100 + holes

A few days ago I received a phone call from Heindselman's letting me know they had sent a referral my way for a repair. This is not a new thing; it has happened alot over the past 13 years . They send people to me to repair their vintage items. A few minutes later I received the call from a very nice lady who had a table cloth (wink wink) that had belonged to her grandmother and had been on the dinner table for years at her grandmother's house.

The story goes that the grandmother passed away, and the tablecloth went to the daughter, who was just going to take it to the thrift store because of all the damage to it. Before doing this, she called her own daughter (the granddaughter to the lady who had passed) asking if she wanted it. Yes! was the resounding answer. After contacting Heindelman's and being refereed to me, she called and we had a conversation about said tablecloth. I asked if she was sure it was a tablecloth because most times they are actually bed cloths. She was certain it was. Then, we discussed the damage and when I would travel to her house to see it. After seeing it, I was certain it was a bedspread because it had notches crocheted into it to accommodate bed posts and only had an edging on three sides; definably a bedspread.

I wish I had looked at it a little closer! It has more damage than I thought it did. 100 + holes; to be exact, my estimate on the repair may have been way too low. That has never happened before; usually I am with in 20 dollars of my preliminary estimate. Once I get it home and can asses the damage more, I usually do a follow up estimate. I have yet to work the pattern to see how long it takes, then I have to figure out how long each hole will take to repair, then the cost of supplies. Not to mention I have to figure out the hook size, tension, and match a thread that probably hasn't been made in over 50 years or more. I like challenges like this, and the people who get their family heirlooms back are happy to have them whole again, instead of holey.Old sewing thread repair top left.Holes in the edging in Solomon's knot stitch (also called lovers knot, it has a few more names, too).Holes in mesh stitch around in the edgings.More holes in the edgings.Holes in the center of the medallions in the center of the afghan.

These things are bigger challenges in that other people, over the years, have tried to make homemade repairs in all the wrong ways with sewing thread which cuts through the crochet thread, actually causing more holes in time plus the sewing thread pierces the crochet thread when the needle was stitched through everything to hold it together. This means that I have to either spend lots of time cutting sewing thread, or just cut that section out and spend lots of time re-crocheting a bigger section than if they had just left it alone. Either way, I have my work cut out for me on this one. Enclosed in this post are a few of the holes I get to repair.

The repair to the left isn't sewing thread; it is crochet thread that whoever tried to repair the damaged just kept winding around the stitches. These type of previous repairs are also annoying because it takes forever to unwind that mess. The repair the previous person did is very clunky and big to look at, too; not neat and invisible. I don't make repairs like this.

The center section is made up of squares that are then sewn together (see first picture in post).

Re-purposed Dress into Butterfly Slip / Prize awarded

So the butterfly girl wants a butterfly bedroom, but that all has to wait a little. Because she is having a real big growing spurt, we made a butterfly slip yesterday and today. I found this yellow piece of lace at an antique store and bought it just because it had butterflies on it. I love the butterfly silhouettes on this.

Then, three days ago I realized my daughter had grown out of all three of her slips. So I came up with an idea to correct this.

Re-purposed

At one time we had a dress that had tulle on it that kept ripping off, and I got tired of repairing it. So I cut off its underskirt, and sewed on lots of lace to give the slip volume to fluff up her dresses. Then took the pattern from the yellow lace, used size 10 thread and a size 5 steel hook and made three repeats of the pattern, also 3 solid rows so I had something to sew buttons to. Then I added crochet straps and attached to skirt. Wish I had taken a picture of the before dress; trust me, this is an improvement. My daughter is happy to have a so-called new slip, especially since it has butterflies on it. The lace is actually sewn on straight; it just looks funny in the photos.

500 Post Prize goes to:

"Javajem said...
Congrats on 500!!!
I always get inspired when I read your blog :)
Wed, Oct. 31, 2007 10:49:00 AM"

You can check out her blogs here, here, here and here

I will be sending out fat quarters, vintage mother of pearl buttons and other items. I need your mailing address to mail this to you. My email is on the side bar so you can send it to me privately. I would love to see what you make with any of the items.

Color Play

I was asked about 1 1/2 weeks ago to pull a pattern off of a pair of gauntlets. Let's just say the person backed out after she found out how many hours are involved and the cost of doing such a thing. So about two days ago, she asked for her gauntlets back ( wristlets, sleeves, cuffs, wrist warmers whatever you want to call them). This item was something the lady in question had purchased about 10 or 13 years ago in Europe. Long story short, she was trying to pattern an item that is already under copyright by someone else. Not sure how she thinks that works, but I don't think it will work. Any way, in the time that I had the item I was having fun playing with the color changes in the pattern on them. Above is the original item, quiet dirty to say the least; I was a little grossed out putting it on for photo documentation. Below is the start of my version of what I saw. To make the items as the lady wanted them would have taken 7 hours per gauntlet. Wondering now how much she paid for 14 hours of someone's life. My guess is, probably not enough.
Front of work

Back of work

There is alot going on in these photos, even though it doesn't look like it. Every row has hidden threads running through it so you can do the color changes at the end of a row. It is interesting how the front looks so much different than the back of the work.

needlepoint/piano bench

This Needlepoint item is going to be picked up tomorrow, and I never showed it completed, so here it is, all done. This is a piano bench. She had wanted this by February, but she went on a lot of trips, and we had a lot of sick kids and a move, so now is when it is finally being collected. Six months latter due to both of our schedules never seeming to mesh. She and I live about 80 miles from each other; that also adds to the not-able-to-pick-up-easily dilemma.

Getting a few things finished

My daughter finished her needle punch today. I thought she would have had it finished yesterday, but she burned out a little. Not bad for three days' work.

I also finished a repair project I had been putting off due to time and sick kids. I repaired seven alter clothes this morning for my church. Then I drove 20 miles to return them and discovered I had two more to repair, so as soon as I got home I repaired the other two. This time I don't want to be behind. I will deliver them this week. Two things we are ahead of right now. Trust me, that is amazing because I feel behind on everything at the moment.

First and Last & Wip

This is a picture of the first quilt I ever made over twenty years ago as a teenager. I was taking a one on one class from my cousin who at the time owned a fabric quilting store. This is twin size.I was making a Trip Around the World quilt but I didn't like the pattern very much at the time. It was enough that a punker girl was in a traditional sewing class with my grandmother picking traditional fabrics, dusty and pale blues. So I decided that I had to re-work the pattern somehow without being too obnoxious to my cousin and Va-vo, because they are very nice. So, I decided it would be called "X Marks the Spot" instead of Trip Around the World.

Just so the world knows, I wanted to make a black, white, and red quilt. One of these days I still will make that quilt, because I still want to.

What I did was I left the middle strip the same and I switched the left and right sides of the quilt to make a big X instead of the traditional square on point look. I was impatient at the time and didn't want to learn to quilt. So I tied it with pink yarn. If you know me, I hate pink (especially as a teenager; I am starting to like it now, along with Valentine's Day). I didn't pick the yarn; my Vavo did.

I used this quilt so much as a teenager that it got pretty worn out. So now, as an adult, my WIP is to repair and replace parts of this quilt. I have made the patches for all the torn blocks. I am also replacing the pink yarn with white buttons. I really don't want the quilt to be used any more, so I figure buttons will curb that. The other special part about these buttons is they have been collected over 4 generations and two sides of the family. My Vavo, Tia Deannie (great-aunt), aunt, cousins, me and my kids and my mother-in-law and Grandmother-in-law Ernst donated some of these buttons, plus a few friends, too. Just an FYI, the buttons are plastic, not mother of pearl, and all are white. I am still collecting them to finish this project.

So, this is my FIRST quilt that I hope will LAST, thus the title of this post. If you notice in the pictures, the center blocks are different colors that is where the holes were. The holes were created from where I use to sit on my bed, right in the middle of it, doing my homework as a teenager in high school and as a young adult in collage. Funny to say homework wore out my quilt, but it did.Because this is just a family quilt, and not something historical, I just replaced the fabric with ones that I purchased as a teenager; they are period to when the quilt was made, but they are not matched, as you can tell. I don't mind that for personal use; it shows the quilt had a life, yet it stays period. Anything historical I would take to a person who has historical fabrics and try to match exactly. The other option is to stop use and cover damaged areas with organdy (basted) to hold damaged fabric in place, but not add anything new to the quilt because that changes the age of the quilt. Organdy basted is reversible and does not change the age of the quilt.

Top and bottom photo are true to life; the middle two had bad lighting.

My kids Christmas Tree " A Tree of Love"

We have two decorated Christmas trees in our house, and about seven little ones, that I put near nativities, that are not decorated.

My children use the tree I purchased when I was 19 years old, when I worked at a flower shop. It is the tree I used when I was single; then I used it as the family tree (my tree) 'till I was 29. When we purchased a big one, I gave the tree to my children for them to decorate as they wished.

I decorate the big tree and they, the kids, do the little one. This is great because mine looks the way I want, and ornaments don't get broken; and the kids' looks the way they want, with no adult help except for the nativities. The kids' box of ornaments is a mixture of hand made and store bought ones we wanted, and ones that where given.

I purposely put this tree in my front room and not the fancy one. To me this tree has a special meaning: all the ornaments are gifts or ones we made; thus all are representations of love. Two nativities sit under this tree, baby Jesus the greatest gift of love to the world.The tree itself sits on top of a trunk I was given by my grandmother when I graduated 8th Grade. She purchased the trunk in a state of major disrepair and paid a local crafts person to restore it for me. So it, too, is a gift of love.

5 aprons in the works

About five months back I found this hunk of fabric at a thrift store.I was not sure if had been a valance or something else, but someone made it. I know this by looking at the seems; it doesn't look store bought. Someone also took the time to add embellishments in pretty even spacings. So, I thought I would re-fashion it into five little kid half aprons; maybe four kid and one adult -- I may want one. :o) What ever it was, I think it will make cute aprons. Just need to make sashes, waistbands, and a ruffle to go around and finish the edges.

From Ugly to Beautiful

Yesterday I talked about Alyson's Cottage and the great work they do in restoring furniture.

I just wanted to give an example. Above and below are some chairs I have. There are 5 of these total; so far, 3 have been restored, 2 still to go. All were rusted closed when I got them; they had been sitting in a shed and an abandoned silo for over 30 years. Not the best place for furniture. They all had lost their wood to rot and they had been graffitied on. I went to my neighbor and asked what he could do. I said I wanted them red with wood slats for their seats.

Gus got them sand blasted, then painted (airbrushed) them with enamel paint, several coats, and then he clear coated. Next, he made slats for the chair seats; not an easy feat as the holes had weird spacings he had to work around. Each piece of wood had to be cut and drilled special for its placement on the chair. Look closely at photos of the red chairs, and you will see what I mean. Then, lastly, he sealed the wood and attached it to the chair.

I think they are just wonderful. Take a look for yourself.

I just love the way these old metal and wood folding chairs came out.

Alyson's Cottage

Just wanted to show one of my favorite stores here in town.

The address of this store is at 285 East Main Street in American Fork, Utah. They can be reached at 801 492-9103. Hours are 11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; might be 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m., can't remember at the moment.

This store belongs to our friends, Gus and Alyson.

They refinish furniture, both painted and stained, and do picture framing.

They have a coupon for a free candle for the month of October, 2006, if you happen to get their way. You do have to be able to walk into the store.

These photographs have a lot of detail; if you click on them, they will get bigger so that you can see.


Gus and Alyson are a real nice couple; he refinishes the furniture, and she does the decorative paintings on it.

If you look at the photos in their larger form, you will see sun flowers, roosters, roses and other items she has painted on the furniture.

I actually have lots of furniture in my house that has either been restored by them, painted by them, or purchased from them. Tomorrow I think I will post an example of how good Gus is at fixing old furniture that has definitely seen better days. You will not believe your eyes. It is amazing what one person can do to make something broken and ugly into something functional and beautiful again.

They also frame artwork and needlework at very good prices. It is a very cute store with nice owners; if you are in this part of the world check them out.

2 cloths

Just finished repairing two church cloths. Yeah!!!!

Effies done

Effie is done and will be back on her way to New York on Monday or Tuesday.

Effie now and Effie Before .

Effie nearly done

Effie is almost done.

She now has a caplet and embroidery on her hat and bodice. Her embroidery was done with rayon thread. Other touches are satin ribbon on dress and caplet. Shoes are being made; then she is done and will go back to New York. Her shoes are being sewn out of mauve wool.

Effie's dress

Effie has a dress!!!!!!!!

I know it has been a few days since I last posted on Effie. Her dress is now all crocheted and tatted. It has a tatted collar and a tatted hem. The rest is crochet. The close up of the hem is not very accurate in color; the lighting was weird. The pictures with the black background are more true to the actual color of the dress.

Effie's dress started

I started Effie's dress yesterday. I only got the collar, bodice and top of skirt done.I still need to finish the bottom of the skirt and the sleeves. I was going to use cro-tatting on the dress and decided against that because the smallest cro-hooks where way too big for size 30 thread. So I just went with normal shuttle tatting to make her collar. I'm not sure yet; I might put more tatting on her. My husband said, "You have gone a little crazy!!" That is OK. I am sure Nancy Jo is having fun as I am debating whether I am going to use tatting on the hat or embroidery to bring some details out on it . Can't figure out if I like Effie's hat square on her head, like in the first photo of this post, or how I had it tilted in the last post. Both ways of wearing it look cute.

Effie's cap

Effie now has a cute little cap, beret or tam whatever you want to call it.

Started to make her dress today, as well. I might go back and do some embroidery on the hat when I am all done making her outfit because it seems a little plain to me. I think I am making her a dress and jacket still; maybe socks and shoes, haven't decided as of yet. I think the jacket will be moss green in color. If I do embroidery, it would probably be bullion roses.
For those who are curious this is size 30 cebelia by DMC color number 223 and a size 11 hook. Her slip is size 10 thread and a size 6 hook, don't know the color number or company (vintage thread).

Effie's slip

Effie now has a new slip to show the world, and soon she will have a dress.

7 church cloths

Just repaired 7 church cloths in one day, and I'm not done yet.

Still working on Effie's slip and drafting patterns from the cloths for me to keep. But it is a good day; I'm having fun doing what I love, and it is a nice, sunny day.

Don't they just look so pretty all stacked up nice and neat; I hate to see them go back to their owner, but back they must go. However, they will look so pretty in their home, especially since their holes are all repaired. I would say they are still holy, in a religious sense, but not in an "I'm torn" sense any more. Which, of course, is the preferable way of being, that is if you wish to be holy.

Effie has undies and a doll cupboard

Take time to enjoy the little things of life.

Plan a craft day with your kids. Mine made me these necklaces that now hang with pride for all to see in our front room. I thought they where making them for themselves, then they gave them to me. Enjoy these days of fun and play; they don't last long.

Here is Effie the way she came.
Now she is showing off her new under clothing with a little wave to say hi.

Effie arrives with gifts

A little lady came to visit today, and she brought me some gifts. The little lady is the dolly in the middle, and she came in the mail so I could make her some new clothes then send her back to her mommy, who asked me to give her a kiss. So here is her kiss ; ().
She arrived safely, Nancy. Iit will take me a little to figure out what to make for her. Then I make it and send her home to you. Just wanted to post this so you would know she arrived, safe and sound. I love the thread -- such wonderful colors. I have not had a chance to look at the patterns yet (I wanted to let you know she was here), but they look neat. Thank you.

If you happened to notice the tiny hexagon quilt in this photo, it is one I am making that needs to be quilted still. The pattern is called grandmother's flower garden. The size of the hexagons is 1/4 inch per side; a true minutre.