I can't recycle that!

When I'm talking with the families who come to me to turn clothes into quilts we often have long conversations about what sorts of fabrics can be used for the project. My plain answer is that there is no limit to types of fabric or sorts of clothing - no maximum no minimum - send it to me and I will put every effort into turning into a beautiful quilt. I do however ask them to think about whether they want to hold on to any pieces that are more than special to them - because sometimes something can be so special that they should just be quietly kept.

I had this moment recently and it took me by surprise.

I am preparing the back to my first portrait quilt. I mentioned already in that post that I am using all Bunny #1's old pajamas - here is a sneak at the stack.

Memory Pillow: from Toddler Dresses

You might remember that I was given a beautiful array of toddler dresses from a mom who wanted a pillow made for her bed. A pillow isn't very big. So to make something little that showed the material from all 7 dresses in an interesting way - had me stuck for a bit.

I looked at endless pictures of cushions (I think I would now get top marks in any cushion quiz!) and finally decided to make a simple flower cushion.

What your parents teach you ....

Like every child there times that I found my parents embarrassing. I'm a bit mortified that already by 5 years old I'm being spoken back to and being told to stop doing what I'm doing because I'm clearly being just too silly .... (Moi? Jamais!)

After having had my own children I developed a new sense of appreciation for everything my parents have ever done for us - granted they still do stuff I don't quite understand - but I get that now because I am constantly doing things that my kids don't understand at all! It occurred to me the other day that my love of recycling fabrics and things does come from a lifetime of my parents recycling and remodeling things into beautiful toys and things for us too. They taught me to look beyond a paper roll or potato and turn it into something else.

Here are some examples.

This is a quilt that my mother made for me when I was very young. It is a twin quilt made out of recycled clothes. I think a lot of them are her old clothes - but the light blue gingham border & name is made from our old summer school uniforms from when we were very young.

I have to be honest Mummy - I'm not sure what the rat and the worm are about ;-) ...

A Quilt without Borders

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Margaret is a lovely member of the NYC Metro Modern Quilt Guild and her niece - a quilter who lives in France and who volunteers for the International Festival of Extraordinary Textiles - asked Margaret for her help. 

Margaret guided members of the guild to create a modern quilt that will be used during a picnic in the Jardin Lecoq park. The picnic will be done "flash mob" style with people showing up, a quilt under their arm.  Then when a text message arrives the quilts will be opened and spread on the grass. After the picnic the quilts will be auctioned off to benefit Doctors Without Borders.

Memorial Quilts from Kilts & Coats

When ever a family comes to me and asks for help making some quilts from their memories I feel utterly honored. I have been asked to make 4 quilts from a collection of wool kilts & coats and various other dresses etc. This is a big big project.

These clothes are from the families mother's attic - whom sadly passed last year. She had saved these beautiful coats & clothes from the children's childhood years as well as every kilt that their father had brought back from Ireland. There are some amazing details on these clothes that I am really excited about.

Camouflage Broken Bar Quilt

I've had some military material sitting around in my workroom for a while now - I got it so that I could start to experiment with how much material I can squeeze from various uniform/clothing items. When I saw this quilt - Broken Bars by Rebecca Roach - sent to me through the Modern Quilting Guild - it screamed army stripes to me.

Turn your Kids Art into Greeting Cards

I keep pretty much every piece of 'art' my little ones make. I was spring cleaning a little and going through all the kids art work trying to keep the most special pieces - as even by age 4 my drawers are overflowing with precious scribbles and blobs of paint.

I couldn't bring myself to throw away any of the art and this project has been in the back of my mind for a long long time.

This is an example of the sorts of pieces I have.

Memory Pillows: 9/11 Firefighters Memorial Quilt

It has been a while now since I presented the Memorial quilt I made for the only Fire Marshal to loose his life in 9/11. It was such a great project.

When I work with families on quilts I always keep every single scrap until I know what the families want to do with them. And by every last scrap I mean EVERY label, button, seam, tiny sliver - everything is kept together until I know what the families wishes are.

On this occasion the family asked for two small cushions - one for each of the grandchild.

Memorial Quilt: Bear Paw Shirt Quilt

When I was first given the materials for this quilt I was a little scared. I had no idea how to make this pile of shirts into a beautiful quilt for the family.

Happy New Year - The End of our Tree Project

One of my favorite projects this year - and also for our family and to anyone how visits our house - has been our tree. Unfortunately just before Christmas due to the strength and persistence of our #3 bunny our Christmas tree had a nasty accident.

We only lost two ornaments and the stick snapped in several places. No small child was harmed in the accident - but we all felt a little sad.

We had all been stuck inside due to snow falling outside when the incident happened. Feeling a little sad we decided to rescue what we could of the now year long project. My eldest bunny really loves to use scissors so her paper snowflakes made a perfect decoration. The vase and branch is now on the kitchen counter - I don't put it past #3 to make it up there and demolish it some more - but so far it has stayed out of his reach.

Here is a little recap of our tree.

Valentine Tree

Swedish Easter Tree

Recycled Cherry Blossom Tree

Coffee Filter Butterfly Tree 

Halloween Tree

Thanksgiving Tree

Christmas Tree

Wish you and your family a wonderful 2014 & thank you so much for reading.

Memory Quilt: Recycled Baby Bedding

I was asked to make some new bedding for a family's little girl (5) who was graduating from her crib/toddler bed into brand new bunk beds. Her toddler bed had various bedding - a bed skirt, sheet, pillows & blanket.

We talked about what would be best and we decided that a duvet cover instead of a quilt would be most utilized.The aim was to make two matching duvet covers for each bunk.

I carefully took all the old bedding apart, washed it all, ironed and began to assess how much fabric we had. The family wanted a very classic calm design and we decided on plain squares - keeping them 5" in size so the duvets would seem classic but still modern.

I am pleased with the result. They look like something out of a Pottery Barn catalog. The flannel duvet covers are so soft and the weight of the quilted top make them feel very expensive - I'm not sure anyone would guess at first glance that these are a recycled project.
 
After I had pieced the tops I attached the quilted tops to cream flannel duvet cover top & added stitched detail using some Gutermann Heavy Duty Polyester Thread in straight lines.

I love how this looks - I will have to use this again on another project.

We still had a little bit of fabric left over so I made Teddy a little apron (happily modeled here by Felix the bunny)

 

.... and Teddy also got the cutest sleeping bag too (I haven't let my girls set eyes on this - I just know they would want thousands for all their stuffed toys!)

Here is the little package all together. Duvet on bed, 2nd duvet cover folded, Teddy's apron & Teddy's sleeping bag.

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Other Recycled quilted projects:
Union Jack Sweater Quilt
9/11 Memorial Firefighters T-shirt Quilt
Memorial Uniform Quilt
Men's Cotton Shirt Quilt

Paper Roll Halloween Tree

We were all quite sad to take down our Coffee Filter Butterfly Tree. But we have had fun decorating our Halloween tree with paper rolls and tissues.

Creep crawly spiders live in our Halloween tree.

Mice live in our Halloween tree. 

Painted paper roll owls live in our tree. 

Twirly Halloween icicles (made from painted paper rolls) hang in our tree in pumpkin golds, purple and black. 

Strips of tissue hang in our tree while bats loom over head. 

I hope you are decorating for Halloween too!

Take a look at the other projects we have done with our tree so far this year:
Swedish Easter Tree
Valentine Tree
Recycled Cherry Blossom Tree
Coffee Filter Butterfly Tree

9/11 Firefighters Memorial Quilt

I don't think I have posted any photos of myself on this blog apart from this one. I'm pretty camera shy. But here is a photo of me presenting the 9/11 Firefighters Memorial Quilt at the New York City Fire Museum on 9/11 this year.

9/11 Memorial Firefighters Quilt

Today I am in NYC presenting this quilt to the family of Ronald Bucca - the only Fire Marshall who lost his life in 9/11. There is so much I could say - but instead here are some photos of the finished quilt and my words for the speech which I will make before presenting the quilt in front of some 150 people.

Front

Back - which incorporates all the remaining t-shirt material - as well as arms!

"When Jessica invited me to make this quilt for her I was touched that she trusted me enough to cut up her father's t-shirts and turn them into this blanket she had dreamed for her children. A happy blanket, filled with color, love and memories - she has called it a map of memories of her father.

During the making of this quilt I have thought about Ron Bucca a tremendous amount. I never had the pleasure of meeting Ron Bucca but as far as I can work out he was a true American hero - someone who dedicated his life to his family, his country and his mission to save lives. I know his loss has left a hole in many people's hearts - but especially for the Bucca family whom surprise me each time I meet them with their kindness, generosity, warmth and continued lust for life after such a tragic event.

I am honored to have been a part of their healing process by making this quilt. I am currently filing my 501(c)3 papers to form 'Quilting A Memory' which will provide free quilting services to those service men & women who have lost their life in service of their country. I am truly passionate about recycling clothes and uniforms into beautiful quilts and I hope that I will be able to reach others with my work too.

And finally I especially want to thank Chief Fire Marshal Robert Byrnes and those at the Bureau who so kindly agreed to pay for this quilt in honor of Ron, his daughter Jessica and his granddaughters Isabel & Emmy.

Thank you for listening & bless you all."

Memorial labels on the back of the quilt.

My favorite heart from the quilt.

There was a lot of free motion quilting in this piece.

Wrapped in a ribbon and ready to go to home.

9/11 Firefighters Memorial Quilt

When I had the privilege of making the Fallen Soldier Quilt. Something changed in the way I approached my sewing. When I first started my blog it was due to my dear childhood toy Rachael Rabbit. This handmade toy meant so much to me. I loved it. It meant so much to me and still does. Making things filled with love and meaning means the world to me - and it is why I make things - I want to touch people in the same way that Rachael Rabbit touched me.

I have been working on this quilt for some time now. A family came to me and asked me to make a quilt for the granddaughters (4 & 2) from this Fire Marshall's t-shirts.

This man was an all American Hero. He was a loving husband, loving farther to two children. He ran marathons. He served as a Green Beret in the Vietnam War,  he was in the reserves as a paratrooper for the Army Special Forces and he was a NYC firefighter before being promoted to Fire Marshall. He was the only Fire Marshall to have lost his life in 9/11.

As we discussed ideas for the quilt it was clear that they wanted this to be a happy and colorful quilt. This quilt was to be a joyful celebration of his life for his granddaughters. A request for hearts on the quilt made me to come up with this design - a cascading rainbow of hearts. 

Problem was the t-shirts we had were dark colors tan, red, brown, grey, green & blue.

I made my templates for the hearts from old cereal packets & packing tape. They are surprisingly sturdy.

We agreed that the t-shirts would be cut into heart shapes, we would add some other colored fabrics to the quilt as well which would house all the t-shirt emblems etc. The remaining t-shirt material would be used on the back of the quilt.

I have nearly finished the quilt. I will post pictures soon.

I feel so honored and blessed to have been given these opportunity to make these memorial quilts. It is something that has touched my heart in such a way that I want to pursue making more of these quilts for families. Taking clothes or uniforms and turning them into something beautiful, practical, loved and full of memories.

Princess Shoe Box

We have a birthday party coming up and I was trying to think of a original way to present the all important princess dress up shoes.

Luckily (because I'm neurotic about saving anything made of cardboard) we have a few children's sized shoe boxes knocking around - they are great for all sorts of kid craft projects. I love repurposing things - have I said that before?

My eldest took a great deal of time painting on glue and dipping the box & lid in copius amounts of pink glitter. After the glitter and glue had dried I added a glue wash on top (1 part glue 1 part water) to try and encourage the glitter not to shed everywhere immediately. There is SO much glitter on this box - my eldest bunny is slowly convincing me that when it comes to young girls - there is never enough glitter in your life!



After the glitter had been added I lined the inside of the box with some scrap quilt batting and a piece of purple velour left over from our Princess Tea Party. I stuck them all lightly down and together - adding more glue to the top edge - I favor Aleene's tacky glue for fabric sticking.

The inside of the top of the box is painted pink. We decorated the top of the box with an old broken purple butterfly necklace (yes I save that sort of thing too) and with the name of the birthday girl. I cut the name out of white felt which had some silver lamé stuck on top.

I suspect the pink glittery box might be just as exciting to this 4 year old as the dress up shoes will be.

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Please do not forget about the charity I Spy quilt - we are still looking for scrap fabric donations. 

Recycled Teepee Play

I took our recycled teepee to the country along with our playsilks. Let the play begin!

Giggling away inside. 

Dancing around the teepee. 

Inspecting the local wildlife. 

I made the headbands by pushing some colored feathers through a band of felt. The felt was secured together by a ribbon tie. 

After the initial excitement the girls decided to decorate the teepee with flowers - inserting them into the cotton eyelet holes.

 

I hope you had a sunny time outside this weekend too.