting or laying on.

This is the opposite side the blue calming side.

Here you see the bag for toys snapped into place.


This is the top folded over forming a carrying bag.

and here you see it again with the shoulder strap handle from the inner bag sticking out.

I wish you many years of joy and fun

with your little grand baby!

I had fun waiting, creating, and sending you this project!

May it get lots of wear at Grandie's house and when you go to visit!

Fabrics: Outer layer is half yard of Laural Burch designed cotton I got in MN at Colorful Quilts (Susan Stein's store, which closed this January, unfortunately); Inner blue lining is 100% cotton, I found at the thrift store; The bright orange inner bag is left over 100% fabric from my very first ever quilt made in a class at Quilted Heart in Vacaville, CA, very good quilting cotton; Orange binding is cotton from the thrift store. cotton threads. Snaps. Fusible web lines the strap. Ribbons from the thrift store.

Quiltlet for Suki

Sukipoet is a blogland friend for whom I made this quiltlet after her mother died. It's a tribute to Suki's love for her mom, made from fabrics that had belonged to her mother who was a seamstress. Suki had a give away and I was fortunate enough to win these fabrics.

I had wanted to weave some fabrics and took this opportunity to do so as the plain pink made a wonderful frame to weave the patterned floral fabric through. I then top stitched hearts and flowers and ribbons etc. to hold the weave in place. I made a small doll to represent her mother using a photo of mothers face taken at the very last days of her life and transferred it to cloth. I even left a bit of batting sticking out around her head to match her lovely white hair. I stitched the doll to the mat and gave her a red heart necklace that matched the one Suki had given her mother.
I added green grass for her to stand in as if she is standing in a garden. The white fabric for the backing and binding was part of the giveaway too.

I received wonderful kudos of appreciation from Suki and other blog friends who saw this quilt on her blog today.

In Honor of Suki's Mom