Goodbye Butterflies!

My grandmother gave me this butterfly quilt years and years ago…. probably 25 or 26 years past.  It was filled with that old fashioned batting that made the blanket hug you and keep you warmer than the average quilt.  At one time the colors were vibrant and cheery, the sweet soft pinks, turquoises and lavenders of the 40s.  The pea-green backing was less than my favorite color, but hey, it was on the back.  This quilt was well loved! Several times over the years, before it was completely shredded, I thought of re-doing the blanket stitch around each butterfly…. but that task never made it high enough on my daily to-do lists. So the butterflies slowly flew away as did the days of the quilt’s life.

It became my son’s favorite blanket that he used on his bed for years.  It was under a presentable comforter so I didn’t care how ratty it looked.  Then he went on a church camping trip and took it as his only blanket…. making us look worse than homeless people.  I tried to simply talk him down from using it, but NO!  This was the coziest quilt in the galaxy.  I waited to confiscate it until the dark of the night when it had fallen off his bed and he was snoring.  Hidden under my bed is where it remained for several years because I was not sure if I could throw away the quilt my grandmother handmade and gave to me.

Yesterday I was obviously low on nostalgic sensibilities.  The quilt came out from under our bed and I seriously took in each butterfly, analyzing if they were still redeemable.  Some had no wings.  At all.  The ones that did have wings also had holes that could not be repaired.  Rolling up the shabby blanket as I headed for the garbage can I realized that if I didn’t take a picture the memory of the butterfly quilt would fade.  Hence, the photo and the story written for posterity, so my grandchildren will know the tale of the pea-green, vintage quilt that they never got the pleasure to wrap up in.

Goodbye butterflies!  You served us well!

P.S. O.K., after writing this, I went and got it out of the garbage and cut out and saved a few of the butterflies.  I figure I could frame them for the laundry room or for my future sewing room.  I guess I have a bit more nostalgia today than yesterday.  Thankfully it wasn’t garbage pick-up day!

Zaza’s Dolly

I finally finished sewing Zaza’s dolly two days ago.  I plan to let Zaza name her, but if she asks for suggestions, I might say Amelia or Eliana or Christina.  I already used the iron-on face included in the pattern, and besides, it had blue eyes.  So I found an embroidered pattern on-line.  That took one whole day.  They even embroidered the pink cheeks, but I didn’t think that would look too good. I used real make-up.

The body is made from vintage muslin that was in the quilting scraps from my grandmother.  I tea-dyed it so as not to have pasty-white skin, like mine.  I think Grandma would be happy that I made Zaza’s dolly from her stash.  For the hair, I didn’t want to use regular twisted yarn because it can unravel and become a mess.  So I searched and searched and found this beautiful black non-twisted yarn made of bamboo.  Yes, it surprised me too.  It is super soft and combs out perfectly. 

I picked up the four purples on a sale day, so the entire outfit including bloomers was $5.  Yes, $5.  You don’t need much fabric for an 18″ doll.  I didn’t follow the pattern for the apron because I wanted the fabric on the bodice to show.  So I made up an apron, complete with a pocket for her tissue… or little treasure.  I’m starting outfit #2 now out of teeny red and blue floral fabric and I plan to make it short-sleeved (for summer) with the white eyelet pinafore following the pattern.  I’ll show you later.

Yes, she needs shoes.  There is no pattern for shoes…. except for slippers to match her jammies.  That won’t do for her Sunday dress.  I had a handmade doll when I was young and she had black felt shoes with a strap and a tiny white button.  I’m going to make those…. pray for me… I’m going off 35-year-old memories!

The Quilted Chair

During Spring Break we took off for Northern California for a week of relaxation at the home of my high school friends.  While there, my friend Connie talked me into helping her recover an old chair with quilts that she was saving for such a time as this.  Neither of us had done reupholstering before, but hey, we can watch youtube instructional videos like the best of ’em.  And we looked at pictures in a book at JoAnn’s.  Anyway, we succeeded and now I’m addicted to recovering old furniture.  I would love to find a little girl’s plush chair to make over for Zaza’s room.  However, our dear friends also sent us home with several more additions to Zaza’s room…. so a newly recovered chair would be a squeeze for sure.

Here is your photos essay on recovering a chair with old quilts…. something you always wanted to know, I’m quite sure.

Gather as many of your people as possible for tack removal.  This is not a fun job, but most necessary.  BUY the little hoof shaped tool for $7 at JoAnn’s and you won’t be sorry!  We even used most of the old tacks again.

We saved all the batting as it was in decent shape.

We used the old cover as a pattern for the new pieces.

The bottom was really easy…. compared to the top and back!

Connie made miles of welt cord piping cut on the bias for ease of turning corners.

We fluked out and unknowingly used a chair that had these nice wooden pieces on the bottom to hide all our tacks.  Sweet!

The wedding knot on the back looked adorable!

Two different quilts with Grandmother’s Flower Garden pattern were used on the front.  The green piping tied all the quilts together and it is adorable! Can’t you see why I want to do another one?!?