Clothes for the Grandkids

Posted on April 13, 2016 by Barb

I loved sewing for my children when they were little. I don’t know how I found the time to do so, but I did. Now I’m having a ball making clothes for my grandkids, and I don’t have to squeeze sewing sessions in during nap times or late at night because I have much more free time these days.

Our grandson loves the Avengers and anything that has to do with super heroes, so buying this fabric was a no-brainer:

Not long ago during our weekly Skype visit, he modeled his shorts; his mother says he wears them all the time. I was so pleased!

I also made a dress with matching panties for our granddaughter. But she just started crawling this week, so I’m not sure how often they’ll be putting her in dresses now. Maybe she can wear this to church though:

I made both items on my vintage Bernina using fabric from JoAnn Fabrics, which joins Hobby Lobby as my only remaining shopping-for-fabric-in-person options now that Hancock Fabrics is going out of business (sniffle!).

Gardenvale Triangles Table Topper

Posted on March 21, 2016 by Barb

Last week I posted about the Gardenvale table topper/wall hanging I made. Fortunately, I bought enough of the Gardenvale fabrics that I was also able to make this table topper, which uses gray as the coordinating solid instead of off-white:

I just love the prints in this line!

There’s no free-motion quilting on this one, just straight stitching. Here’s the back:

This table topper is for sale here. 🙂

Gardenvale Table Topper/Wall Hanging

Posted on March 14, 2016 by Barb

I was at the Quilt Expo in Madison late last summer when I fell in love with a line of fabric called Gardenvale. I promised myself I would try to make something different from my usual projects, and this table topper is the result.

As you can see, I did not quilt it in my usual way (flowers, curves, etc.) but instead tried a more geometric design:

I wish I had the space to keep everything I make, but I don’t, so this table topper/wall hanging is for sale here.

1930s Reproduction Fabric Table Runner

Posted on March 7, 2016 by Barb

A while back I posted about a quilt I made using just a portion of my large stash of 1930s reproduction fabrics. I made this table runner out of leftover blocks from that quilt:

After working on several large projects in a row, I had a great deal of fun making this smaller project. Free-motion quilting something of this size is such a pleasure!

Here’s the back of the table runner:

This table runner is for sale, by the way 🙂

Don’t Be Afraid of Down Syndrome

Posted on January 26, 2016 by Barb

So when you first give birth to a baby with Down syndrome, and it’s a shock because you didn’t know about his spare chromosome ahead of time, all sorts of crazy thoughts and fears go through your head. All you can think of are the things he won’t be able to do.

But over the years, he’ll show you that there are all kinds of things he CAN do, including trying out Dad’s new snowblower for the first time and doing a great job with it. In fact, he will regularly impress you as long as you give him opportunities to do so from the time he is tiny.

If I’d known at his birth what I know now, his diagnosis of Down syndrome wouldn’t have been nearly so scary!